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Two sexual assault courts-martial scheduled for airmen at Eglin Air Force Base

Eglin Air Force Base (Eglin Air Force Base/Facebook)

Two separate courts-martial on sexual assault charges involving airmen assigned to Eglin Air Force Base at the time of the alleged offenses are scheduled for the coming weeks at the installation, according to the Air Force Judge Advocate General (AFJAG) online docket.

Proceedings in the case of Ky Larkins, a technical sergeant assigned to Air Force Test Center at the time of the alleged 2018 incident, are scheduled for Feb. 8, according to the docket.

The court-martial of Andrew Street, a captain with the 524th Special Operations Squadron at Eglin’s Duke Field at the time of the alleged incident in which he is charged, is scheduled for March 15, according to the AFJAG website.

According to a charge sheet released by the Air Force at the request of the Daily News, Larkins is charged with a violation of Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which covers rape and sexual assault. The article provides specific and detailed definitions of what constitutes a sexual act, sexual contact, the use of force, consent to a sexual act, the inability to consent to a sexual act, and placing another person in fear, among other related topics.

The charge sheet indicates that the incident allegedly involving Larkins occurred “at or near Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, on or about 30 March 2018.” The charge sheet states that Larkins sexually penetrated a woman without her consent.

Also according to the charge sheet, the victim came forward with the allegation of the non-consensual sexual act in May of last year, telling her story to an assistant judge advocate with the Judge Advocate office for the 96th Test Wing, the host unit at Eglin. Larkins was informed of the charges filed against him on the same day the allegations were made, according to the charge sheet.

According to the charge sheet filed in Street’s case, he faces charges under Article 120 of the UCMJ, and also under Section 128 and Section 134 of the UCMJ. Section 128 addresses assault charges, and Section 134 addresses conduct “to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces” and “of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.”

The charge sheet states that the charges against Street were filed in connection with a May 2019 incident during a time the 524th Special Operations Squadron was deployed to Entebbe, Uganda. The squadron maintains and operates transport aircraft in support of special operations missions. Its work includes includes insertion, extraction and resupply of special operations forces.

Specifically, the charge sheet allegation regarding UCMJ Section 120 contends that Street touched an enlisted woman’s buttocks without her consent “to gratify his sexual desire.”

With regard to Section 128, the charge sheet alleges that Street grabbed the woman by the throat on more than one occasion.

The Section 134 reference contends that Street violated “the custom of the United States Air Force that officers shall not fraternize with enlisted persons … .”

The alleged victim of Street’s unwanted advances initially brought her complaint to a 524th Special Operations Squadron on Jan. 30 of last year, according to the charge sheet. Later that same day, the victim made the same complaint to an assistant judge advocate with the 96th Test Wing’s Judge Advocate office, according to the charge sheet.

The charges filed against Street are not the first time in recent history that an airman with a Duke Field-based unit has been charged with sexual misconduct during a Uganda deployment. In July 2019, an Air Force Reserve officer with the 919th Special Operations Wing was found not guilty of raping an enlisted woman on two occasions during a 2017 deployment there.

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(c) 2021 The Destin Log

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