A former Air Force Academy cadet was convicted Thursday of raping one of his classmates.
Alvaro Pablo Velarde, 20, was found guilty following a four-day jury trial of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact for raping a fellow cadet in her dorm room.
Velarde ignored the female cadet’s pleas to stop, according to court documents and prosecutors, and caused her significant pain. She received medical attention and was diagnosed with a concussion from the assault.
“The conduct in this case is reprehensible not only because of the nature of the crime itself, but because of where it occurred,” U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn said in a statement. “Our service academies are national treasures. We send our best and brightest young adults there to become soldiers and to serve our country. It is the last place one should be attacked so violently.”
“We are pleased that justice was done,” Dunn said. “The victim showed tremendous courage throughout this ordeal and I am proud that she will someday be defending our country as an Air Force officer.”
Velarde’s sentencing is slated for July 30.
On Thursday, the Pentagon released the 2018 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military, which found that sexual assaults on active-duty women increased 44% in two years. The study found that 6.2% of women were victims of sexual assault in 2018, up from 4.3% in 2016.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office found that unwanted sexual contact had increased nearly 50% at the three military service academies since the 2015-2016 academic school year. In a survey, 747 cadets and midshipmen out of the 12,000 that attend the three military service academies responded that they received unwanted sexual contact during the 2017-2018 academic school year. The number marked a 47% jump from the 507 cadets and midshipmen reporting unwanted contact in 2015-2016.
