Air Force Academy Rapes:
How Investigators Broke Story

VOLUME XXIII, NUMBER 10       MARCH 10, 2003

The number of young women who were raped at the United States Air Force Academy --- and the treatment they received from their superiors --- is so outrageous that it has surprised veteran reporters, elected officials and many viewers.
Here are the details of how this sordid scandal has been brought before the public.

An e-mail checks out

This investigation started with a viewer reaching out for help.
"A female cadet e-mailed a number of news organizations in Denver, saying she was being drummed out of the Air Force Academy, and that she had been sexually assaulted," says investigative reporter John Ferrugia at KMGH-TV, Denver.
The five investigative unit members set out to see if they could confirm her story, and determine whether this was bigger than one crime.

Jeff Harris, Executive Producer Special Projects, says it turned out the woman had been raped, and in fact, was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. But she didn't report the incident for two years.
"In order to show that this was more than an isolated case, and that female cadets were being drummed out because they reported assaults, we needed some examples," says Harris.

Search for victims required patience, persistence

The names of rape victims are always hard to find. This was particularly so in the closed world of the military.
"Few are in the public domain. We began by word of mouth. We started by getting lists of people in different classes, and talking to women one at a time," says Ferrugia.

Some cadets knew of women who had left the academy, but didn't know why.
The investigators would try to locate each one and find out why she left.
"Most of these women were so isolated they didn't know that other women had been assaulted and had left. They knew there had been a radical change in the woman, and suddenly she was gone from the unit. But they had no knowledge of the specifics," says Ferrugia.
If someone thought a woman who had dropped out was from a certain city or state, the investigators searched various databases to see if "Mary Jones" from Michigan was the same "Mary Jones" who had an address at the Air Force Academy at one point.
If there was an address match, they called the woman's home.

Contacting the women required great sensitivity.
"We were very reluctant to call them directly, because if they had been raped, we didn't want to traumatize them all over again," says Ferrugia.
Sometimes they called the woman's parents and tried to reach her through them. Other times they called, and approached the topic as delicately as they could.
"We began to understand the culture of the Academy and the culture of a rape victim," says Harris.

Three victims communicated with one another online. Investigative producer Kurt Silver established a rapport with them.
"He let them know there was great interest on our part to investigate these claims and piece them together, so they would no longer be alone and they could get their message out," says Harris.
The women had a common goal: to warn others.

As contacts grew, clear patterns emerged

Between discovering isolated cases of women who were victimized and left the academy and making contact with those who communicated online, the investigators had enough cases to establish a pattern.
Two types of victims emerged:

1. Women cadets who reported a sexual assault or rape and who were reprimanded or dealt with in a harsh way.

2. Women who were assaulted, who knew other women had been reprimanded, and were afraid to report the assaults. Those women tended to go into deep depression, and eventually dropped out.
"The rigors of the Academy are so great, that it would be hard for a woman subjected to such a horrible crime to continue her studies. It is boot camp --- a real physical and mental workout," explains Harris.

Part of the problem is the system itself.
"The way it is set up the upper classmen put the underclassmen through hell. When you couple that (abusive) treatment with the fact this person is already a victim, it would be hard for anyone to stay in school," he says.

They did find some rape victims who went through the Academy successfully and never reported the crime.
"Those women are further on into their Air Force careers and are even more reluctant to talk now," he adds.

The TV investigators were very impressed with the women who agreed to talk.
"This group of victims is by far the brightest, most patriotic people whom we have ever met. They are straight A students, star athletes and outstanding human beings. You couldn't ask for a more honest, true group of people to talk to and to hear their stories. That came through in our initial report," says Harris.

The first piece ran more than 13 minutes.
News Director Byron Grandy felt it was so powerful it was worth the time.
"Liz" told of her dream to enter the Academy and the nightmare it became when she was raped.
She had grown up dreaming of being an Air Force officer and flying jets. She was a freshman when she was attacked by an upperclassman who had appeared friendly.
"You are completely degraded. You feel like you are dirty. You feel like nobody is going to believe you, you are not worth anything," she told Ferrugia.
Because she knew it could damage her career, Liz decided not to report the attack.
He assaulted her four more times, always threatening to expose her. "I just remember being so scared ... I knew that anything I said was going to be blown up. He was threatening to spread rumors about me that were untrue to get others punished in my class," she said.
All the while, Liz's closest friends were telling her not to report the rapes by her superior. They said she would be victimized again.

What was particularly striking to the newsmen was the fact the women didn't know other victims existed, and that the stories each told were all so similar.
"That's what gave them such great credibility. These women all had their stories independent of one another, and they matched up as we began to look at the cases," says Harris.
"It was like pieces of a mosaic. It was all the same story coming together. For me personally, sitting down and talking to these women about what had happened was a very emotional experience," says Ferrugia.

Seventeen women talked

The news team investigators talked with 17 women, whose stories were remarkably similar.
The victims felt they owed it to the women coming in behind them to make sure this story got out, so parents and other students know what is going on there.
"As they began to learn of each other, they began to understand what our goals were. They truly entrusted us with their stories," Harris adds.

In convincing them to come forward, Ferrugia explained that the power of the Air Force Academy, and the power of the perpetrators, to victimize them resided in the victims' silence.
"It was through their silence that the power continued. If they didn't feel they could speak to us on camera, then we asked them to help us by giving us information --- confirming their own story or telling us of other people who might come forward," says Ferrugia.
Some female cadets remained at the Academy after they were assaulted.
Their faces were shadowed, so their identities were protected.

The news team members confirmed the women's stories.
"We had to make sure they were telling the truth about reporting the assault. Many of our victims went so far as to give us copies of therapy and counseling records," says Harris.
The journalists also obtained documents showing how the women who came forward were punished by the Air Force.

The investigators did not identify any of the men, nor did they try to prove a case against an individual.

Some perpetrators were serial rapists. Instead of going to prison, they were being commissioned as American military officers.

Taking time to build a case produced greatest impact

Thoroughly documenting the problem and taking their findings to the highest elected officials were important.
"We could have gone on the air early on with a story that was a narrative of a couple of cadets who were treated shabbily by the Air Force Academy," says Ferrugia.

They knew there were larger issues they were after if they were going to have a meaningful impact.
"Once we had these women, we went to Colorado Senator Wayne Allard. We put together a reel, and we showed it to him. He was absolutely stunned!" says Ferrugia.
Allard sits on the Armed Services Committee.
"The Academy is in his own backyard, and he was visibly shaken by the report," says Harris.
Allard wrote to the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner, and to the Secretary of the Air Force.

The television investigators showed the tape to Senator Warner and his staff, who were equally stunned and outraged. Warner demanded an immediate investigation not only into the Air Force Academy, but also the other academies.
"Those meetings springboarded the story into another level. After those meetings, we decided we needed to get on the air now. The first piece ended with the fact that an investigation has been launched," says Ferrugia.

Air Force Academy stonewalled

For three weeks, KMGH pressed for an interview with the general in charge of the Air Force Academy.
The Academy responded by offering the major in charge of a sexual assault program. She had little information, and ended up looking foolish.

Once it hit the national wire, the general in charge of the Academy finally did an interview with KMGH.
"Even then, they thought the story was going to go away, but it kept picking up steam," says Ferrugia.

A key to moving the story forward and bringing about change was taking the time to show their findings to the top officials.
"Had we not done that and rushed it on the air instead, as a small narrative, it would have gone nowhere," says Ferrugia.

When the Pentagon became involved and the Secretary of Defense was briefed, the top Air Force brass took a firm stand.

The Secretary of the Air Force promised to make sweeping changes, and to personally go to the Air Force Academy and to demand the officials there do something. He said the Air Force should never be in a position where the service commissions a criminal.

There are still questions about whether there will be justice.
Senator Allard was recently quoted as questioning whether a full effort was being made to end the rapes. When an Air Force investigative team visited the academy for 10 days, no victims were interviewed! After KMGH aired that information, the investigators returned and the probe, is continuing.
He adds, "We knew if we had the horsepower of taking it to Sen. Allard, they would see it for what it was --- a systemic issue that was outrageous and had to be dealt with. Had we not calculated how to move the story forward, it would have dribbled out and gone away. That's what the Air Force was counting on. They were counting on it going away like it had before."

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Special Report
Preventing Violence Against Women

Television news operations have provided vital information for women viewers, offering explanations of the violent predators' behavior and providing advice on how to avoid becoming a victim.
Subscribers can access our reports on these projects online. They are combined into one document for easy printing.

• Abuse against women and children.
  In Jacksonville, WJXT-TV produced a prime time documentary that was supported by a phonebank of experts and stories throughout the day.
• Sexual assault project: Breaking The Silence
  In Sacramento, KOVR-TV explained sexual assault. It combined news reports, a crisis advice phone line, and experts.
• Avoid being a victim.
  The Smart and Safe franchise of KOVR-TV provided viewers with what they wanted and needed: real life solutions to crime threats.
• Your expert must offer practical advice
  In Charlotte, WCNC-TV has a personal safety instructor who is a regular contributor to the newscasts. The idea is to empower people, providing information before they are in danger.
• "Rape zones" are where attacks are most likely to occur.
  In Houston, KHOU-TV found the places most prone to sexual assaults. Women who lived in these areas should be alert to the dangers.
• DNA Testing: Justice on Hold?
  In Raleigh, WRAL-TV broke the story that hundreds of sexual assault kits had never been analyzed. The victims had no idea that the kits were never processed.

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