Sexual assault complaints filed on behalf of former Coast Guard Academy cadets
New London ― Attorneys on Thursday filed administrative complaints under the Federal Tort Claims Act on behalf of 13 former U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets ― 12 women and one man ― who were allegedly sexually assaulted during their time at the academy.
The 13 separate complaints allege the U.S. Coast Guard failed to adequately protect the cadets from sexual assault and “condoned and actively concealed the rampant nature of sexual assault and harassment of Academy students, knowingly placing the claimants and other cadets in danger,” the law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp announced in a news release.
Named in the complaints were the Coast Guard; its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and its former parent agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“The Coast Guard has received these claims and federal law prevents us from discussing the details,” Cmdr. Krystyn Pecora, the academy’s external affairs officer, said in a statement late Thursday afternoon. “The Coast Guard will resolve the claims in accordance with the Federal Tort Claims Act and any other applicable law.”
Sanford Heisler Sharp said the claimants seek to hold the Coast Guard accountable through the FTCA, a federal statute that permits individuals to bring legal claims against federal agencies for torts, or wrongful acts, committed by their employees. Before filing an FTCA complaint in court, an individual must first file an administrative complaint with the agency at fault.
The agency then has six months to investigate the claim. After that, the individual may file a lawsuit against the agency in federal court.
Sanford Heisler Sharp, which describes itself as a national public interest class-action law firm, characterized the complaints as the first collective action ever taken against a U.S. service academy by survivors of sexual violence. It said it believes the complaints will prompt more cadets to come forward with similar claims.
“Today’s filings are just the tip of the iceberg,” Christine Dunn, a Sanford Heisler Sharp partner, said in the release. “We know that there are numerous women and men who were sexually assaulted at the Coast Guard Academy and have never gotten justice. We know that there is strength in numbers and hope that bringing legal claims on behalf of multiple survivors is an important step in holding the Coast Guard Academy accountable for failing to keep cadets safe.”
Dunn said the firm is seeking $10 million in damages for each client.
The claimants also are represented by J. Ryan Melogy of the New York law firm Maritime Legal Solutions PLLC.
Thursday’s complaints are the first “real legal action” filed since revelations about the Coast Guard’s mishandling of an internal investigation of decades of sexual misconduct at the academy surfaced, the law firm said. CNN, the cable news network, brought the issue to light in 2023 when it revealed the existence of the “Operation Fouled Anchor” report, which Coast Guard leadership had withheld from Congress and the public.
More recently, U.S. Senate panels have conducted hearings on the matter and taken testimony from numerous whistleblowers and victims of alleged sexual assaults.
According to the Sanford Heisler Sharp release, the complaints filed Thursday provide details of the claimants’ sexual assaults.
“Several claimants were sexually assaulted in their dorm rooms by classmates who entered their living spaces without permission, enabled by an Academy policy that prevented cadets from locking their doors,” the law firm said. “One claimant endured severe psychological and physical attacks by fellow classmates, culminating in the claimant being pinned to the floor and smacked repeatedly in the face with one attacker’s penis. Another claimant endured sexual assaults at the Academy, and later while on Coast Guard ships, including multiple gang rapes.”
The complaints also detail the Coast Guard’s responses to the claimants’ alleged sexual assaults.
“For example,” the firm said, “Academy leaders punished one claimant in connection with her sexual assault because she willingly allowed the perpetrator to hug her, even though he went on to escalate the hug into a sexual assault. The Coast Guard informed another claimant that the Academy did not investigate her sexual assault report because she had blonde hair and wore make up.
“The male claimant was told that ‘things like that don’t happen to real men,’ when he tried to report the sexual assault. Other claimants were actively discouraged from filing official reports, being told that it would negatively impact their career and that of their assailant.”
b.hallenbeck@theday.com
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