A sergeant first class on the staff of the United States Military Academy at West Point has been accused of secretly videotaping several female cadets -- sometimes when they were naked in the bathroom or shower -- the New York Times website reports today (May 23, 2013).
The Army is contacting over a dozen women to alert them that their privacy may have been violated by the suspect, identified as Sergeant First Class (SFC) Michael McClendon, and to offer them support and counseling, officials said. SFC McClendon, of Blakely, Georgia, faces several charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as a result of filming the women while they were naked for the past four years.
The allegations at West Point -- the nation's oldest and most prestigious military academy -- come in the midst of growing outrage in Congress, at the Pentagon, and from President Obama over reports of a huge amount of sexual harassment and assault cases in the armed services in 2012. Women have been enrolled at the two-century-old military institution -- located on a commanding bank of the Hudson River in upstate New York -- for nearly 40 years.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel -- who is to deliver the commencement address at West Point on Saturday (May 25) -- was briefed on the case yesterday. Pentagon officials described him as being "concerned and disturbed" by the allegations.
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