Missouri
Sergeant accused of assaulting soldiers sexually
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (AP) — A former drill sergeant at a Missouri Army post is accused of sexually assaulting several female soldiers during the past three years, including at least one while he was deployed in Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Angel M. Sanchez appeared at a pretrial hearing at Fort Leonard Wood on Wednesday and could face a court-martial later this year, the Washington Post reported.
Military prosecutors allege that, among other things, Sanchez used his position as a drill sergeant on the Army post to threaten some of the women he’s accused of assaulting. He is accused of sexually assaulting four women and assaulting eight others by touching them inappropriately, Tiffany Wood, a Fort Leonard Wood spokeswoman, told the newspaper.
Sanchez served one tour each in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning a Bronze Star. He arrived at the Missouri post in August and trained new soldiers with the 14th Military Police Brigade, but he no longer performs drill-sergeant duty and now works an office job with his unit, Wood said.
Several of the women Sanchez is accused of attacking testified at Wednesday’s hearing.
Sanchez’s lawyer, Ernesto Gapasin, told the paper “there are a lot of issues with the credibility of the witnesses and the government’s case.” He said Sanchez was told of the charges by his commanding officer on May 13.
According to the charging documents, Sanchez’s alleged crimes date back to his year in Afghanistan, which lasted from March 2011 until March 2012. Prosecutors allege that during that time, Sanchez raped a female service member in a temporary housing unit for women on the base. He is also accused of sexually harassing female soldiers during that time.
Prosecutors also allege that Sanchez committed several sexual assaults at Fort Leonard Wood between Sept. 17 and Jan. 31 of last year. In one attack, Sanchez made a soldier fear she would be kicked out of the Army if she didn’t engage in sexual acts, the charging documents state. He forced her to perform oral sex on him in an office he shared with other drill sergeants, military officials said.
Sexual assault has been a front-burner issue for the Pentagon, Congress and the White House over the past year, triggering Capitol Hill hearings and persistent questions about how effectively the military was preventing and prosecuting assaults and how well it was treating the victims. Fueling outrage have been high-profile assault cases and arrests, including incidents involving senior commanders, sexual assault prevention officers and military trainers.
At the same time, the military has long struggled to get victims to report sexual assault in a stern military culture that emphasizes rank, loyalty and toughness. Some victims have complained they were afraid to report assaults to ranking officers for fear of retribution, or said that their initial complaints were rebuffed or ignored.
The Senate passed a bill in March that would remove military commanders’ ability to overturn sexual assault convictions, provide alleged victims with an independent lawyer, and require convicted military members to be sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, at the minimum. The House hasn’t voted on the bill.
Pennsylvania
41 face charges in insurance scam with deer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Forty-one people in Philadelphia are facing charges in what prosecutors call an elaborate insurance fraud scheme that used dead deer to fake car accidents.
Ronald Galati Sr. is accused of running a $5 million scam out of his auto body shop.
District Attorney Seth Williams said Wednesday that Galati coached customers to claim they’d struck a deer rather than a car. That way, insurance companies would consider them “no fault” accidents and pay the claims without raising the customers’ premiums.
Investigators say Galati stored deer carcasses, blood and fur in the back of his shop to use as props.
Also charged are Galati’s wife, son and daughter, several insurance adjusters, tow truck drivers, a city official and a police officer.
Defense attorney Anthony Voci said he couldn’t comment specifically on the charges because he hadn’t seen the grand jury presentment but that his client is innocent until proven guilty.
California
City votes to end hot sauce dispute
IRWINDALE, Calif. (AP) — The fiery fight is apparently over between the makers of a popular hot sauce and a small Southern California city that said its factory’s smells were unbearable.
The Irwindale City Council voted Wednesday night to drop a public nuisance declaration and lawsuit against Huy Fong Foods, makers of Sriracha (suhr-AH’-chuh) hot sauce. The dual moves brought an effective end to the spicy-air dispute that had Sriracha devotees worried about future sauce shortages and had suitors including the state of Texas offering Huy Fong a friendlier home.
The closed-session council vote was unanimous with one councilman abstaining due to a conflict of interest, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.
Residents and business leaders praised the vote that some called overdue.
“Thank you so much for saving Irwindale because we were headed in the wrong direction,” Irwindale Fred Barbosa, who lives in Irwindale, told the Tribune after the vote.
Bob Machuca of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. said the resolution showed California is “open for business” and is “what we needed to do a long time ago.”
The city of about 1,400 people had been at odds with the company, which recently moved its main operations there, after residents complained last year of spicy odors burned their throats and eyes.
It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the council change its position, but the company had been asking the city for more time as it worked with regional air-quality officials on a plan to make the smell go away.
But city officials met behind closed doors Tuesday with company CEO David Tran and representatives of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Business and Economic Development Office. Afterward Mayor Mark Breceda said he would ask the council to end the fight.
“We forged a relationship,” City Councilman Julian Miranda said Wednesday night. “Let’s keep that going.”
Tran, an immigrant from Vietnam whose company produces several chili sauces based on the flavors of his native country, said Tuesday that he installed stronger filters at the plant, and he’s confident they will block fumes when the chili-grinding season begins in August.
