Three Naval Academy football players charged with rape

Three Naval Academy football players were charged in the rape of a female midshipman and making false statements on Wednesday.

The academy filed the charges but did not identify the three charged men, according to the Washington Post. Their names will be officially released at a preliminary hearing, called an Article 32, which is expected to take place sometime this summer.

One is a current member of the football team and has been suspended, reports USA Today. The other two are no longer on the team.

Only weeks ago President Obama spoke to this year’s Naval Academy graduates encouraging them to “do what’s right” and help to lessen the burden of sexual assault in the American military.

The issue has been in the spotlight in recent months as the number of reported sexual crimes in the military increased.

“This case is still in the pre-trial phase, so any further comment on this ongoing investigation would be inappropriate,” John Schofield, a spokesman for the academy, commented, according to Reuters.

Susan Burke, the victim’s attorney, said her client got drunk and passed out at an off-campus party at the “football house” in April of last year in Annapolis, Maryland.

“She woke up at the football house the next morning with little recall of what had occurred,” Burke said in a statement in May. “She learned from friends and social media that three football players were claiming to have had sexual intercourse with her while she was incapacitated.”

One of the accused reportedly pressured the woman into not cooperating with the initial investigation, but she was “ostracized and retaliated against by the football players and the Naval Academy community.”

The woman was also disciplined by the Academy for drinking, but the men have not faced any disciplinary action.