Bet this really helps military recruiting

By Lee Russ

Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 12:39 PM

Another beauty from the Denver Post:

Recruiter arrested in sex assault The alleged victim's family called the Army, which took more than a week to tell them to report it to the police. By Manny Gonzales

A U.S. Army recruiter from the Greeley-Evans area was in jail Tuesday after his arrest on allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman he was trying to enlist, Fort Morgan authorities said.

The family contacted the Army right after the alleged assault, but it took Army officials more than a week to call back the family and tell them to go to civilian authorities, police said.

Army Sgt. Louis Chapa, 27, was arrested on Feb. 14 and booked into Morgan County Jail where he remained Tuesday on $150,000 bail, Sheriff James Crone said.

The arrest stems from an incident involving a woman in her 20s who said Chapa sexually assaulted her at her home on Feb. 3, Crone said.

"The family notified the Army on the 5th, thinking that because it was Army personnel that (it) had to go through military," Crone said. "On the 14th, the Army notified them that they needed to call civilian law enforcement."

Army Maj. Charles Mocilac, chief executive of the Denver Recruiting Battalion, would not comment about the allegations or why it took nine days to inform local authorities.

Mocilac said the Army takes "these allegations seriously" and is cooperating with local authorities.

Crone said the Army has turned over information and documents as part of the investigation. Investigators still are searching for witnesses, he said.

The victim was going through the recruitment process, Crone said. Investigators were trying to determine why Chapa would have visited her at her home. ... Although local authorities were not notified immediately, the woman did seek medical attention after the alleged attack, the sheriff said.

Crone declined to say whether a weapon was used. Mocilac said Chapa, if released from jail, would be suspended from recruiting duties and relegated to administrative work pending the results of the police investigation.