A rising senior at the United States Military Academy has been charged with first degree rape, a West Point spokesman confirmed to Army Times on Friday.
Cadet 1st Class Colton Horton, 22, is accused of using force and fear to assault a 22-year-old University of Tulsa student, according to charges filed with the district court in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.
Horton, a Tulsa native, was arrested at West Point on Thursday, Sgt. Jillian Phippen, the Tulsa police sex crimes officer, told Army Times.
The case stems from a July 11 get-together, Phippen said, when Horton and an acquaintance had dinner and drank wine at her on-campus apartment.
The victim felt uncomfortable at one point in the evening, Phippen said, and so she went to a neighbor’s house.
“She said he was acting weird and she wanted him to leave,” the sergeant said.
The neighbor and the victim went back to the victim’s apartment together but could not find any signs of Horton, so the neighbor left.
“She says she doesn’t recall what happened,” Phippen said of the victim, except that at one point, she was in her bed having intercourse with Horton.
After the incident, the victim went back to the neighbor’s home, wearing only a towel and ”very distraught,” the sergeant said.
“She had gone to her neighbor and she told them that she had been raped,” she said.
The neighbor returned to the apartment with the victim, where they found Horton and called campus security. Security alerted Tulsa police, and the victim was taken to a local hospital for a rape kit, which found bruising and tearing consistent with assault, Phippen said.
“That’s pretty typical,” Phippen said of the weeks between the report and the arrest. “We just conducted our investigation, interviewed witnesses.”
Horton is being held at West Point, she added, until arrangements can be made for his extradition back to Oklahoma.
“I’m sure it’ll be a little bit before he’s transported,” she said, adding that an arraignment will be set upon his return.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
