Commanders of a sprawling U.S. Army Reserve unit are accused of mishandling claims of sexual misconduct within their ranks.
In this Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, photo, Amy Braley Franck, a civilian victim advocate with the 416th Theater Engineer Command, poses for a portrait with more than 800 pages from several sexual abuse reports at her home in Oswego, Ill. Leaders of the U.S.
“I can’t with a clear conscience say, ’Oh, yeah, report your sexual assault. We’ll take care of you,” Braley Franck said. No one held a sexual assault management meeting during her tenure until this month, even though the DOD has required such meetings to be held monthly since 2006 to ensure a coordinated response and that victims are protected and can access services.
In the first 416th case, Capt. Joseph Runhke of the 739th Engineer Company within the 416th investigated allegations from two soldiers that a male specialist had sexually assaulted a female private during a lunch break at the company’s base in Granite City, Illinois, in September 2017 and again outside the woman’s workplace in Springfield, Illinois, the following April.
Lt. Anthony Perkins, her unit’s executive officer, wrote in a memo that he notified his commander in April about Joachimstaler’s allegations and was told the commander would take care of it. In the memo, which Joachimstaler shared with AP, Perkins wrote that he reminded his commander that he had to report such complaints, but the commander refused to do anything and warned Perkins to back him up or he would be removed.
Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, said in a statement that he couldn’t comment due to “an ongoing investigation.” He didn’t elaborate.
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