Relationship complicates AFA case

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 24, 2004 | by PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

"We had been talking for awhile by then, so it wasn't that big of a deal," he said. "It solidified the intention of where we were going with the relationship."

In February, the two began chatting online, Mountjoy-Pepka told investigators, mostly about sex and that it was "common knowledge" she was a "sex machine."

In an undated e-mail exchange contained in the investigation file, Seawell asked if she had ever fantasized about being raped. She responded: "I think almost every girl does."

Her account to investigators:

Seawell asked if he could bring a compact disc to her room. After returning from the shower wearing only her robe, she dressed in front of him.

She asked him to leave, but he began kissing her mouth and body. She thought if she allowed some sexual activity he would leave. She couldn't remember details.

The following Sunday, Seawell came to her room when she was in her underwear ironing her uniform. He chased her around the room, pushed her onto a bed, held her down and raped her. She didn't call for help because she wanted to avoid cadet discipline, she said. She laughed when he performed oral sex. A loud noise in the hall prompted him to dress and leave.

After that, she went to Seawell's room three times, including a visit that involved "sexual activity," but she couldn't recall if there was penetration, she told investigators.

She realized she'd been raped during the Sunday encounter after Seawell asked her for a character reference in April, she told investigators.

During a March 10 online chat, Mountjoy-Pepka doesn't mention rape. In a March 12 chat, she acknowledged it wasn't easy staying quiet during their encounter.

Seawell: "You weren't loud at all on Sunday."

Mountjoy-Pepka: "I was biting my lip.... When I'm free to do so it gets really fun."

She also talked about his anatomy and her fantasies of sex acts in graphic detail.

Seawell told The Gazette although they were both naked together several times, they never had sex. "There was a lot of heavy petting," he said. "We did everything up to actually having sex. I contend everything that happened was consensual."

The rape was reported to the cadet counseling center in April by Mountjoy-Pepka's boyfriend during sexual assault awareness week that included an advisory on amnesty for victims. He later told investigators she described an encounter in which Seawell fondled her as "no big deal."

Investigators interviewed Mountjoy-Pepka on April 22.

Within seven days, they questioned the boyfriend and her roommates. One roommate described Mountjoy-Pepka as promiscuous, and two others said she frequently talked about sex.

One said Mountjoy-Pepka talked of the sexual exploits with her boyfriend that had gotten her into disciplinary trouble.

The roommate said Mountjoy-Pepka feared she'd be booted from the academy.

Her boyfriend and her roommates declined to comment for this story.

Mountjoy-Pepka later left the academy. The academy wouldn't disclose why.

CASE GOES PUBLIC

In January 2003, the Air Force launched an investigation after receiving allegations the academy didn't fully investigate rapes and punished women for coming forward.