A soldier who was not prosecuted by the US army for raping the wife of his comrade raped two more women when his commanding officers let him free.
Randall S. Hughes has been sentenced to 13 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges. He is set to be taken to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he will serve his time.
According to reports, the first attack occurred in Colorado. Two attacks happened in Texas, while the fourth attack – on his 16-year-old daughter – took place in New Jersey.
Leah Ramirez, one of Hughes’ victims, told Army Times that investigators decided to let the attacker walk free with only a warning even though they found her account credible.
“They just told me the command said this is what it was — this is how it is,” she expressed.
Her ordeal started when her husband, Staff Sgt. Arnulfo Ramirez III, invited Hughes to a Super Bowl party at their Texas home in 2017.
Her husband, encouraged by Hughes, drank shots of whiskey during the evening and passed out. She then put him to bed and everyone else left after the party.
But when she was outside alone with Hughes, he grabbed her and forced himself upon her against a grill. He also dragged her by the hair into her home and raped her.
Ramirez said she hid in the bathroom until Hughes left the house. “I waited until the morning and then I went to the hospital to get checked,” she said.
“It took CID 48 hours to get into my house for evidence, so I lived in the crime scene for 48 hours,” Ramirez expressed.
“And then, it took three years to do anything.”
The army declined to prosecute Hughes and only gave him a written warning.
“I was told CID had enough evidence to believe it happened, and Fort Bliss still didn’t do anything,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez was not aware that before Hughes moved to Fort Bliss, his former wife accused him of rape in 2006.
As officials investigate Ramirez’s case, Hughes raped his then-girlfriend at Fort Bliss in 2017.
That same year, Hughes’ estranged daughter, Lesley Medsen, and her mother, Chayla Madsen, moved in with him. They were oblivious to the previous three rape allegations.
“I never had any idea something like this was open,” Madsen said. She said that Hughes took the teen in just to distract investigators.
Lesley, now 17, revealed that her father did inappropriate things during her stay at Fort Bliss.
On March 25 last year, he gave her sleeping medication before raping her.
“He was taking a plea deal, so he wanted to plead to get the minimum amount of years,” Lesley said. She asked to be named in the Army Times article to highlight the series of missed opportunities to put her father in prison.
“I want people to know I’m a minor and I want them to know that I’m a daughter,” she expressed.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!
Replaced!