An Air Force recruiter from the Houston area is being tried at a court-martial in San Antonio today. The recruiter faces charges of sexual misconduct with a dozen women, many of whom were high school students seeking careers in the Air Force.
Tech Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez is charged with sex crimes against 12 Air Force applicants and a recruiter assistant.
Rodriguez is charged with sex acts against just two of the women, but is charged with pursuing sexual relationships with the other ten, in persistent efforts that frightened some of the women who received hundreds of obscene text messages and photos.
Rodriguez was immediately removed from his duties as the manager of a recruitment station in Lake Jackson, Texas, which is near Houston, after the mother of one of the alleged victims turned him in to Air Force authorities.
That mother testified in the evidentiary hearing that she found indecent nude photos of Rodriguez on her daughter’s cell phone, along with almost a thousand text messages. The daughter was a high school ROTC student at the time.
Another alleged victim testified in the hearing that she was so upset by Rodriguez’s persistence and sexual advances that she would never join the Air Force. She instead joined the Navy.
Testimony at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland is expected to continue through Friday.
