Sex crimes in the military are no laughing matter.

Sexual Crimes are no laughing matter. This is a true situation, not a prank and there is no ‘gotcha’ moment at the end of this story, but it is shocking nonetheless. The U.S. Army is kicking off events for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month under the crippling truth that sexual violence is rampant within their ranks.

Sexual assault, battery and rape are not only issues occurring on active duty, the guard and the reserves have a repulsive epidemic surrounding this culture, which lacks accountability and action for the offender and leadership.

Take for instance the 416th Theater Engineer Command out of Darien, Illinois, who 17-months ago place their victim advocate on paid suspension for exposing leadership failures who unethically handle cases of military sexual trauma victims.

However, recently the 416th TEC has another employee, Benigno Velasquez, who appeared in court today in Racine County for attempting to initiate sexual contact with an underage boy in Racine, Wisconsin.

Velasquez charged with felony counts of use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and child enticement and a misdemeanor count of attempt sexual intercourse with a child. At least 18 military computers confiscated during the sting that Velasquez had in his possession.

In spite of these charges, the 416th TEC still employs Velasquez as a logistical specialist and the computers found are allegedly government computers.

This Illinois-based unit is the same unit that is part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that unit officers mishandled sexual misconduct complaints and retaliated against a whistleblower.

Since the initial whistleblower disclosure, the 416th TEC commanding general, Maj. Gen. Matthew Baker replaced Maj. Gen Miyako Schanely. Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels is the new chief of Army Reserve and commanding general, U.S. Army Reserve Command, who replaced Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, only one month after the Whistleblower investigation began.

Even under new leadership, the unit continues to foster a culture that is not in line with the U.S. Army Reserve Sexual Assault and Harassment Prevention Program or Army Values.

The Army expects all soldiers and Army civilian employees to treat others with dignity and respect, live the Army Values, and foster a culture of prevention, intervention and accountability.

Prevention is a team effort but starts with the individual within Army units, organizations and communities because of the lack of prevention and intervention this unit failed to keep the public it serves safe.

Velasquez knowingly had a conversation with an underage male on Grindr, a dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people even after the boy informed other users that he was underage.

Thankfully, the boy reported the messages to law enforcement; many allegedly contained sexual acts that Velasquez wanted to perform on the boy.

An investigator continued the conversation and they agreed to meet at a local donut shop, after the arrest was made, Velasquez admitted to officers he sent sexual messages even though he knew the boy was underage.

On March 13, 2021, after learning about Velasquez’s arrest, the unit was contacted to inquire why the unit failed to suspend or fire him. At the time of writing this article, two weeks later Maj. Gen. Baker and Maj. Khoran Lee, 416th Public Affairs Officer failed to provide comment.

The last response received was, “I will get back to you with the responses as soon as I can,” Lee, on March 17, 2021.

On the sexual assault continuum and impacts on readiness: rape, abusive sexual contact and aggravated sexual contact have the worst impacts on a unit’s overall mission readiness by destroying trust, teams and unit cohesion.

The 416th TEC allowed a pervasive culture to continue when they retaliated against Amy Franck, a civilian victim advocate who disclosed that the command launched internal investigations into at least two complaints rather than refer them to the Army’s criminal investigation division as required by military policy and federal law.

Their actions broke the bonds of trust and unit cohesion at every level, which failed to prosecute offenders and unsuccessfully protect survivors.

As we move into SHARP Awareness Month, prepare for gaslighting from every branch of service, that all cases of sexual misconduct are taken seriously, that victims are cared for, that these instances are isolated and the military is doing everything possible to put an end to this issue.

The American people want to see improvements for our service members and seeking justice for victims and most importantly quit allowing sexual predators to continue to infiltrate the military institution.

Although, it appears to be some bad April fool’s joke gone wrong — this is the truth occurring at every level of responsibility in the military, those who stand up for what is right are retaliated against, like Franck. While those who commit sexually violent crimes get the benefit of still serving.

Velasquez bail/bond hearing is on April 13, 2021 at 9:15am at the Racine County Circuit Court.