Air Force recruiter guilty of sex assaults

By LINDA GIBSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2000

TAMPA -- An Air Force recruiter was convicted Saturday night by a court martial jury at MacDill Air Force Base of forcible sodomy and sexual assault on female recruits.

Air Force Master Sgt. Raymond M. Allen faces a maximum sentence of life in a military prison. Sentencing is set for Monday. The jury will choose the sentence.

Allen, named one of the country's 10 best recruiters two years ago, maintained his innocence throughout the weeklong trial.

A 16-year veteran of the Air Force, Allen had been a recruiter in the Tampa area since 1995. In November he was assigned to manual labor while the Air Force investigated charges of sexual misconduct made against him by female recruits.

The charges included:

Forcible sodomy against a female pursuing enlistment.

Consensual sodomy with another recruit.

Assaulting a recruit and then telling her he would "f--- up her life" if she told anyone.

Attempting to date and develop intimate relationships with recruits, and making inappropriate comments about their physical appearance.

Advising a female applicant to conceal a medical condition that would disqualify her from service.

Wrongfully ordering a delayed entry recruit to report for duty or go to jail.

One of his accusers, a 17-year-old senior at Northeast High School, testified that she met Allen at a restaurant to talk about the Air Force and was later lured to his home and assaulted.

Allen's attorney, Joe Episcopo, dismissed the accusers as disgruntled recruits.

Allen told the Times last November that he had recruited 160 people during the past four years. About 40 percent of them were females, he said. Until that November, nobody had complained about him, he said.

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