Washington:
The US Army is investigating one of its sergeants for sexual assault - one who is in charge of a sexual assault prevention program, the Pentagon admitted on Tuesday.
The sergeant, whose name was not released, is based at Fort Hood, Texas, and has been suspended from all duties, the Defense Department said in a statement, pending his investigation for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.
"The soldier had been assigned as an Equal Opportunity Advisor and Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) program coordinator with one of the III Corps' subordinate battalions when the allegations surfaced," the statement said.
"The accused was immediately suspended from all duties by the chain of command once the allegations were brought to the command's attention. There have been no charges filed or preferred at this time."
The allegations come just days after the head of the US Air Force's rape prevention program was charged with sexual battery in Virginia.
The probe also comes just a week after a report showing that sexual assault in the army were on the rise. Reported cases rose to 3,374 in 2012, up six percent from the previous year, though they are far from universally reported.
Meanwhile the Air Force also has been rocked by a scandal at its main training center in Lackland, Texas, where more than a dozen training instructors have been accused of misconduct with recruits, including sexual assault.
The number of people who were victims of unwanted sexual contact - a catchall term including everything from innuendo to rape - surged by a third with 26,000 men and women reporting incidents in 2012.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, after learning the details of the latest case, has voiced "frustration, anger, and disappointment over these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply," his spokesman George Little said.
Hagel "is looking urgently at every course of action to stamp out this deplorable conduct and ensure that those individuals up and down the chain of command who tolerate or engage in this behavior are appropriately held accountable," Little added.
"Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," said Senator Carl Levin. "The Senate Armed Services Committee is considering a number of measures, including changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to address sexual assault and related issues in the military, and will act on them during our consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act next month."
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P "Buck" McKeon echoed the disappointment.
"I am outraged and disgusted by the reports out of Fort Hood today. It is the latest chapter in a long, sordid history of sexual abuse in our Armed Forces," he said. "I see no meaningful distinction between complacency or complicity in the military's latest failure to uphold their own standards of conduct."
Just last week President Barack Obama sharply warned there would be "no tolerance" for the "outrage" of sexual violence in the military, and said those guilty of such crimes had betrayed their uniform.
Obama said he stood squarely behind the victims, and called on the Pentagon to crack down on sexual assaults within the armed forces.