PORTLAND, Ore. – A soldier who said she was sexually harassed by noncommissioned officers and refused to return to Iraq will face a military trial.
Fort Lewis' commander referred Army Spc. Suzanne Swift's case to a special court-martial, Army officials said Wednesday.
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Swift, 22, of Eugene, Ore., was charged Sept. 27 with missing movement and being absent without leave. She claimed she had been harassed or abused by three noncommissioned officers — two in Iraq and one at Fort Lewis. She alleged that her supervisor in Iraq coerced her into a sexual relationship.
Swift, a military police officer with the 42nd Military Police Brigade, returned from serving a year in Iraq in February 2005. Her unit was sent back this past January, but she refused to go and hid for roughly five months.
Swift was arrested at her home in Eugene in June.
No date has been set for the court-martial, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Hitt said Wednesday.
Keith Scherer, Swift's lawyer, did not immediately return a message Wednesday.
Swift faces a maximum punishment of a one-year confinement.
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