Fort Lewis soldier who went AWOL recommended for court-martial

A soldier who said she was sexually harassed by noncommissioned officers and refused to return to Iraq will face a military trial.

Lt. Gen. James Dubik, commander of Fort Lewis near Tacoma, referred Army Spc. Suzanne Swift's case to a special court-martial, Army officials said today.

A special court-martial means that an Article 32 hearing, the military's form of a grand jury, is not required and the maximum punishment is 12 months confinement.

Swift, 22, of Eugene, Ore., was charged Sept. 27 with missing movement and being absent without leave after she refused to return to Iraq and alleged her supervisor there coerced her into a sexual relationship.

Swift, a member of the 54th Military Police Co. of the 42nd Military Police Brigade at Fort Lewis, served in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005.

Her unit was sent back in January 2006, but she refused to go and stayed away for roughly five months.

Swift was arrested at her mother's home in Eugene in June. She claimed she had been harassed or abused by three noncommissioned officers - two in Iraq and one at Fort Lewis.

Before any disciplinary action was taken, the Army conducted an investigation into Swift's allegations. "The command substantiated one allegation she made against a soldier at Fort Lewis and did not substantiate two allegations she made against soldiers in Iraq," Army officials said in a news release.

On the advice of her lawyer, Swift did not provide a sworn statement to investigators, the Army said.

No date had yet been set for the court-martial, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Hitt said.

Swift's mother, Sara Rich, told The Associated Press she was not commenting on the case on the advice of her daughter's attorney, Keith Scherer in Chicago.

Scherer did not immediately return a message Wednesday.