Sexual Assault From The Halls Of Montezuma To A Class At Middle School

Two months before the United States Marine Corps assigned a Marine to speak at a middle school on Career Day, the Marine had been court-martialed for the sexual assault of three female members of the Corps. The result of the court-martial was that he was retained in the Corps and assigned to recruitment detail awaiting discharge. On the day he came to the middle school wearing his Dress Blue uniform, after speaking to the class, he spotted one of the girls in the class walking home and offered her a ride. Instead of taking her home, he drove her around for a while, parked the car, kissed her, touched her breasts, asked her to touch his erect penis and eventually attempted sexual penetration.  When the girl began to cry, he stopped, told her not to tell anyone about it and drove her home. More than two years later, the girl was subpoenaed as a witness in the sexual assault of another minor. It was at that time that the girl and her mother learned of his history of sexual assaults prior to being sent to the middle school. The girl then filed suit in federal court, and the trial judge dismissed her claim as untimely under the Federal Tort Claims Act [FTCA; 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)] which has a two-year statute of limitations. The Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded the matter for the district court to consider equitable tolling. (Gallardo v. United States of America (Ninth Cir.; April 15, 2014) (As Amended, June 3, 2014) (Case No. 12-55255).)