European edition, Sunday, July 8, 2007

MANNHEIM, Germany — An Army sergeant convicted of sexually assaulting a woman last July then raping another woman in November has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Sgt. Roberto Triqueros, with Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment, 28th Transportation Battalion, was sentenced in Mannheim on June 27 to six years and 11 months for the rape, indecent assault and a charge of adultery by military judge Col. James Pohl. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 13 years.

Triqueros was also sentenced to be dishonorably discharged.

Pohl found Triqueros, 27, guilty at a court-martial ending June 14, rejecting Triqueros’ claims that his contact with the two women had been consensual.

According to authorities, on July 20, 2006, Triqueros sexually assaulted the 22-year-old wife of a soldier in Spinneli Barracks in Mannheim. She had been out on the town with a group, and when they returned to the barracks, the intoxicated woman fell asleep. Triqueros went into the room and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.

Four months later — while the first case was under investigation — Triqueros raped a woman in his Funari Barracks quarters, the judge found. The rape occurred after a Nov. 9 dinner party, during which the woman had drunk a good deal of wine, according to authorities.

The victim was the 23-year-old wife of another soldier.

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