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Loading ...Alderman charged with groping sailor
05.21.2009 2:34pm EDT
(Annapolis, Maryland) An Annapolis alderman who was charged with a sexual crime and assault on a 21-year-old Naval Academy midshipman is denying the allegations and says he will fight them in court.
Police charging documents said Alderman Samuel Shropshire touched a male midshipman’s crotch last week in a car. Shropshire, a 61-year-old Democratic candidate for Annapolis mayor, was charged Tuesday with second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense, police said.The accusation “is untrue, it’s unfounded and it’s unfair,” Shropshire said while reading a statement at a news conference in Annapolis. “I did not take part in the actions I am accused of, and I know I will be found innocent of the accusation.”
Shropshire, elected city council alderman in 2005, had sponsored the midshipman under a Naval Academy program designed to give students a break from their rigorous military studies, his lawyer said.
Although the program has been around for decades, it has led to complaints before.
The (Baltimore) Sun reported in 2007 that investigative documents, which it had obtained, indicated at least 15 midshipmen said they were victims of some kind of sexual misconduct in their sponsors’ homes or at the hands of sponsors.
Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, an academy spokesman, said there are 1,600 sponsors in the program and all applicants are checked through sex offender and criminal record databases. Carpenter described the program as positive, giving midshipmen a chance to interact with the community.
“Allegations of sponsor misbehavior are extremely rare,” Carpenter said.
Shropshire’s attorney, Gill Cochran, said in an interview that the charges against his client are “untrue, unfair and unjust” and will be opposed in court.
According to police, Shropshire and the midshipman were in the car at about 11 p.m. when the alderman placed his hand on the man’s “crotch and grabbed his genitals” for about 30 seconds. The midshipman pushed Shropshire’s hand away, police said.
After Shropshire again touched his crotch, the midshipman asked him what he was doing and the alderman apologized, the 21-year-old told police. The midshipman then got out of the car.
He told police he has known Shropshire since 2007. Cochran said Shropshire had acted as an academy sponsor to the midshipman “until recently.” The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual assault.
No court dates have been set, Cochran said.
He added that he doesn’t know how the allegations will affect Shropshire’s bid for mayor in the 2009 primary.
“We’ll have to sort through that,” Cochran said.
In a separate case, a Navy doctor who hosted students at his house as part of the program was sentenced last year to two years in prison and kicked out of the military for setting up a secret camera to record midshipmen having sex.
Cmdr. Kevin Ronan maintained midshipmen made the tapes to extort money from him.
This story gives no evidence other than “he said/he said.” We can speculate all we want, but until we have more facts, we really don’t know anything.
What was this sailor doing during the first 30-second grope? Trying to decide if he liked it or not?
“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much”.
Is this alderman married? Aren’t there normally two sponsors – husband and wife? I have a feeling that there is more to this story. The midshipman has known Shropshire for several years. If Shropshire is guilty, didn’t the midshipman have some previous idea that Shropshire was sexually attracted? Why would a midshipman risk his navy career with a false accusation?
Entering into the Naval Academy requires top grades, academic excellence, some smarts and maybe the help of one’s local congress person.
Sounds like a reasonably large sponsor program.
My own relatives in Annapolis sponsored some nice midshipman. Polite,courteous, well-mannered young men. They were welcome to store some of their civilian clothes with my relatives and change out of their uniforms into regular clothes and relax for a while when on leisure time for an occasional afternoon away from the the academy for a few hours. Welcome to dine with the family if they wanted to.
He could have simply left and gotten himself another sponsor. But after all this, even if I were a straight man with no sexual interest in handsome
guys and not turned on by a close-fitting uniform,I wouldn’t want to sponsor him. After hearing about that situation, he would be a concern instead of a nice, mature young Navy man able to take care of himself out to interact with the local community.
The Naval Academy has a program where new midshipmen can be assigned to local families, who agree to act as a family away from home. Generally, they have Sat PM and most of Sunday off, get met by the sponsor family, and within the sponsors house need not wear uniforms, can relax, watch Tv. And also go with the sponsor etc to a movie, shopping etc.
We did this for a couple academy kids when our kids were in HS. One went on to a successful naval career. Two girls(you can sponsor up to 2) both gave up and left the academy.
Re the guy Shopshire, don’t know anything about him. If the allegations are true, it is too bad he isn’t a republican. He could then be part of the trailor for the Movie “outrage”
We live about 10 mi from Annapolis.
I hope the sailor has witness(es). Its not clear from the article but in Chicago an alderman is essentially a city council man.
I would suggest if there no witnesses that the sailor drop the charges. I hate to say it but he is in a rough position as it as usual another persons word against his and usually (unless a change of venue occurs) he will lose.
@Larry
I don’t really know anything about the program, but, it sounds like you’re saying that all Fresh Air Fund kids ought to expect to be groped sometime during their stay with their host families too; or, that all foreign exchange students are required to participate in an orgy as part of their obligation to their host families?
Perhaps all rape victims were just asking for it too. Look at the way they dress. They put on that snappy naval uniform and all. What the heck do they expect?
Is it still 1971? Haven’t we progressed at all?
The alderman had to touch the sailor twice before the sailor got out of the car? Sounds like a bit of indecisiveness to me. Disappointed, the sailor thinks:”Damn, this old guys a bottom, I’m outa’here’.
What is a 21 year-old doing hanging out with a 61 year-old man? It seems that he wanted something: access, influence… Its interesting that when something is asked of him, he ran down the street with his skirts over his head. It looks to me like a case of playing the big “straight” tease to keep the old guy salivating. I wonder how many dinners and parties this young innocent attended and accepted the access it granted without a qualm. When the old guy had the temerity to touch him he all of a sudden develops scruples???????
Damn, another “straight” guy that can not “resist a man in uniform”.