Soldier rapist "sentenced" to 60 years (actually 20 years prison and 40 parole)

Army Specialist Menkaura Moss, 22, was sentenced to 60 years in prison, though eligible for parole in 20, for raping two woman and sexually assaulting a 3rd. A fourth victim, Samantha Tejeda, was attacked in her home and struggled with Moss until he was scared off. He took her bank card and used it to pay online bills and for online taxes. The attacks were solved by tracking Tejeda's stolen bank card.

Tejeda said the assault has left her fearful. “I’ll never trust — I’ll always be looking over my shoulder,” she said in court.

The attacks took place between New Years Eve and March. Three attacks took place at Moss' apartment complex, and the final attack plus 2 burglaries took place at a housing area near Ft. Benning, Georgia, where Moss was undergoing training.

All attacks occurred while Moss was looking for something to steal from other apartments. When he found a woman sleeping in the apartment which he burglarized, he pounced. His first attack was on a female Air Force airman on December 31st. He climbed through an open window to steal her purse, then made the woman commit sex acts.

According to the Fayettteville Observer:

The next assault was another of Moss’ neighbors, on Jan. 28. Again, while looking for something to steal, Moss broke into the apartment of an Army wife whose husband was deployed to Iraq. Her door was unlocked, Moss said.

The woman was sleeping on an air mattress in the living room with her 18-month-old daughter. The woman testified that she awoke to find Moss pulling her shirt over her head. She struggled. The child awoke and started crying. The woman said she did what Moss wanted, because she feared for their lives. “I just wanted us to make it through,” she said.

It is the policy of The Fayetteville Observer not to publish the names of victims of sexual assualt.

Moss raped her, forced her to perform sex acts on him and raped her again, she said. During the assault, she said, her crying daughter tried to stay by her.

Eventually, Moss ran out of the house with her purse. The woman said her husband returned from Iraq on 10-day emergency leave. She moved back home to the Midwest.
The attack strained her marriage, she said. On Feb. 22, she said, her husband called from Iraq and accused her of making it up.

Tejeda was attacked by Moss on February 15th. It took 10 days before he struck again. The Observer article reads:

On Feb. 25 at Fort Benning, Moss said, he once again went to a housing area near his barracks to steal. He discovered an unlocked back door, sneaked inside and found a young woman who had gotten up because she heard a noise. The woman, who was from out of town and was visiting her husband, had started dialing 911 on her cell phone when Moss found her. Her husband and his roommates were away at training.

She testified that she screamed and ran to the front door, but Moss grabbed her from behind. She and Moss described an intense struggle. She head-butted him and hit him. He hit her, slammed her head on the floor and choked her. She said she blacked out several times.

Moss said he forced her to perform sex acts and raped her. The woman said she now lives in fear and can’t stand to be by herself; when her husband is away, she goes to public places because she is too frightened to stay home alone.

Her husband, a West Point graduate, put his military career on hold to take care of her after the rape, she said. The couple testified that they were high school sweethearts and virgins when they married.

“We waited until marriage thinking it was something so special, and he took it! He took it!” the husband said.

The man said he still feels guilty because he had accidentally left the back door unlocked earlier that day. Moss told Parrish that he broke into two more unlocked homes at Fort Benning between Feb. 15 and March 16. He stole two laptops, a camera and a digital music player, he said.

Tejeda, Major Sara Root, and the judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, all believed that Moss should be sentenced to life in prison, but plea agreements take priority in the military system, and left Parrish with no choice but to impose the 60 year sentences (Brian's ed. - or 20 years with 40 years parole). Moss was also demoted to private and received a dishonorable discharge, with loss of all pay and benefits.