Army accused major of rape and sexual assault of at least 20 victims

Army Maj. Jonathan J. Batt may be court-martialed on charges including rape, assault and obstruction of justice, according to service officials. (US Air Force photo)

A Virginia-based Army major faces sex crime charges against at least 20 victims over a three-year period, the service’s Office of Special Trial Counsel said Friday.

Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the Office of Special Trial Counsel, said an Army attorney on Monday recommended that Maj. Jonathan J. Batt be tried by a court-martial on charges including rape, assault and obstruction of justice. The official said the office will soon decide whether to move the case to a military court.

McCaskill said the charges include 76 different definitions of crime, from rape to sexual assault, from assault to obstructing an investigation. The military filed the charges on Oct. 16, and the agency’s Criminal Investigation Division announced Friday that the investigation remains open and ongoing.

Batt is a 2007 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. He was commissioned as an infantry officer and served with the 82nd Airborne Division, 5th Ranger Training Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, 75th Ranger Regiment and 3rd Infantry. Regiment according to service records. He served at least four combat tours in Afghanistan and was most recently assigned to the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center in Crystal City in northern Virginia.

Authorities said Friday that Batt was taken into custody.

Army officials declined to provide detailed information about the case against Batt, including charging documents and court records. The Office of the Special Trial Council said in a statement on Friday that people with information about the case should report the information to the Army CID.

McCaskill said Batt was charged with “14 specifications of rape, 20 specifications of sexual assault, 3 specifications of abusive sexual intercourse, 15 specifications of aggravated assault by strangulation, one specification of aggravated assault by strangulation, 22 specifications of assault supplemented by battery.” and a characteristic of obstruction of justice. He said the attacks took place between December 1, 2019 and February 17, 2023.

He said most of the attacks occurred in the Washington, D.C., area. The case was first reported to plainclothes police in Alexandria, Virginia, and police notified CID, McCaskill said. CID agents later found additional victims who reported being attacked by Batt.

Batt’s civil attorney, Nathan Freeburg, declined to comment on the case Friday through law firm partner Phil Cave.

The Office of Special Trial Counsel was created by the Army last year after Congress mandated that the military establish independent offices to prosecute certain felony-level crimes, including sexual assault. Batt will be brought to trial and his case will be assigned to a military judge if the department sends the charges to a general court-martial, McCaskill said. He did not say when such a decision might be made.