Editor’s note: An Air Force Academy cadet was found not guilty Friday, Jan. 12, of sexually assaulting a woman who is now an Air Force officer. Lt. Col. Judge Dayle Percle ruled Cadet Tony Heidelberger not guilty of any sexual assault charges in a court-martial that started two days earlier.

An Air Force officer tearfully recounted an alleged sexual assault Wednesday during the court-martial of a Air Force Academy cadet. 

Cadet Tony Heidelberger is facing allegations he sexually assaulted the woman in August 2022 when they were both cadets at the academy. The two met at Hap’s Place, a bar on the base, on a Friday night and the next day made plans to spend time together, the woman said.

After drinking vodka and Gatorade on Aug. 20, 2022, the two went back to the bar on campus, where they spent about three hours and continued drinking with another cadet, she said. She did not have dinner. Around midnight, she went back to Heidelberger’s room to watch a movie with him.

While they were watching the movie, he drew her close and started kissing her. He also began touching her and licking her ears. While even the French kissing made the woman uncomfortable because she had never kissed anyone before, she did not say anything. The activities escalated to oral sex and penetration, she said.

“I was very uncomfortable and freaked out,” she said, noting that she did not know before the encounter that oral sex was an activity people engaged in.  

The woman said her memory of these events is fuzzy and that she could not provide clear details of how certain events happened, such as how she got undressed. She said she had no memory of events such as a drape being placed over the bunkbed and Heidelberger going to get a condom. 

But she said she did remember Heidelberger asking whether she wanted to just go to sleep and she said yes. 

She testified that she woke up to a sharp pain from his penis in her vagina. She said “ouch” several times during the penetration and tried to take it out. But when he did not stop, she decided to pretend she had gone back to sleep, because she remembered that a sleeping person cannot give consent.

“I wish I had screamed,” she said.

During the assault, she said she was facing the wall in a bunkbed and that Heidelberger, who is a large rugby player, was behind her, blocking the only exit. 

“I was trapped,” she said. “I was up against the wall and there was no way out.” 

The next day, after taking a shower and teaching Bible study, she said she went to Walmart to buy a morning-after pill, because she was not sure if Heidelberger had used a condom. 

When she couldn’t find the appropriate medications and couldn’t bring herself to ask, she left the store and called the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response hotline provided to cadets. The professionals advised her to go in for a sexual assault nurse exam. She went to the hospital for an exam later in the day, and the nurse did not find any injuries. 

She testified that she was not aware the exam had not found any injuries until Saturday. She said she thought the pain she experienced from the experience was caused by injuries. 

The nurse who did the exam, Constance Whitrock, testified on Wednesday that the absence of injuries does not mean an assault did not occur. 

While the defense team did not give opening statements, defense attorney Carol Thompson pointed out several inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony, including telling people she received injuries from the incident that she did not receive. 

The attorney also questioned how she could have such a clear memory of certain moments in the night when she could not recall many others. 

The court-martial is ongoing this week and a military judge will determine whether Heidelberger is guilty.

The Air Force Academy’s Honor Code is displayed on the school’s terrazzo.

Gazette file