During an incident in September 2015, Seaman Recruit Xavier Johnson allegedly tried to smother the woman with a pillow, struck her head against the floor and choked her. He then sexually assaulted her as she lay unconscious. Johnson joined the Navy in November 2015 and was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush.
Johnson did not enter a plea when he was arraigned in military court on Monday, and is currently held at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake. He is also charged with an April assault of a civilian woman in Virginia.
Prosecutors say Johnson also harassed the woman by instructing her to tell people she fell down a flight of stairs to explain her injuries, and called her pretending to be his brother, even though he does not have a brother, pressuring her to cease cooperating with the investigation.
He is also charged with ripping hair from the woman’s head and biting her finger.
