Two U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Leonard Wood face felony charges after allegedly having illegal sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl in Texas County.
Desmond Alexander and Brandon Wade, both 21, are charged with first-degree statutory rape (an unclassified felony).
According to reports written by a Houston Police Department officer handling the cases under jurisdiction gained by being deputized with the Texas County Sheriff’s Department, the cases developed during an investigation of a teenage girl reported missing from a residence north of Houston.
As investigation progressed, the girl reportedly told the officer she had relations with each suspect when she was 13 years old. The suspects said incidents were consensual.
The officer reported that the girl stated she had relations with Wade at a motel in Licking late last June and with Alexander inside a vehicle parked on a county road off of Highway N in late August.
Alexander and Wade were detained by Fort Leonard Wood police and then transported back to Texas County by sheriff’s department officers. They were booked into jail with bonds set at $200,000 apiece.