By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot
May 28, 2009
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/woman-testifies-against-navy-chaplain-accused-rape
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| Lt. Shane Dillman, former chaplain aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, faces a general court-martial on rape and fraternization charges. |
They met soon after she reported to the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in Newport News in 2007.
She was an airman, just a few months out of boot camp, living on the East Coast for the first time.
Chaplain Shane Dillman was a lieutenant who met every new sailor during indoctrination briefs. He told them all to come see him if they ever wanted to talk.
She eventually took him up on the offer. She was 20 years old, struggling with immigration problems, a crumbling marriage and homesickness.
She went to him to talk about it all.
Their interactions eventually led to charges against Dillman, including rape. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to some charges but maintains his innocence on the count of rape. On Wednesday, the woman testified in court.
The Virginian-Pilot is withholding her name because she is an alleged rape victim.
In their initial meeting, the woman testified, Dillman was sympathetic. He talked about struggles in his own marriage.
The Pentecostal chaplain asked her whether she used exercise to relieve stress and suggested they work out together. They did - the first time with a third sailor at her barracks in Huntington Hall.
She felt uncomfortable, she said, when Dillman wrestled her on the grass as part of the workout. She told him to stop.
The second time, on Oct. 6, 2007, Dillman picked her up and they worked out at Langley Air Force Base, then stopped by his Newport News apartment on the way back.
She waited outside in his yellow Mustang.
He invited her in to eat the Taco Bell they'd picked up.
She said they sat on a futon. When she mentioned being sore from the workout, he suggested a massage. He took her to the bedroom, put sheets on the bare mattress, told her to take off whatever clothing she wanted, and left the room.
She removed her shoes.
She lay down, and soon Dillman was massaging her legs. He told her to flip over, tried to kiss her, said she was beautiful.
She told him she was uncomfortable, but he kept telling her to relax.
They lay on the bed, talking. She didn't try to leave, she said - he was between her and the door.
Then he straddled her waist, pulled down his shorts, and told her to touch his penis, she said.
She said Dillman grabbed her hands and held them above her head. He pulled down her shorts, but she protested, she said, and tried to push him away. She said, "I don't want this," and "no."
Then, she said, he put his penis inside her, stopping only when she screamed. She ran into the bathroom and locked the door, she said.
Tears - and apologies - followed. Dillman eventually persuaded her to come out of the bathroom.
The chaplain, she said, told her he was sorry, and he gave her a necklace as an apology.
"After I convinced him I was fine, that I was OK, that I wasn't going to say anything, he drove me home," she said.
She kept her word - for five months. The woman, now stationed at another local Navy base, said she tried to forget the incident ever happened.
In March, she broke down. After a suicide attempt, she acknowledged an assault, and days later filed a report with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Dillman was charged in July with rape, as well as adultery, fraternization, making threats, and conduct unbecoming an officer. The charges, in total, allege misdeeds with four junior enlisted women at multiple commands over three years.
Dillman faces life in prison if convicted of rape, and up to nine years for the charges to which he already plead guilty.
He's been on administrative duty since he was charged, and his credentials as a minister have been revoked.
The court also heard Wednesday from forensic psychiatrist Dr. Keith Caruso.
Caruso, a retired naval officer who used to head the forensic psychiatry departments at both Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, interviewed all four of Dillman's alleged victims.
He diagnosed the alleged rape victim with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She exhibits symptoms of avoidance that he said stem from years of sexual abuse from her stepfather.
Caruso also said her ability to distance herself from the incident - even talking to Dillman on the phone and exchanging text messages with him - likely stemmed from coping mechanisms she learned as a child, when there was no way to escape from her stepfather.
After a teacher noticed bruises on her when she was 14, her stepfather was convicted of child abuse and served time in prison. He returned to the home a few years later.
Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com
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