A lawsuit filed by two mothers of minor children sexually assaulted by a now dishonorably discharged soldier who served at Fort Cavazos, Texas, claims that the Army did not act quickly enough to stop him or prevent him from harming more young victims.
Rashad Parkinson, 29, a former Bradley Fighting Vehicle maintenance technician, pleaded guilty to three sexual assaults in a Texas court in 2023 and is serving a 35-year jail sentence. The lawsuit filed Aug. 21 in the U.S. district court for western Texas alleges Parkinson assaulted at least eight children between the ages of 12 and 16 between 2018 and 2021.
The mothers say some of the assaults occurred just days after Parkinson was interviewed by police or released from custody. Prosecutors said the former soldier contacted children and offered to sell them vapes as a way to meet and sexually assault them, according to media reports.
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"Parkinson's actions were foreseeable," the lawsuit claims. "Had the Army appropriately and timely investigated Rashad Parkinson upon receipt of information of his initial crimes, he would have been subject to pretrial restraint."
The lawsuit notes that Parkinson's assaults took place in the same time frame as the murder of Spc. Vanessa Guillén in 2020. An Army investigation found that, at the time, there were numerous issues with leadership at the installation, including poor management of soldier welfare. At least a dozen officials were subsequently fired.
Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesman for III Armored Corps, told Military.com in an email that, while he could not comment on pending litigation, "the crimes committed by Mr. Parkinson were heinous and he is currently incarcerated for those crimes."
Sztalkoper said the Army is "committed to preventing sexual assaults and sexual harassment."
According to Army records, Parkinson finished his basic training in March 2017 and arrived at Fort Cavazos, then known as Fort Hood, in September 2017, but he left a month later for a tour in Korea, returning in February 2018.
His highest held rank appears to be specialist.
According to the suit, Parkinson's first assault occurred around Christmas 2018 -- a 13-year-old girl. The complaint argues that the Army became aware of those allegations "as early as 2019."
Several outlets reported that investigators would later testify that Parkinson contacted underage girls on social media with the promise of selling them vapes. He would meet them claiming to be a high-schooler and then assault them in his car or in a home off post.
At the time, Parkinson was married and shared a home with his wife. The lawsuit says that, despite being a junior enlisted soldier, he kept a second home off base where some of the assaults took place.
The lawsuit says it wasn't until April 21, 2021, after he had assaulted three more victims, that law enforcement -- the Lampasas Police Department, working in conjunction with Fort Hood military police -- interviewed Parkinson.
"Just nine days after this interview at Fort Hood, on April 30, 2021, and after an arrest warrant had been issued for him, Parkinson assaulted S.K. (Victim #5), another 12-year old girl," the lawsuit alleges.
Both the lawsuit and local media reports say that Parkinson was arrested by Lampasas police on May 10, 2021, for charges of sexually assaulting a child, but he was released the same day.
"Parkinson's arrest was known or should have been known to the Army," the lawsuit argues, and just days later, it says, Parkinson assaulted a sixth victim.
"It was not until early November 2021 that the Army took action to confine Parkinson to Fort Hood, despite the Army's knowledge of Parkinson's assaults of children dating back to 2019," the lawsuit alleges. By that point, it says, he had assaulted two more victims.
On Nov. 11, 2021, Parkinson was arrested for the last time on another sexual assault charge.
In August 2023, several months after his sentencing in Texas court, Army records show the service court-martialed Parkinson on three charges of sexually assaulting a child, which it said occurred in November 2018 and June 2019, as well as possessing and distributing child pornography.
By January 2024, though already in a Texas jail, Parkinson was dishonorably discharged from the Army and reduced in rank to private, records show.
-- Steve Beynon contributed to this story.
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