https://news.yahoo.com/army-colonel-gets-975-000-164812849.html

WASHINGTON (AP) � A retired Army colonel has reached a court settlement of
nearly $1 million in a sexual assault lawsuit against Air Force Gen. John
Hyten, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The settlement with the U.S. government ends more than four years of
investigations, reviews and congressional digging into the matter, which
delayed � but ultimately did not defeat � Hyten's nomination for vice
chairman in 2019. He served two years and did not seek a second term.

Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser, who served as Hyten's aide in 2017, filed
the lawsuit, and in the settlement reached in U.S. District Court in
California on Wednesday, the federal government will pay her $975,000.

�It is my sincere hope that the successful outcome in my case will
embolden other survivors of military sexual violence to come forward � no
matter how high ranking the perpetrator,� she said in a statement
Thursday.

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2019, Spletstoser said Hyten
subjected her to a series of unwanted sexual advances by kissing, hugging
and rubbing up against her in 2017 while she was one of his top aides. She
said she repeatedly pushed him away and told him to stop, and that he
tried to derail her military career after she rebuffed him.

Hyten vigorously denied her allegations during a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing in July 2019, with his wife seated behind him and
Spletstoser looking on from a short distance away. An internal Air Force
investigation determined there was insufficient evidence to charge him or
recommend discipline. And a senior Air Force official said at the time
that investigators also found no evidence Spletstoser was lying. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

It is not uncommon for the U.S. government to pay out large sums of money
to settle lawsuits, but a sexual assault case against such a high ranking
military officer is far more rare.

The number of reported sexual assaults in the military has increased
nearly every year since 2006. And while the services have made inroads in
making it easier and safer for service members to come forward, it still
remains a highly unreported crime.

Hyten's nomination was delayed for months while senators pored over
thousands of pages of documents and interviewed the general and
Spletstoser. The eventual Senate vote of 75-22 to confirm him reflected a
bit more opposition than most military nominations, which usually get
near-unanimous support.

Ten of the �no� votes came from female senators, including Vice President
Kamala Harris, who was then a senator from California, and Sen. Joni Ernst
of Iowa, a survivor of sexual assault while in college and the only
Republican to vote against him.

Spletstoser's attorney, Ariel Solomon, said in a statement Thursday that
the legal payout �stands out as the only known settlement paid by the
government for a sexual assault case brought against a member of the
United States military.�

____ Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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