A US soldier has been accused by several women of drugging and raping them while he was in the UK. The British police handed the case over to the US military justice system. However, a conviction only came when the FBI took up the case.
July 28, 2026, 11:34 amJuly 28, 2026, 11:34 am
The crimes occurred in 2019 when US Air Force soldier James Loubeau was stationed at a US base in England for four months. A total of six women accuse him of sexual abuse. The case came to fruition when two women went to Suffolk police and accused Loubeau of drugging and raping them along with another soldier, reports the “Guardian”.
The perpetrator and victim met in a nightclub. Instead of driving them home as promised, the two men took the two British women to the army base and gave them drinks in plastic cups in Loubeau’s room. The next memory the two women said they had was waking up confused that morning. Both had the feeling that they had been raped.
Dismissal instead of conviction
Just a few days after they reported the case to the British police, they handed the investigation over to the US military police. This is actually only responsible if the victim is a member of the US Army or if it concerns a member of the Army who was on duty at the time of the crime. Neither was the case here.
Loubeau was stationed at the US base Mildenhall.Image: EPA
But the investigation brought other cases to light. Finally, Loubeau was charged after an American army member accused him of breaking into her room on the base and raping her. However, Loubeau was not convicted. Instead, he was honorably discharged from the army in 2020 for minor offenses, reports the Guardian. This is due to theft and sexual harassment, for example.
The FBI finds evidence
Loubeau then returned to the USA. But the case was not yet over. Because now the FBI came into play. It is unclear why the authority began its own investigation. But in one case, Loubeau’s DNA was detected. It was about a 19-year-old American woman whose room he broke into and raped her. The woman also lived on base. Loubeau was caught on surveillance camera leaving the room. The then 37-year-old pleaded guilty, as if from one notice the public prosecutor’s office shows.
Finally, Loubeau was convicted. He has to go to prison for five years. He will then be monitored for 20 years to prevent Loubeau from relapsing. His behavior showed his “conviction that he could act with impunity,” argued the public prosecutor. She reports a “frightening and dangerous” pattern.
Procedure causes criticism
But Loubeau is not the only US soldier accused of crimes in England. The Guardian reports, for example, about a US fighter jet pilot who is said to have strangled a British woman in Cambridge. Another soldier is said to have sexually assaulted a British woman in Brandon and another is said to have exposed himself in front of several young women in Cambridgeshire. In all cases, the US military justice system took over the investigation.
That raises questions. In at least some of Loubeau’s cases, the British police would ultimately have been responsible. “We are currently reviewing the decision to transfer responsibility to the US Air Force, as well as the general practice of handing over cases,” it says. Nobody in the Air Force wanted to make a statement. (front)