Cadet charged in sexual assaults

NEW LONDON, Conn., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A senior male cadet at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct involving six female cadets.

Cadet Webster M. Smith, 22, faces a hearing next month to determine whether he will be subject to court-martial, the Hartford Courant said. Such a proceeding would be highly unusual at the small, 91-year-old institution.

Smith has been charged with more than a dozen offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The most serious, a charge of rape that allegedly occurred in June 2005 in Annapolis, Md., carries a maximum sentence of death.