2 Fort Drum men accused of sex crimes against underage girl

ROME, New York (WWNY) – Two different months, two different incidents with two different men, but allegedly with the same underage girl. Two Fort Drum men are facing charges in Oneida County.

The first man, 19-year-old Ethan Daubenspeck, was arrested on February 27 and charged with felony second-degree criminal sexual act.

“He traveled from Fort Drum down to the city of Rome. He did meet with the child, and engaged in some sexual contact with the child, and was actually caught in the child’s home by the mother of the child,” said Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Derrick O’Meara.

Less than a month later, on March 19, another man from Fort Drum, 21-year-old Alexander Calixto, was charged with felony second-degree rape.

“The 13-year-old was reported missing at about 12:30 p.m. on March 19. They located the soldier Calixto with the 13-year-old girl. The investigation resulted in the arrest of Calixto for rape in the second degree,” said O’Meara.

Police say both Daubenspeck and Calixto started communicating with the 13-year-old using social media apps, specifically Snapchat and the dating app Tinder.

“As far as we know from the investigation, neither soldier was known to each other. And the 13-year-old girl was not aware that either were soldiers until authorities were involved and identified them as such,” said O’Meara.

The 13-year-old girl told both Daubenspeck and Calixto she was 20- years old, according to investigators, who also say she used filters on the social media apps to appear older. The minimum age to create a Tinder account is 18.

“She’s utilizing filters available that would make her look older. But then when you meet with this girl in person, obviously the filters aren’t on in person and it’s very obvious that this isn’t a 20-year-old girl,” said O’Meara.

Police will look at the cell phones of all 3 people involved to determine the nature of the content shared over social media. It could lead to more charges.

Ethan Daubenspeck and Alexander Calixto are both out on bail.

Lieutenant Colonel Josh Jacques with Fort Drum confirmed that the two are currently restricted to the military installation pending the outcome of the investigation.

Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.

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