Officials say the victim is also in the Navy.
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A woman in her 20s was with a group of friends at a Hyatt in downtown San Diego Monday night and they saw 39-year-old Cmdr.
The commander of a Guam-based naval helicopter squadron bailed out of San Diego Central Jail on Tuesday following his arrest on suspicion of trying to rape a Navy colleague at her Valencia Park home. Neuhart then allegedly attempted to sexual assault the victim, but she fought him off, police said.
The group, who knew Neuhart, talked to him for some time before the woman made a decision to leave and go to her Valencia Park-area home, Phillips said. When they got to the residence, he followed her inside. “The suspect immediately became forceful with her and attempted to sexually assault her”. He was booked into San Diego County Jail on one count of attempted rape by force and one count of assault with intent to rape, police said. When the neighbor approached the home, he told police he heard what he believed to be a struggle.
Navy Cmdr. Neuhart, until his arrest, was the commanding officer of Guam’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25. Police didn’t know if the victim was attending the same conference. The neighbor then asked the victim if she was OK, to which she replied “no”, police said. When officers arrived, the neighbor alerted them to a man running out of the victim’s backyard, police said.
He is scheduled to appear in court on September 19 at 1:30 p.m., she said.
The Navy was “fully cooperating” with the investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigation Service was notified of the incident, said Lt. Leslie Hubbell, a spokeswoman for Naval Air Forces Pacific.
According to a website for the Navy, Neuhart joined the “Warhawks” of Fleet Replacement Squadron, HS-10 in San Diego in 2002.
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Cmdr. William Eastham was given temporary command of Neuhart’s squadron, Hubbell said. His biography said he flew 36 combat missions in Iraq, is credited with numerous individual rescues, and has logged more than 2,100 hours in the air, including on Seahawk helicopters.
