Former airman sentenced to 16 months in prison for assaults, three other sex crimes Fairchild Air Force Base (U.S. Air Force/Released)
A former Fairchild Air Force Base senior airman was sentenced to 16 months in prison for assaulting a woman and girl earlier this year near Manito Park, as well as for three other sex crimes.
Devontaye T. Harden recently pleaded guilty to five counts of abusive sexual contact in a military court, according to a Spokane Police Department news release. The charges stem from the Manito Park assaults, another assault in Spokane, a sexual assault in December at Fairchild and an incident in Poulsbo, Washington.
Harden was arrested in January at the base for the Manito Park assaults. He was 26 at the time of his arrest .
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations joined the investigation and Harden emerged as a suspect in another Spokane assault, the Fairchild assault and the Poulsbo incident, officers said.
Spokane police said Harden’s punishment also includes a dishonorable discharge from the military, and he will have to register as a sex offender.
“The Air Force and Fairchild Air Force Base take these allegations very seriously,” according to a statement from the base in January. “Behavior of this kind has no place in our ranks. We emphasize a culture of respect and uphold our Airmen to high standards.”
The two females who Harden assaulted at Manito Park told police Harden rapidly approached, groped an intimate area of their bodies and ran away on Jan. 20, a previous Spokane police release said. One victim was an adult and the other was a teenager.
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