DENVER -- There are new developments in the Air Force Academy investigation including the revelation that four more women are reporting that they were sexually assaulted at the academy and claims from the Air Force that it has court-martialed cadets on sex-related charges.

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7NEWS Investigator John Ferrugia, who first brought the story to light, said that the Air Force's numbers may be misleading.

In the midst of allegations that Air Force Academy officials punished female cadets who reported sexual assaults, and in some cases even drummed them out, the Air Force released statistics to a local newspaper on Thursday showing that six cadets have been court-martialed since 1993 for crimes of rape and sexual assault.

But none of these cases involve male cadets attacking female cadets at the academy, Ferrugia said.

When 7NEWS spoke with Air Force Academy Superintendent Gen. John Dallager, he said that there were no cadets who have been court-martialed for sexual assaulting another cadet.

Ferrugia: It's never come to the level of evidence that would allow you to prosecute someone for sexual assault?
Dallager: Based upon the merits of each case and the legal advice the commander receives, that's accurate.

So if you looked at all the sexual assault cases involving the AFA, cadets accused of sexually assaulting civililans have a greater chance of being prosecuted than cadets accused of sexually assaulting another cadet, 7NEWS reported.

But even if there is a prosecution of a cadet, many times the military sentence doesn't come close to a comparable civilian sentence, Ferrugia said.

A good example is this one case where a cadet pleaded guilty to attacking and sodomizing a minor. His sentence was 60 days in jail.

If that cadet had been in a civilian court, prosecutors said he would have faced a minimum 10-year sentence.

It's this kind of mixing of facts about assaults that have many victims concerned that the Air Force is trying to muddy the issue. Air Force officials had no comment on Thursday, saying that they are checking into the statistics and will get back to 7NEWS when they can re-examine and clarify their information.

There are now 37 women who have contacted Sen. Wayne Allard's office, saying that they were sexually assault by an Air Force Academy cadet. Of those women, 23 are former AFA cadets, 13 are currently in the academy and one alleged victim is a citizen.

Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. James Roche, said during a hearing of a Senate Armed Services Committee that the Air Force is aware of 56 sexual assaults at the U.S. Air Force Academy in the past 10 years.

The Air Force Inspector General established a telephone line Friday for AFA cadets to report sexual assaults. Current and former cadets can call (703) 588-1541 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST.

The Inspector General said individuals who previously reported sexual assaults, but feel their case was not handled properly can also call for further investigation.

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