DENVER -- The Department of Defense Inspector General has begun another review of all Air Force Academy files involving sexual assault after a 7NEWS investigation revealed that a cadet who admitted to sexually assaulting a female classmate was never prosecuted. Instead, that cadet was dismissed from the academy on a drinking violation and is now a sergeant in the Army.

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Hear Story Of What's Happened To Aya And The Cadet Who Admitted To Attacking Her

Aya was a first-year cadet at the Air Force Academy when she was awakened in the middle of the night, in her own bed, by an upperclassman who was sexually assaulting her. They were both staying at the chaplain's home on base.

According to Air Force records, the male cadet, Maurice Cooper, admitted the attack to Air Force investigators, yet he was never charged. And he said he was released from the academy under honorable conditions for underage drinking. Nothing was ever mentioned about the sex assault.

"The only thing that I've ever known all these years is that he assaulted me. He admitted to it. He got an honorable discharge and I have lived with that, knowing that was not right. And to top it off, I got a medical discharge because of a disorder that I got because of his assault," Aya said.

Cooper is now in the Army at Fort Lewis, Wash., and told 7NEWS' John Ferrugia that the sex assault was never a factor in his dismissal from the academy.

Cooper: "It was never addressed and I just found that odd, extremely odd."
Ferrugia: "You mean the Air Force never said to you the reason you are getting out is because you attacked this girl?"
Cooper: "Not at the hearing, no."

"I have talked to the inspector general of the Department of Defense and he is astounded as I am that this could happen," said Sen. Wayne Allard. "He was just flabbergasted as I think many of us are that he would be in the service after having been kicked out of the AFA. His record indicates alcohol but the AFA failed to mention it was also involving a sexual assault."

Allard, a member of the Armed Services Committee, is now pressing the inspector general to begin a review of every case where a cadet has been dismissed for infractions like drinking and drug use.

"We need to make sure somehow or the other there wasn't a sexual assault as the underlying reason for that individual being dismissed from the academy," Allard said.

Allard said the issue is so serious that the inspector general has assured him the investigation will be expanded.

"This particular case raises the question that perhaps we have more than one individual in the armed services who has committed sexual assault crimes or some kind of felony at the Air Force Academy and is now serving in the armed services. And it is something that needs to be investigated," Allard said.

Army officials continue to scramble for Cooper's military records to find out how he could have been allowed to enlist. They suspect, as Cooper himself admitted, that the sex assault file has not been including in his official dossier. The question is: how many other such records have not been included in the records of former Air Force Academy cadets?

The Air Force Academy has scheduled a news conference Thursday to discuss the developments uncovered by 7NEWS Investigates. Stay tuned to 7NEWS and TheDenverChannel for the latest.