Navy sailor on shore leave in Belfast charged with rape

BELFAST – A sailor on shore leave from the Navy frigate USS Taylor has been charged with the rape of a Waldo County woman late Saturday.

Seaman Rigo Padrone, 21, of Houston, Texas, was arrested after the 22-year-old woman identified him while she was seated in an ambulance. The woman picked Padrone from a crowd of sailors gathered on the breakwater at midnight for a boat ride back to their ship.

The USS Taylor was in the city over the weekend attending the Belfast Bay Festival.

Police Chief Allen Weaver said the woman and Padrone had been dancing together at the Lookout Pub on Front Street, on the city’s waterfront, then left to go for a walk. Weaver said the alleged assault took place on a grassy area near the city’s sewage treatment plant.

Police were alerted when the woman ran back into the pub and said she had been assaulted. A pub employee notified police at 11:40 p.m. Sgt. John Gibbs and Officers Michael McFadden and Brian Lunt responded.

Weaver said the alleged victim told police that her attacker was a sailor from the Taylor. The officers called an ambulance immediately and also notified the Navy’s shore patrol.

“They began working with the shore patrol, and officers from the ship came ashore to assist with the investigation,” Weaver said Monday.

Weaver said Padrone apparently had swapped clothing with another sailor to change his appearance, but the woman still was able to identify him. Weaver said the other sailor, who attempted to dispose of Padrone’s shirt in a waterfront restroom, was “being dealt with by the Navy.”

Weaver noted that during the course of the investigation another sailor came forward with a computer chip from a digital camera containing photographs of Padrone and the woman together in the pub. Weaver said the Navy provided police with a compact disc of the photographs.

Weaver said the incident “was the only problem we had all weekend” with the Navy ship in port.

He said the frigate’s skipper, Capt. Richard Hale, and his staff “aided us in identifying the alleged perpetrator and in the collection of several key pieces of evidence at the scene.”

Padrone was charged with gross sexual assault and booked at the Waldo County Jail. Bail was set at $25,000 cash or $50,000 surety when Padrone appeared in 5th District Court on Monday.

The USS Taylor shipped out at noon Sunday. Padrone remained in the Waldo County Jail.