The gate sign at the entrance for Fort Cavazos in Texas. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)

AUSTIN, Texas — The Army knew for two years that it had a serial child predator in its ranks at Fort Cavazos and did nothing to stop him, allowing him to sexually abuse at least 120 children, according to a lawsuit filed by the mothers of two of the soldier’s victims and Texas court documents.

“My child is suffering today,” said Gabryelle Daniels, one of the mothers behind the lawsuit, whose 13-year-old daughter was assaulted by Rashad Parkinson in the summer of 2021. “[The lawsuit is] about accountability, policy changes and bringing all the issues out.”

Parkinson, who was an Army private at the time, appeared on the radar of the Army Criminal Investigation Division in late 2019, according to the lawsuit filed Aug. 21 in the Western District of Texas. The lawsuit does not state exactly what triggered Army investigators to question Parkinson in February 2020, but this is about the same time that the Killeen Police Department opened an investigation into the soldier. The lawsuit also does not state what stalled investigators from pursuing the allegations.

Two more local police departments opened investigations into Parkinson before the Army restricted him to the barracks on Nov. 2, 2021, according to the lawsuit. The following day, the Copperas Cove Police Department arrested and charged him with raping three girls ages 12 and 13. He was convicted and sentenced in March 2023.

Parkinson, 29, is now in an east Texas prison where he will not be eligible for parole or release until 2056.

Jessica Nichols, the other mother who filed the lawsuit, said it was difficult to come forward about such a personal family crisis, but it needed to be done to force the Army to do better. Her 13-year-old was assaulted in May 2021.

“The military likes to [sweep] things under the rug a lot,” she said. “They let him live off base. They weren’t keeping track of him or watching what he was doing. He should have been written up or stuck on base where he couldn’t find little girls.”

Rashad Parkinson, a 29-year-old former soldier, was convicted in two Texas counties for sexually assaulting children as young as 12 years old. The Army convicted him in January of producing and distributing child sexual abuse material. (Copperas Cove Police Department)

The lawsuit was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act after the Army declined administrative claims filed by the women. The case will go before a judge and if the judge rules in their favor, the lawsuit asks for damages based on each girl’s past and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, future medical needs, past and future lost income and earning capacity and out-of-pocket expenses, as well as the lost wages and medical costs on their mothers.

“The mothers both have had to find ways to be able to make a living while also taking care of their daughters, and that has meant not following the career path they were on because it’s been terrifying and worrisome, and they don’t have other child care,” said Mary Whittle, an attorney for the mothers. “It’s really affected every part of their lives. It hasn’t been enough that he’s in prison. They want somebody to be responsible for allowing him to continue on.”

The Army CID declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesman for Fort Cavazos, also said he couldn’t comment because of the lawsuit but described Parkinson’s crimes as “heinous.”

“Our soldiers, civilians and their families deserve to work and live in safe, healthy environments where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to preventing sexual assaults and sexual harassment by creating a climate which respects the dignity of every member of the Army family,” he said.

The lawsuit covers a time when problems with criminal investigations, crime prevention and sexual assault at Fort Cavazos, then known as Fort Hood, were well documented because of the disappearance and death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen. She was killed April 2020 by another soldier on base. In the aftermath, the Army ordered an independent review commission to evaluate the base.

The review uncovered a climate on base that was permissive of sexual assault and that the CID office lacked experience, equipment and staff to do its job properly and did not appropriately coordinate with civilian law enforcement in nearby communities.

That time included the height of the coronavirus pandemic when a mechanic such as Parkinson, who first arrived at Fort Cavazos in March 2017, wasn’t required to be at work every day. This gave him a lot of time to search social media for victims, according to court documents filed in Coryell County. An Army investigator told the county court that the service recovered two cellphones and a laptop from Parkinson during its investigation and had confirmed 120 child victims. Army investigators also found DNA samples in his car from 100 different people, the agent said.

Not only did he abuse children in person, Parkinson also kept and shared explicit images and videos of children on the devices.

The soldier was first convicted in Coryell County for the rapes of three girls between February and July 2021. The victims included the daughters of Nichols and Daniels and a 12-year-old, who Parkinson raped multiple times and beat up, choked and left alone in an apartment complex parking lot for refusing sex with him during their final encounter, according to court documents.

Lampasas County, located just west of Coryell, convicted Parkinson of raping a 16-year-old in a Walmart parking lot in February 2021.

Each of the sexual assaults for which Parkinson was convicted followed a similar pattern, according to court documents. Parkinson would pose as a 17-year-old on social media and offer to sell vape products to underage children.

He would pick up the girls in his white Dodge Charger, sometimes directly from their school, and force them into sex with him in his car or in a residence that he rented in Copperas Cove. Parkinson’s wife and baby lived in a separate home that he rented in the area, and the lawsuit accuses the Army of knowing he maintained multiple homes on a private’s pay.

Parkinson transmitted chlamydia and gonorrhea to some of the girls and purchased a pregnancy prevention medication known as Plan B for some of them, according to court documents. Once he had sex with a girl, Parkinson would delete his social media accounts and start new ones.

The girls often did not know his name and referred to him as “RJ” or “King.”

The Army charged Parkinson in August 2023 with three counts of sexual assault of a child for rapes that occurred in November 2018 and June 2019 in Coryell County, and three counts of child sexual abuse material that occurred at roughly the same time. He took a plea deal for the pornography charges and received no additional prison time. He was dishonorably discharged in January, according to the Army.

Because of the redactions on his charge sheet, it is unclear how many victims were part of the Army’s charges against Parkinson.

However, the lawsuit claims none of this would have been necessary had the Army acted when its investigators first learned of the reports filed against him with the Killeen Police Department in 2019.

Killeen police had executed an arrest warrant for Parkinson sometime after November 2021 while he was detained in Coryell County, but they declined to release their files on Parkinson because the case is pending prosecution in Bell County. Parkinson has never been indicted there, and the Bell County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on where the prosecution stands.

Daniels and Nichols learned of their daughters’ involvement with Parkinson from police after other child victims identified their girls as additional victims. Since then, both girls — once good students — have struggled with school and to maintain relationships with others. Other kids at school knew what happened, and the girls faced bullying and embarrassment.

Nichols’ daughter dropped out after ninth grade and has retreated from the life that she’d once told her mom she wanted — a traditional high school experience with friends and to join the military after graduation.

“She doesn’t get to live a normal life now. She doesn’t get a prom, or school dances,” said Nichols, 35. “She’s about to be an adult, and she should not have to depend on me, but she needs me.”

Nichols’ daughter also contracted chlamydia from Parkinson that went untreated for five months, which could have an impact on the her ability to have children of her own one day.

While Nichols’ daughter has turned inward, Daniels said her daughter has begun seeking out dangerous situations. The girl who once showered her mother with hugs and kisses and helped her siblings with homework no longer does so.

Daniels said she had to add security sensors and cameras to her home because her daughter has run away several times. The girl has been the victim of sex trafficking and been placed in residential treatment three times. She’s now home and attending a new school in a different town, but truancy is a problem.

“My home was a safe place,” Daniels said. “I made it so my kids wouldn’t have abandonment issues or trust issues or whatever issues. I did all this just for it to happen to us. That’s the kind of mind-frame I’m in on a daily basis.”

Daniels said the sexual assault has put pressure on her entire family. The 39-year-old mother of four said she and her children are now in therapy and taking medications. It’s expensive but necessary, she said.

Nichols said she discussed the lawsuit with her daughter and explained she is doing it to make things right. The mother knows the scrutiny that will come from it because her own parents have blamed her and the young girl for the sexual assault.

“I don’t care if anybody says anything about me. This is for my daughter and for any future children that could be assaulted,” she said.