A former West Point cadet pleaded guilty in June 2026 to drugging his then-girlfriend and administering abortion medication to her against her will, according to federal court records and a lawsuit filed on Oct. 28. Caleb Suh, who was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at the time of the March 2022 incident, admitted to impersonating the woman to purchase the pills online and sedating her with Xanax before administering the drugs both orally and vaginally while she was unconscious.
The victim, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, was a 19-year-old sophomore at West Point at the time of the assault. According to her attorney, Russell Kornblith, she intended to carry the pregnancy to term, but Suh’s actions resulted in a miscarriage. The woman reported the incident to the Army Criminal Investigation Division in May 2022, but the academy has not disclosed the findings of that internal probe or what disciplinary actions, if any, were taken against Suh before he left the institution.
Following the incident, Suh transferred to Cornell University for the 2023-2024 academic year. Cornell officials stated on Monday, Nov. 2, that Suh had answered "no" on his application when asked about prior disciplinary violations and that West Point reported him in good academic standing. This past September, Suh began a master’s program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. A person familiar with the matter stated that Columbia's application asks about conduct violations but not criminal records, and Suh did not report any disciplinary history.
For the broader student bodies and administrations at these universities, the incident underscores a reliance on self-reporting for disciplinary and criminal histories. An official at Columbia noted that applicants to the public health school are asked about student conduct violations but not specifically about pending federal criminal charges. At Cornell, the university relied on a "good standing" report from West Point to admit a student who had been under investigation for a reported assault.
The next steps in the legal case include a sentencing hearing for Suh, which a judge postponed at the request of the defense to allow him to complete his current semester of graduate studies. The sentencing is now scheduled for January 2027. Additionally, the civil lawsuit filed by the victim on Oct. 28 seeks unspecified damages for the assault and the resulting miscarriage. Prosecutors in the federal criminal case did not oppose the sentencing delay, and Suh’s defense attorney, Thomas Kenniff, declined to comment.
What happens next: Suh remained enrolled at Columbia University as of late October, though his current status is unclear following the filing of the lawsuit. He has been participating in a three-month life skills course for federal defendants. The federal court is scheduled to determine his criminal sentence in January 2027, while the civil lawsuit proceeds.