A 19-year-old JROTC student from Spanaway who raped a girl last year while a group stayed overnight at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station will be sentenced under a special treatment-based program for sex offenders, according to court documents.

Daniel Mullen pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court March 5 to third-degree rape as part of a plea bargain.

Under the agreement, the prosecutor will recommend that Mullen be sentenced under the Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative program, which provides for reduced jail time in exchange for treatment. In this case, Mullen’s eight-month sentence will be suspended, and instead, he will serve two weeks in jail and enter into treatment.

The judge will have to agree that Mullen is qualified for the program and the community and defendant would benefit from the use of the sentencing alternative.

Mullen will have to register as a sex offender.

Mullen admitted raping the girl when interviewed by a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS.

A group of students from Spanaway High School, as well as adult leaders, stayed at the bachelor officers’ quarters on base March 4, 2006. They were taking part in a Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps event in Oak Harbor.

A 17-year-old student reported that Mullen sexually assaulted her when she was in his room. The girl struggled against Mullen and repeatedly told him “no” when he pinned her to the bed, pulled off her sweatpants and sexually assaulted her.

The assault ended abruptly when another JROTC student knocked on the door. The victim said she opened the door, grabbed the other student by the arm and left.

The special agent interviewed Mullen the morning of the assault at the NCIS office. The agent wrote in his report that Mullen “admitted culpability” for the rape and admitted that the girl “verbally and physically tried to stop him.”

In court Monday, Superior Court Judge Alan Hancock ordered a pre-sentence report on Mullen, which is an investigation done by the Department of Corrections in sex-crime cases.

Mullen is scheduled to be sentenced April 18.

You can reach Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynews

times.com or 675-6611.