Aaron Lucas
Aaron Lucas

An army officer suspected of a series of sex attacks on children claims that he is being blamed for the crimes of his twin.

Lawyers for 1st Lt. Aaron Gregory Lucas, 32, argue that DNA evidence linking him to an attack on a girl in Madison, Alabama in 2007 and an attack in Texarcana, Texas, in 2009, in fact belongs to his identical twin.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that Brian Frederick Lucas is registered as having the same birthday as Aaron Lucas, and has previous addresses including Madison, Alabama, and Texas.

He has not been charged with any crime.

"The defence believes that Mr. Brian Lucas contributed the DNA in the Alabama and Texas cases and that it is his DNA that was found during those crimes, not Mr. Aaron Lucas,'" a motion from Lucas's attorneys reads.

Forensic analysts usually testify that a DNA match is definitive "in the absence of an identical twin".

The Fort Bragg Colorado artillery officer is also charged with luring or trying to lure 11 El Paso County, Colorado, girls, aged between six and nine, into his vehicle between 2009 and 2012, and sexually assaulting three of them.

Prosecutors say he lured them with promises of money and ice cream.

The incidents began shortly after Lucas's arrival at Fort Carson with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Colorado Springs police detective Fred Walker has testified that they stopped when he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Lucas claims a third, unidentified man is responsible for the El Paso attacks.

He is currently on $1.2 million bail, and could face a life sentence in jail if found guilty.