
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993                   TAG: 9312100061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

WITNESS SAYS NAVY'S TOP BRASS WATCHED RAUCOUS TAILHOOK ACTS

The Navy's top military and civilian leaders watched two women drink from a sex toy near the scene of the worst misconduct at the 1991 Tailhook meeting, a witness testified Thursday.

Dr. Karye LaRocque also testified that the woman who disclosed the sexual misbehavior at the convention, Navy Lt. Paula Coughlin, was acting lewdly and drinking heavily herself that night.

The testimony came at the pretrial hearing for two Navy commanders, Thomas R. Miller and Gregory Tritt, who face possible courts-martial for allegedly failing to stop misconduct by junior officers.

LaRocque, who is married to a Navy lieutenant commander, said she saw then-Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Frank Kelso in a suite on the third floor of the Las Vegas Hilton where the drunken activity was taking place on the Saturday night of the September 1991 convention.

LaRocque said that when she told investigators what she saw, they told her they weren't interested in activities by any of the women unless they were being accosted.

LaRocque is the latest of several witnesses to place Kelso on the third floor on Saturday night, when dozens of women said they were molested or assaulted by drunken aviators.

Peter Black, a Defense Department investigator who worked on the Tailhook probe, testified Thursday afternoon that he knew there were questions about where Kelso was on Saturday night. But he said there was never any evidence brought to him that the admiral saw or did anything illegal or improper.

Kelso testified last week that he didn't go to the third floor that night. Garrett testified that he went to the pool patio area, but did not see any misconduct.

Garrett resigned amid complaints that the initial Tailhook investigation was inadequate. Kelso received a letter of caution, but was allowed by Defense Secretary Les Aspin to keep his job.

The defense contends that Kelso has a personal interest in the prosecutions and their clients cannot be held accountable for failing to stop actions that the admiral may have witnessed.

LaRocque said she was never molested and didn't see any other women being grabbed. But she said Coughlin rubbed her body against several men and was chugging champagne from a bottle in the third-floor hallway.

by CNB