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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994                   TAG: 9405010009
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FOR THE RECORD

In a story from Newsday published in the Roanoke Times & World-News on April 21, Irving Soto, who described himself as a karate expert, said he was a Navy Seal and had witnessed three public floggings while on government assignment three years ago in Singapore.

Since the story was published, several inconsistencies in his account have surfaced.

Naval and diplomatic officials said there was no record of Soto's military service, and that floggings are not administered in public in Singapore.

Soto, who owns a martial arts teaching center in New York City, later denied that he had claimed to be a Seal. He did insist, however, that he had been in Singapore and had witnessed three public floggings there.

An official with the Singapore Mission to the United Nations said Soto's eyewitness account could not be true.

"There has never been a public caning in Singapore," said the official, who requested anonymity. "It is done in prison, and nobody is permitted to witness it."

When asked to provide verification of his presence in Singapore, Soto said he had none. He also said that he could not remember anything about the city.

But he stressed that he is standing by his story. "My main concern is for Michael Fay," Soto said, referring to the American teen-ager who has been sentenced to a caning in Singapore as punishment for vandalism. "I just want him to get justice."