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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995                   TAG: 9503200058
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

NAVY SAYS CLAIMS OF FEMALE RECRUIT ARE UNFOUNDED

Citing an absence of any corroborating witnesses and inconsistencies in the victim's story, Navy officials said Friday they no longer were pursuing criminal assault charges from the Aug. 12, 1992, incident.

The investigation has been sent to the Chief of Naval Education and Training in Pensacola, Fla., for a review of the training practices used on Navy recruits.

``The Naval Criminal Investigative Service conducted an extensive investigation and determined the claims made by this petty officer were not substantiated,'' said Capt. George Farrar, a spokesman for the Altantic Fleet in Norfolk.

In a statement released Friday, Farrar said that, while the incident raised questions about the treatment of recruits at the boot camp - the first to integrate men and women - it did not constitute an assault.

``The investigation found deviations from established policy for the treatment of recruits,'' Farrar said.

``All the motivational training is to be conducted in the berthing compartment. In this case, some of the recruits were given remedial physical exercise in the shower areas.''

The decision ended a three-month probe into allegations from Stacie M. Nevells, an operations specialist who told investigators that she was kicked in the head and struck with broom handles by three enlisted instructors.

Nevells, 23, who lives in Norfolk, is awaiting a medical discharge from the Navy for a rare equilibrium disorder that doctors have said may be linked to the incident. She will leave the Navy officially Friday after 21/2 years of service.

In a statement to investigators in December, Nevells said she had been taken into the showers to be initiated as one of the first women trainee leaders.

She said that, while in the shower, three Navy chiefs told her she had to prove herself before she could assume a leadership position. She said she was then struck repeatedly while being told to complete the physical training.

But Navy officials familiar with the investigation said Friday those claims were not borne out by the 146 interviews conducted with members of Nevells' recruit class.

Though they would not discuss the case publicly, the officials said they were unable to find a single person who saw the beating or who heard Nevells complain of mistreatment.

``No one saw her hit, struck or beaten,'' said one official. ``A number of people talked to her; she never told them anything about the incident.''

Reports of the assault were made public in December when an internal Navy memo was leaked to the media, detailing Nevells' claims.

The report sparked outrage in the Navy community because the incident had taken place at a time when the service was beginning to crack down on the treatment of its women sailors.

One week before the alleged beating, in August 1992, the Navy touted its integrated boot camp at Orlando as an example of how men and women can work together.

At the time, Orlando was the only one of three Navy boot camps that trained women. The center has since closed as part of the federal base-closing program.