2 Suspended Sea World Workers Say They Were Coerced in Inquiry : Drug Probe: A spokesman for the marine park says the undercover investigation into alleged theft and drug use was conducted properly.

Sea World employees suspended last week after an internal probe of alleged theft and drug use are criticizing the investigation, charging that they were intimidated for hours and coerced into confessing to crimes they did not commit.

A Sea World spokesman, however, said Wednesday that the investigation conducted by Narcorp, a private firm that specializes in undercover narcotics enforcement, was conducted properly. About 60 workers were suspended with pay in connection with the inquiry.

Dan LeBlanc, the spokesman, said, “We were very diligent in going over with Narcorp how the interviews would be conducted. What we’re hearing from employees is contrary to those techniques. I am confident that Narcorp carried out the investigation and the interviews in a competent manner.”

But a Sea World official who did not want to be identified said administrators of the private marine park are concerned and are looking into the employees’ allegations.

One employee accused of alcoholism, drug use and theft said she was “interrogated” for seven hours over two days, during which investigators produced a tape of a conversation she had about money with another worker. “It was seven hours of pure hell,” the 23-year-old woman said. “They said, ‘This is what’s been going on. We have proof that you’re in on it. Admit to it.’ Eventually, I ended up admitting to it, I was so scared. But I haven’t done anything wrong.

“They said they heard that I came in drunk every day to work. I have a beer or two on the weekends, but that’s my time. And I don’t work weekends.”

The woman, who has worked at Sea World less than a year, described Narcorp’s tactics as “unprofessional.” She said that the investigators used foul language, and that one told her the park was wired with electronic surveillance equipment.

“They cussed a couple of times. They’d say, ‘Get away from the bull-(expletive). Tell us straight up. There’s no need to lie to us. We know it already,’ ” she said. “When we asked them to show us proof, they said it was confidential.”

Another 19-year-old employee, who has worked at Sea World for nearly two years, was initially accused of abusing drugs, said her mother, but then investigators” said, ‘Maybe we were thinking of someone else.’ ”

The mother spoke on behalf of her daughter because her daughter, she said, was too upset to speak with the media.

The mother, who asked not to be identified, said that her daughter was questioned for three hours on Friday. The daughter said that during the taped interview she was accused of stealing and drug use and was asked to give information about her colleagues, the mother said.

“The gist was they ‘knew’ she had stolen and she better come clean,” the mother said. “They read her a list of names and asked her questions about each one. They said, if she didn’t tell the truth, it would be tantamount to perjury. She told me, ‘I would have told them I was a serial killer just to get out of there.’ ”

Morale at the park is suffering, according to the worker and the other worker’s mother, because of the investigation.

The 23-year-old employee said that an orientation session that all new employees attend did not prepare her for what she has experienced.

“We were warned we would be watched to see if we did our jobs right,” she said. “But they didn’t say we were going to be interrogated. They didn’t say anything about fish-eye cameras or hidden mikes. But this wiring and the cameras--that’s a total violation of our civil rights.

“One girl I know is writing notes to everybody because she’s scared to say a word to anybody,” she said. “And those of us who have been suspended, we don’t know if we have the guts to go back and face the humiliation and stares from the people who didn’t get suspended.”

LeBlanc, the spokesman, said, “We have the right to confront our employees with wrongdoing. We did not keep any employee there (in interviews) against their will.”