San Diego

The U.S. Navy closed its investigation into allegations by a petty officer who said she was raped by a Soviet sailor during the recent visit by Soviet ships, saying Friday that the evidence was inconclusive.

“The evidence gathered by the Naval Investigative Services did not provide sufficient facts to allow for a conclusive resolution,” said Lt. Cmdr. Bob Pritchard, a Navy spokesman, in a prepared statement.

The 26-year-old, third-class petty officer told authorities she was raped while visiting the Soviet destroyer Admiral Vinogradov when it arrived in San Diego July 31. The woman said the assault had occurred at 6 p.m. on the first day of the Soviets’ unprecedented visit to the West Coast. Earlier accounts that it reportedly occurred at 8 p.m. were incorrect, sources said.

The woman said she was wearing civilian clothes and had become separated from her friends while aboard the Soviet vessel. Since she did not report the incident until two days later, investigators were unable to find substantial evidence.

“We took the allegation very seriously,” Pritchard said. “NIS did as thorough a job as they could possibly do, given the facts they had to work with.”

Though the evidence was inconclusive, officials were quick to point out that they were not discrediting the woman’s account.

NIS officials turned over much of their investigation to Soviet officials the day the warships departed, Aug. 4. More information was also relayed to them this week, Pritchard said. Soviet officials have said they will keep their U.S. counterparts informed of any developments in their investigation of the incident.

“It’s one of those unfortunate incidents that I wish we were able to come to a conclusion on,” Pritchard said, “but we can’t.”