Navy Officer Investigated Over El Toro Harassment Allegations : Marines: Two women--a sailor and civilian employee--file complaints against a commander now at Camp Pendleton. A decision is pending on whether he will be charged with sexual hazing.

A Navy officer who was in charge of emergency training for Marine pilots here awaits word on whether he will be charged with sexually harassing two women under his command, Marine Corps officials confirmed Friday.

Cmdr. Steven C. Tolan was transferred to Camp Pendleton earlier this year after the women, a sailor and a civilian employee, filed complaints against him. They accuse Tolan of indecent assault, cruelty or maltreatment of a subordinate and behavior unbecoming an officer, said Lt. Kevin Bentley, a spokesman at Camp Pendleton.

An investigation has been completed, and a decision on whether to lodge formal charges against Tolan is pending. If charged and found guilty in a general court-martial, he could be dismissed from the Navy, fined or jailed, Bentley said.

The complaints were filed while Tolan was in charge of the Aviation Physiology Training Unit at El Toro, which teaches survival and emergency techniques to Marine pilots. Bentley said Tolan, an aviation physiologist, was reassigned March 2 to an administrative position at the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton.

The women who filed the complaints have since left their jobs at El Toro, and neither could be reached for comment. Tolan was not available for comment.

In a short statement, officials at Camp Pendleton said an Article 32 hearing, the military’s equivalent to a grand jury proceeding, was completed earlier this month, and “a formal recommendation from the investigating officer on what disposition of the charges and specifications should be made is pending.”

The complaints accused Tolan of groping the women, reading aloud from sexually explicit books and writing offensive remarks with a grease pencil on the sailor’s arm. The women also alleged that he touched their buttocks and pulled their blouses out to look at their breasts.

Capt. Betsy Sweatt, spokeswoman at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, said the only relationship between the Navy unit and the Marine Corps “is one of landlord and tenant.”

There are a limited number of Navy personnel at El Toro, who act as chaplains, doctors and Navy corpsmen who run the medical-related services on the base, she said.

Tolan took over the unit at El Toro in May, 1989. He was relieved of his command Feb. 24 and was transferred to Camp Pendleton on March 2. Before El Toro, he was stationed with the Navy in San Diego.