‘Counseling’ Is Meted Out to Navy Officer in Sex Case : Harassment: Lieutenant draws ‘non-punitive’ sentence for actions at Tailhook Assn. convention.

The first Navy officer punished for his involvement in sexual misconduct at a Las Vegas convention of Naval aviators in September was given one of the lightest sentences possible under the Navy’s disciplinary code, a Navy spokesman said Friday.

A lieutenant based at Cecil Field, near Jacksonville, Fla., “received counseling” after official proceedings June 2, said Cmdr. Mark Van Dyke, a Navy spokesman. It was the first of as many as 70 sexual harassment or assault cases the Navy could consider in the coming months in connection with events at the Tailhook Assn. convention.

The lieutenant was found to have shouted encouragement at a gantlet of male Naval and Marine Corps officers in which 25 women were groped and fondled. A source close to the investigation said the lieutenant was alleged to have shouted “Gantlet! Gantlet!”

During the disciplinary proceedings, Rear Adm. John A. Moriarty, commander of Strike-Fighter Wings, Atlantic, “counseled” the lieutenant but chose not to mete out punishment that could hurt the aviator’s career prospects in the Navy.

“They chewed his ass,” said a knowledgeable source, who argued that the lieutenant’s “counseling” session was more than a slap on the wrist. The discipline was “being in front of the admiral, being sternly and appropriately counseled right then and there about personal conduct and behavior,” the source said.

Because the admiral chose to hand down a “non-punitive” sentence, the Navy has not released the name of the aviator. Officials argue that to do so would likely affect the lieutenant’s career, and would therefore be punitive.

A senior Navy official said that, while 57 officers have admitted being present at the gantlets, a much smaller number--roughly 11--are expected to be investigated further for possible criminal assault charges.

The process of piecing together a clear picture of the Tailhook incident, and of bringing those responsible for the alleged assaults to trial, could be lengthy, the official said. He conceded that punishment may be uneven because most of it will be determined by an individual’s commanding officer.

“You have to assume that the chances are real good that somebody’s not telling the truth,” said the official. “But you have almost no way of determining which ones those are. This is a big, big system that we’re dealing with. There’s a lot of information out there.”

The official also qualified earlier reports that commanding officers have stalled the Navy’s investigation of the incident. Several commanding officers, asked to provide photographs of their aviators for use in a possible photographic lineup, were reluctant to do so because they feared it would be unconstitutional.

“When they referred that question to their lawyers, they all got good advice and they all cooperated,” said the official. “So, in the end, there were no commanding officers that frustrated the investigation by not allowing (the Naval Investigative Service) to come in and interview or take pictures or do anything that they wanted to do.”

The Navy’s initial action in the Tailhook case came just days before the Navy’s top admiral, Frank B. Kelso II, launched a wide-ranging program of education and discipline to banish sexual harassment from its ranks and help address what has become a significant public-relations problem.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has notified the Navy that it would stop approving promotions for naval officers until lawmakers were satisfied that the Navy would punish those involved. With many senior officers waiting to accept new posts, the panel’s inaction has threatened to disrupt operations at a large number of naval bases.