Navy Officer Convicted of Sexually Harassing Woman

A decorated Navy commander was found guilty by a court-martial jury Friday on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer in connection with the sexual harassment of a woman enlistee.

The jury fined Cmdr. Steven C. Tolan, a 23-year career officer with combat medals for service in Vietnam, $2,000 and ordered that a letter of reprimand be placed in his file and that his name be dropped to the bottom of the promotions list.

Tolan’s attorney, Marine Maj. Paul McBride, noted in court that his client’s promotion in the Navy will be impossible after this. “Cmdr. Tolan’s career has ended. We all know that,” he said.

McBride said that to his knowledge, Tolan is the first high-ranking Navy officer to undergo a court-martial for sexual harassment since it became an military crime in 1989. The case is unrelated to the Tailhook sexual assault scandal, in which 26 women have charged that they were sexually harassed at a 1991 convention of naval aviators in Las Vegas.

Tolan, 46, was charged with 14 offenses, including indecent assault, cruelty or maltreatment of a subordinate and behavior unbecoming an officer, after two women--a former enlistee and a former civilian secretary--accused him of sexually harassing them while he was in charge of a special unit that teaches ocean survival to pilots at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Tolan, who has since been reassigned to Camp Pendleton, was found guilty on two of the charges for his treatment of former Petty Officer Kathryn Sparre. The allegations made by the former civilian secretary, Carole Wiemert, 48, were dismissed.

The jury of five officers, including a woman Navy captain, agreed with the prosecution’s accusation that Tolan had made “repeated offensive comments of a sexual nature” to Sparre, who had been assigned to Tolan’s unit fresh out of boot camp and scuba diving school.

The offenses spanned the length of Sparre’s assignment to the unit between October, 1989, and March, 1992.