Petty Officer Reprimanded in Sex Assault Case : Court martial: He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge; victim says she’s disheartened by the sentence.

A Navy petty officer accused of sexually assaulting a female security officer at the Long Beach Naval Station pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of simple assault and battery Wednesday.

Earnest L. Simon will be reprimanded by letter, under a ruling by Military Judge Cmdr. Dave Wurzel for his attack on Christine Jongejan during a police training class in November, 1989.

Jongejan, 30, testified that Simon, 43, grabbed her out of a chair at the training session, forced her on top of a table and simulated sex.

He pleaded guilty to simple assault rather than sexual assault because he did not “intend to satisfy his sexual desires” when he approached Jongejan, Simon’s attorney Kenneth Norgaard said.

“Prior to his committing the acts there was a lot of sexual horseplay going on between him and the victim,” Norgaard said. “And as a result of that, he went too far, and he admitted that he did. He admitted . . . that he shouldn’t have touched her.”

Jongejan argued that there was no horseplay before the incident and said she was disheartened by the sentence.

“It shocked me that he didn’t get any kind of discipline,” Jongejan said. “I figured when you convict someone of a crime like that, they’re going to get punished.”

The maximum penalty on either charge would have been a bad-conduct discharge and six months in confinement.

“The letter says ‘You were convicted. You were a bad boy. Don’t do it again,’ ” Norgaard said.

The case initially was closed after officials at the Long Beach Naval Station’s Security Department failed to forward Jongejan’s complaint to the station’s commanding officer. It was reopened earlier this year by Adm. Robert J. Kelly, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The resolution of the case, which followed a two-day court martial, must be forwarded to Kelly.

The Navy has been under scrutiny because of accounts of sexual assaults and harassment by pilots attending a Tailhook Assn. convention in Las Vegas last year.

Jongejan has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against Simon and the Navy, claiming that the Navy failed to provide adequate training to prevent sexual harassment and failed to properly investigate such incidents. The suit asks the court to order the Navy to “develop and implement policies and procedures designed to eradicate unlawful sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault.”

“I think if enough people stand up for their rights, the Navy’s not going to whitewash everything like they’re so used to doing,” she said.

The Navy did not expect to hold up Simon’s plans to retire Saturday, a Navy spokesman said, and the sentence will not affect his pension. After more than 20 years in the Navy, Simon will receive about $1,779 a month, a little more than half of his current salary.

“I’m happy to be going to my retirement,” Simon said. “I don’t have anything more to say.”