2 Navy Officers Face Court-Martial Over Tailhook Sex-Abuse Scandal

Two Navy commanders will be court-martialed on charges stemming from the 1991 Tailhook sex-abuse scandal, the Navy announced Thursday.

Thomas R. Miller, 47, and Gregory E. Tritt, 43, apparently will be the first officers to face trial as a result of a Pentagon investigation of what went on at the Sept. 7, 1991, convention of Navy and Marine Corps aviators.

The officers were notified of the charges, which will be detailed at the court-martial, said Cmdr. John Tull, a spokesman for the Navy office directing Tailhook matters. No court dates were set, he said.

Witnesses testified that both men were in the third-floor area of the Las Vegas Hilton where women were forced down gantlets of leering men who grabbed them and ripped some of their clothing, but they did not intervene.

The investigation has implicated 117 officers of sexual assault, indecent exposure, conduct unbecoming an officer, failure to take charge or lying to investigators.

Miller, Tritt and a third Navy flier have undergone grand jury-like hearings at the Norfolk Naval Base on Tailhook-related charges, and two others have similar hearings next month.

Tritt’s attorney, Robert Rae, said his client was charged with assault, conduct unbecoming an officer, failing to stop officers in his command from grabbing women and false swearing.

Miller has been served with papers indicating that he will be tried on charges of dereliction of duty, impeding an investigation and several counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, said his attorney, Don Marcari.

At the time of Tailhook, Miller was a squadron commander at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state and Tritt was the squadron’s executive officer.