Leader of Blue Angels Exonerated
One of the highest-profile cases in the Navy Tailhook scandal collapsed Thursday when the service exonerated the commander of the Blue Angels precision flying team of charges that he witnessed a sex act at the 1991 Tailhook convention of naval aviators.
A Navy inquiry has found that Cmdr. Robert E. Stumpf, 41, was not present in a Las Vegas hotel room rented by members of his squadron when a stripper performed a sex act on an officer, the Navy announced. Stumpf was suspended from his flying duties for five months while the service investigated the charges.
The Navy has dropped more than half of the 117 cases referred to it by the Pentagon inspector general. So far, 43 officers have received administrative punishments such as fines and reprimands and three more face courts-martial, which are reserved for more serious matters.
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