Officials Face Sex Misconduct Charges

Fresh allegations of top-level sexual misconduct surfaced at the Pentagon on Friday as officials acknowledged that the Army’s top civilian lawyer has been charged with sexual harassment and the Navy relieved a two-star admiral who was facing a similar accusation.

William T. Coleman III, a longtime friend of President Clinton and son of the Transportation secretary under former President Ford, has been accused of improperly touching a subordinate, officials said. The allegation, along with accusations that he told bawdy sexual jokes and listened to offensive rap music lyrics, came in through the Army’s sexual-harassment hotline.

Meanwhile, the Navy relieved Rear Adm. R.M. Mitchell Jr., who has commanded the 10,000-employee Navy supply system from its headquarters in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He is alleged to have created a hostile working environment by paying a female employee “much more attention than she felt comfortable with,” said Rear Adm. Kendall Pease, the Navy’s chief spokesman. While stressing that investigators had reached no conclusions, he said that Mitchell, who is married, was relieved of duty to separate the accused and accuser.

“We just couldn’t risk a revictimization,” he said.

The allegations against Mitchell came to the Defense Department’s attention through its hotline in March. They were passed to the Navy, which began its formal inquiry last month and recently completed it, Pease said.

The allegations are part of a continuing wave of sexual misconduct allegations that has broken over the military services this year.

Gene C. McKinney, who holds the prestigious post of sergeant major of the Army, has been accused of harassment of various kinds by four women, including a former public relations aide to him. McKinney, now relieved of his duties, has denied the charges.

And on Thursday, the Army relieved a one-star general, psychiatrist Stephen N. Xenakis, of his duties overseeing the service’s hospitals in the southeastern states. He is alleged to have carried on “an improper relationship” with a nurse who has been caring for his wife, who is ill with cancer.

These accusations surfaced in a letter written to Army officials in January.

The allegations have raised questions not only about the extent of sexual misconduct in the military but also about the service’s practices and rules in dealing with it. Charges against former Air Force Lt. Kelly Flinn, the discharged B-52 pilot, have increased criticism of the military’s rules on adultery and romantic relationships.