Vice Admiral's death ruled suicide

Navy probe rules vice admiral’s death a suicide

By: Geoff Ziezulewicz
June 11, 2019

The three-star admiral found dead in his home last year in Bahrain took his own life, according to a copy of the service’s preliminary inquiry into his death.

Vice Adm. Scott A. Stearney, then the commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, was found dead in his Bahrain home in December. (Marine Corps)

The body of Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, the 58-year-old commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, was found on the afternoon of Dec. 1 in his residence in Janabiya, according to the three-page preliminary inquiry obtained by Navy Times.

The heavily redacted document cites a Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe and concludes that a “timeline of events and witness statements” revealed “his intent to commit suicide.”

“No information uncovered during the subsequent NCIS investigation, including multiple interviews and forensic analysis of VADM Stearney’s electronic devices, contradicted this finding.”

The inquiry determined that Stearney’s death occurred in the line of duty and was not due to his own misconduct.
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NCIS investigating murder-suicide in Okinawa involving sailor

Japan: Sailor kills woman, self in Okinawa

The Associated Press
By: Yuri Kageyama
April 13, 2019

TOKYO — A U.S. serviceman fatally stabbed a Japanese woman and then killed himself in Okinawa on Saturday, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said, amid growing resentment about the presence of American troops in the southwestern Japanese region.

The apartment where a U.S. servicemen and a Japanese woman were found dead, in Chatan town on Okinawa on Saturday. The sailor fatally stabbed a Japanese woman and then killed himself , according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, amid growing resentment about the presence of American troops in Japan's southwestern region. (Kyodo News via AP)

U.S. Forces Japan said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was working with local police to look into the deaths of a U.S. Navy sailor assigned to a Marine unit and an Okinawa resident.

“This is an absolute tragedy and we are fully committed to supporting the investigation,” it said in a statement, adding that more information would be released later.
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Death of Chief Petty Officer Under Investigation

Navy identifies man killed in shooting at Ewa Beach home
Associated Press
April 18, 2018

HONOLULU (AP) — The Navy has identified a man who was killed in a shooting Sunday at an Ewa Beach home.

The Navy said 41-year-old Chief Petty Officer John Ellsworth Hasselbrink, a submariner who served 22 years at Pearl Harbor, was killed in the shooting.

Hasselbrink was shot while trying to open the door of a 33-year-old Ewa Beach resident’s house in the middle of the night, according to police reports.

The resident was arrested but released Monday night without charges, pending further investigation.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force, citing police reports, said Hasselbrink had been attempting “to enter a residence other than his own by mistake.”

He died at the scene.
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CBS to shoot pilot

"We will follow these men as they train, plan and execute some of the most dangerous, high-stakes missions our country can ask of them, (and) as they also work to preserve the delicate balance of their lives at home," an unofficial synopsis reads.

CBS to shoot pilot episode for planned Navy SEAL drama in New Orleans
The Times-Picayune
By Mike Scott, NOLA.com
March 09, 2017

Word is still out on whether the locally shot CBS series "NCIS: New Orleans" will return for a fourth season, but the network appears poised to come back to the Crescent City for a Navy-based drama one way or the other. Paperwork was recently filed with the state to film the pilot episode for an untitled CBS drama about a team of Navy SEALs in New Orleans this spring.

The series would follow the lives of members of SEAL Team Six, one of the most elite SEAL teams, as they train for and are deployed on a series of dangerous missions. Production on the pilot is expected to begin in mid-March.

According to Deadline, the announced cast so far includes A.J. Buckley ("CSI: NY"), as a skilled but self-destructive member of the team; Max Theriot ("Bates Motel"), as a cocky but secretly insecure millennial SEAL; and Neil Brown Jr. ("Straight Outta Compton"), as the longest-tenured member of the team.
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Happy Thanksgiving Sailors, You Get Life Lock After Data Hacked

Names, Data of more than 134,000 Sailors Compromised
Stars and Stripes
by Erik Slavin
Nov 24, 2016

The names and social security numbers of 134,386 sailors were accessed by "unknown individuals" from a contractor's laptop computer, the Navy announced Wednesday.

U.S. Navy sailors stand on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on Nov. 22. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

The Navy said it was notified by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services on Oct.27 that one of its employees supporting a Navy contract had a laptop compromised, according to a service statement.

There is no evidence for now that the personal data has been misused, according to the preliminary results of an ongoing Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation.

"The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously -- this is a matter of trust for our sailors," Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Robert Burke said, according to a Navy statement. "We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach."
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Rogue Navy Unit Tied to Texas Sheriff?

High-profile Texas sheriff tied to a rogue Navy unit facing a criminal probe
The Washington Post
By CRAIG WHITLOCK
Published: September 30, 2016

Why so many Pentagon officials and their relatives were working on the side as sheriff's deputies in Texas has not been explained in court, where much of the evidence has been sealed to protect national security. What a training base would have been used for there is just as murky.

Even among the colorful pantheon of Texas lawmen, Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West has seized his share of the limelight. In his 16-year career patrolling the West Texas outback, he has busted crooner Willie Nelson for pot, accused the Mexican army of invading U.S. territory and repeatedly ripped the federal government on television over border security.

Less well known are the country sheriff's strange connections to a rogue Navy intelligence office at the Pentagon that has been under criminal investigation for the past three years.

The former director of the intelligence unit, David W. Landersman, a civilian, is facing federal conspiracy charges for allegedly orchestrating a mysterious scheme to equip Navy commandos with hundreds of untraceable AK-47 rifle silencers.

A new wrinkle in the case, however, has recently emerged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, where prosecutors have suggested that Navy officials from the intelligence unit also sought to funnel military equipment to rural Hudspeth County and set up a secret training base near the Mexican border.
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Senior Chief Petty Officer Accused of Identity Theft From Sailors

Navy senior chief charged with stealing identities of subordinates
The Virginian-Pilot
By Scott Daugherty
Published: April 29, 2016

In all, investigators linked Pressley to more than $24,000 in loans issued in the names of the two sailors, according to court documents.

NORFOLK, Va. (Tribune News Service) — A 19-year Navy veteran and Bronze Star recipient is charged with stealing the identities of at least two subordinates to secure fraudulent loans.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Clayton Pressley III – who is currently assigned to a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit in Virginia Beach – is set to appear this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk for a preliminary hearing.

According to court documents, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents believe Pressley stole the identities of at least two sailors. The first sailor, identified in court documents only by the initials J.B., told investigators last October he received a letter of denial about two months earlier from Discover Financial Services in reference to a personal loan application he did not complete.
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Camp Pendleton Marine Convicted on Sexual Assault of Female Marine

Man Sexually Assaulted Fellow Marine at Camp Pendleton
Pedro Javier Orellana, 24, said he had received training about sexual assault prevention while stationed at Camp Pendleton
NBC 7 News San Diego
By R. Stickney
August 21, 2015

A Maryland man was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting a fellow U.S. Marine while the woman slept. Pedro Javier Orellana, 24, was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and based at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego at the time of the attack.

It took jurors just one day of deliberation to convict Orellana.

He admitted to investigators he didn’t really know the woman and had only seen her in passing a few times. However, on Nov. 2, 2014, Orellana took advantage of the active-duty Marine who was “too drunk to know what was going on” as he explained to Navy investigators.
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NCIS Investigating Death of Marine from New York

Officials identify Marine found unresponsive aboard Camp Lejeune 
WCTI News
By Jessica Albert
Aug 15 2015

CAMP LEJEUNE, Onslow County - Camp Lejeune officials identify a Marine pronounced dead at Camp Lejeune Friday as Lance Corporal Ricardo A. Rodriguez, Jr.

A Camp Lejeune spokesperson said Rodriguez was found in the vicinity of his barracks around 5:45 a.m. Friday morning by a unit representative.

He was taken to Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune where he was later pronounced dead. read more here

Navy Boots 3 Rear Admirals After Scandal

3 Rear Admirals Forced Out Amid Massive Navy Bribery Scandal 
Associated Press
Feb 11, 2015

From left, Adms. Terry Kraft, Michael Miller, David Pimpo. Official U.S. Navy portraits

SAN DIEGO -- Three Navy rear admirals linked to a massive bribery scandal that cost the government at least $20 million have been reprimanded but will not face criminal charges, the Navy announced Tuesday. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus issued secretarial letters of censure to Rear Adms. Michael Miller, Terry Kraft and David Pimpo, a Navy statement said.

The letters are considered career-ending reprimands.

The three -- who all graduated from the Naval Academy -- are seeking retirement and the letters could affect their benefits. The three showed "poor judgment and a failure of leadership" by improperly accepting gifts from a "prohibited source" while they were deployed on the USS Ronald Reagan in 2006-2007, the Navy said.

One of the men also solicited gifts and two improperly endorsed a commercial business, the Navy said. read more here

Five Navy Warships Held In Philippine Port for Filipino Transgender Murder Investigation

Filipino transgender advocates call apparent killing a 'hate crime'
Navy ships being held in Philippine port as death investigation continues
Stars and Stripes
Seth Robson
October 14, 2014

Five Navy warships are being held in port in the Philippines while police investigate the killing of a Filipino transgender at Subic Bay.

The State Department said in an email Tuesday that a Marine, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., is a suspect in the death of Jeffrey Laude, also known as Jennifer.

Laude, 26, was last seen entering the Celzone Lodge in Olongapo City with a short-haired male foreigner, aged 25-30, around 10:55 p.m. on Saturday. Later, Laude’s naked body, partially covered with a blanket, was found in a bathroom at the hotel.

A State Department spokesperson said the suspect is being held onboard the USS Peleliu while the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Philippine National Police investigate.

The Peleliu, USS Germantown, USNS Sacagawea, USNS Washington Chambers and the JHSV WestPac Express are staying in the Philippines, Marine Corps Forces Pacific spokesman Col. Brad Bartelt said.
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AWOL Marine faces charges after 10 years

Marine who disappeared in Iraq in 2004 back in US
Jun 29th 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Marine who was declared a deserter nearly 10 years ago after disappearing in Iraq and then returning to the U.S. claiming he had been kidnapped, only to disappear again, is back in U.S. custody, officials said Sunday.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, turned himself in and was being flown Sunday from an undisclosed location in the Middle East to Norfolk, Va. He is to be moved Monday to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to a spokesman, Capt. Eric Flanagan.

Maj. Gen. Raymond Fox, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Lejeune, will determine whether to court martial Hassoun.

In a written statement from its headquarters at the Pentagon, the Marine Corps said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service "worked with" Hassoun to turn himself in and return to the U.S. to face charges.

Hassoun disappeared from his unit in Iraq's western desert in June 2004. The following month he turned up unharmed in Beirut, Lebanon and blamed his disappearance on Islamic extremist kidnappers. He was returned to Lejeune and was about to face the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing when he disappeared again.

Wonder if he was getting paid too?

Audit: Army paid $16M to deserters, AWOL soldiers
The Associated Press
By BRETT BARROUQUERE
Published: September 27, 2013

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Even as the Army faces shrinking budgets, an audit shows it paid out $16 million in paychecks over a 2 1/2-year period to soldiers designated as AWOL or as deserters, the second time since 2006 the military has been dinged for the error.

A memo issued by Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., found that the Army lacked sufficient controls to enforce policies and procedures for reporting deserters and absentee soldiers to cut off their pay and benefits immediately. The oversight was blamed primarily on a failure by commanders to fill out paperwork in a timely manner.
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Navy SEAL's body still missing after dive in 2013

Navy: SEAL Died in Dive Full of Safety Lapses
Honolulu Advertiser
by William Cole
Apr 21, 2014

Leathers was described as a "super-nice guy" who would give others the shirt off his back, according to friends and media reports. He was the father of three young children and had deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The disappearance last year of a Pearl Harbor Navy SEAL who was spearfishing with other unit members on a training free dive off Kaena Point was accompanied by sweeping procedural and safety violations, according to the Navy's investigative report.

The death of special operations Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew John Leathers, 33, was likely caused by drowning due to shallow-water blackout during the breath-hold dive training, the command investigation concluded. No scuba gear was used for the exercise.

Leathers, a member of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, was wearing an estimated 8- to 10-pound weight belt on the day of his disappearance, Feb. 19, 2013, according to the report.

He was likely negatively buoyant, which would have kept him under water after a blackout, the report said. His body was never found.
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Navy relieved USS Germantown Captain

USS Germantown captain relieved of duty
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: March 10, 2014

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — The captain of the USS Germantown has been relieved of command for failure to use good judgment and uphold standards in relation to a sexual assault investigation involving one of the ship’s top sailors, Navy officials said Monday.

Cmdr. Jason Leach was removed Friday by Amphibious Force Seventh Fleet commander Rear Adm. Hugh Wetherald, who lost confidence in his ability to command, according to a Navy statement. The relief was the result of a poor command climate onboard the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship.

The command investigation that led to Leach’s firing was triggered by a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation into sexual assault allegations against former Command Master Chief Petty Officer Jesus Galura. Galura has been removed from his duties onboard the ship.
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Female Camp Pendleton Marine hospitalized with stab wounds

UPDATE
Woman Stabbed Multiple Times at Camp Pendleton
NBC San Diego
The victim has been ID'd as Emily Hammonds
By Christina London and Omari Fleming
Monday, Jan 20, 2014

A female Marine was stabbed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County on Saturday, U.S. Marine Corps officials confirmed.

Public Information Officer Lt. Savannah Moyer said two Marines were involved in an incident with a deadly weapon on Saturday. Earlier, Marine Corps officials confirmed it was a stabbing and that the victim had been stabbed multiple times.

According to Moyer, the victim was flown to Scripps Mercy Hospital.

WAVY, the NBC affiliate in Norfolk, Va., confirmed that the victim is Lance Cpl. Emily Hammonds (pictured.) Hammonds is from the Virginia Beach area.

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Marine in hospital with stab wounds, incident under investigation
Los Angeles Times
Tony Perry
January 19, 2014

Military officials are investigating an incident at Camp Pendleton that left a Marine lance corporal in the hospital with stab wounds, officials said Sunday.

She was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where she was treated for "moderate" injuries, official said.
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NCIS report finds young Marine was crushed by bulldozer

NCIS: Marine crushed by bulldozer as he slept in foxhole
Pfc. Casey James Holmes killed in March during training at Twentynine Palms base
Marine Corps Times
By Denise Goolsby
The Desert Sun
Jan. 10, 2014

TWENTYNINE PALMS — A Marine killed in March during a training mishap at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms was crushed by a bulldozer as he slept in a shallow, hand-dug foxhole, a report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said.

Pfc. Casey James Holmes, a Chico native who was 20 at the time of his death, was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment from Marine Corps Base Hawaii. He was at the combat center to participate in the Marine Corps’ nearly monthlong Integrated Training Exercise, known as ITX.

The Chico Enterprise-Record recently obtained the NCIS report after filing three Freedom of Information Act requests with the agency. The first two were rejected with NCIS saying the investigation was still underway and nothing could be released, staff writer Roger H. Aylworth reports.

The Enterprise-Record shared the 126-page NCIS report with The Desert Sun. The names of all of those interviewed in the course of the investigation had been redacted.
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Legal twist reconnects 2 sailors: attacker and victim

Legal twist reconnects 2 sailors: attacker and victim
The Virginian-Pilot
By Dianna Cahn
Published: December 20, 2013

It was a bizarre and horrific scene: a sailor going berserk in the galley of a Navy barge at a local shipyard and slashing the throat of a shipmate.

The delusional violence in March 2007 landed one man in prison and the other in an operating room. It also trapped the two sailors in a prism of legal turns that continue to this day.

After two trials and more than five years in prison, the attacker, Seaman Richard Mott, has been on duty at Norfolk Naval Station since September. His conviction for attempted murder was set aside this summer, after he had been paroled.

Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Mott is monitored daily to ensure he takes his medications. His supervisors at the naval station say his illness is under control.

The victim, Jose Garcia, sits at home in Kansas, embittered by constant pain and post-traumatic stress disorder that has been, at times, debilitating. He blames the Navy for forcing him to relive his nightmare and leaving him to fall through the cracks when he needed help most.

"I feel like they care more about what's happening to the other guy," Garcia says. "No one has checked on me at all. The only time I've ever gotten a call is if they need something from me."

Neither man was on active duty in July, when the appeals court handed down its ruling, but the decision has brought attacker and victim back in the Navy's reach for one final legal and financial twist.
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Navy Criminal Investigator to plead guilty to bribery

Attorney says Navy investigator will plead guilty
KNOE News
Julie Watson
Associated Press
Posted: Dec 17, 2013

SAN DIEGO (AP) - A senior U.S. Navy criminal investigator downloaded more than 100 confidential files for an Asian defense contractor at the center of a multimillion-dollar fraud investigation, prosecutors say.

In exchange, John Beliveau II accepted luxury trips from the Malaysian defense contractor, Leonard Glenn Francis, who would arrange for prostitutes to meet Beliveau, according to charging documents.

Beliveau's attorney said his client will plead guilty to bribery charges Tuesday in federal court in San Diego. The conviction will be a first for federal prosecutors in the massive scandal that has netted the arrests of three Navy officials and prompted the military branch to suspend two admirals' access to classified material.

Beliveau's lawyers and prosecutors declined to say whether Beliveau would now cooperate with authorities.

Francis, the 49-year-old CEO of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA, offered bribes to Navy officers in exchange for confidential information - including ship routes, authorities say, or for following his requests to move Navy vessels to Asian ports with lax oversight so the company could inflate costs and invent tariffs by using phony port authorities.

In exchange, Francis, who is known in military circles as "Fat Leonard" because of his wide girth, lined up prostitutes, luxury hotel stays and tickets to shows for the Navy officials, including a Lady Gaga concert in Thailand, according to a criminal complaint.
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More than $350,000 stolen from Navy cargo ship

More than $350,000 stolen from Navy cargo ship
The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot
By Scott Daugherty
Published: October 17, 2013

NORFOLK, Va. -- More than $350,000 was reported stolen earlier this year from a safe on a Navy supply ship, federal prosecutors said. And that wasn't even everything in the ship's safe.

There was supposed be more than $692,000, court records indicate.

Ismael Estrada, 65, the Arctic's former purser, was charged last week in U.S. District Court with felony theft of government money. After surrendering his passport Wednesday and agreeing to home electronic monitoring, he was released to the custody of his son.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher George and Assistant Federal Public Defender Richard Colgan, Estrada's defense attorney, declined to comment about the theft from the Arctic, a fast combat support ship tasked with delivering fuel, ammunition, food and cargo to other Navy ships.

According to court documents, the money in the safe was for the "operational use" of the Arctic and to pay the 170 civilian crew members who worked on the vessel.
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Marine from Ohio found dead at Quantico

UPDATED: Quantico Marine found dead identified
Inside Nova
October 14, 2013

Authorities have identified the Marine found dead in base housing Saturday as Cpl. Daniel B. Vilevac, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Vilevac is a native of Cuyahoga, Ohio, and served as a instructor of combat water survival at The Basic School.

Base officials said military police responded to a 911 call in base housing late Saturday, where they found Vilevac dead from an apparent gunshot wound in what they called “an isolated incident.” They have not said whether the case is a homicide.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating.
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