Pubdate: Sat, 21 Oct 2000
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Michael Stetz, Staff Writer
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1572/a11.html

HEARING ENDS FOR NAVY OFFICER

Charges Include Drug Dealing

A military hearing to determine whether a Navy officer should be 
court-martialed on charges of drug dealing and other crimes ended 
yesterday, leaving questions unanswered and a blot on the proud service.

Lt. Cmdr. Robert L. Loeh, 40, faced a battery of witnesses, most of them 
government witnesses who described a side of the military that Navy 
recruiters wouldn't put in a commercial.

It included drug selling, drug abuse, drunkenness, sexual assault and 
fraternization.

Loeh faces up to 192 years in prison. He's a 19-year veteran and served 
aboard the carrier Constellation.

"We feel we presented enough evidence for the government to make a sound 
decision," said Lt. Cmdr. Paul LeBlanc, the lead prosecutor.

William Sams, Loeh's civilian defense attorney, had little to say, citing 
the sensitivity of such military hearings.

He did say that Loeh, despite the damaging hits he took on his reputation 
throughout the hearing, "is holding up fine."

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin O'Neil is the presiding investigating officer in the 
Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding.

Guilt or innocence is not determined. In these hearings, the investigating 
officers recommend that the matter proceed to court-martial or find that 
some other action is necessary.

A decision should come within a few weeks. The defendant's commanding 
officer decides what to do next.

In three days of testimony, a number of perplexing questions were raised 
about Loeh's actions. According to charges, he and enlisted personnel close 
to him were involved in drug distribution.

But the extent of this alleged drug dealing went, for the most part, 
unexplained in testimony.

Prosecutors would say only that the drug distribution charge involved the 
sale of drugs to both civilians and military personnel.

Loeh's world began to crumble May 31 when San Diego police organized a drug 
buy at Loeh's Chollas View condominium, authorities said. Police acted on a 
tip from a man described in court as Loeh's former lover.

That man also accused Loeh of sexually assaulting him, and this contention 
touched off the Navy investigation.

The drug buy and a subsequent raid turned up nearly 100 tablets of the 
designer drug ecstasy, investigators charge.

Two enlisted personnel, Petty Officers 3rd Class Dustin Larck and Matthew 
Lenhoff, were arrested in the raid as well.

They, too, face charges. Larck's Article 32 hearing was combined with Loeh's.

Lenhoff chose not to participate. His commanding officer will make a 
recommendation about a court-martial on the basis of evidence presented by 
prosecutors.

A court-martial involving Loeh, if it goes forward, will probably begin in 
January.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D