WASHINGTON -- A two-star admiral who heads the Navy's supply system is under investigation for possible sexual harassment, a Pentagon official said Friday night.
Rear Adm. R. M. Mitchell Jr. was relieved of his duties in Mechanicsburg, Pa., as head of the Navy's supply network and its 10,000 workers pending the outcome of the inquiry, according to Rear Adm. Kendell Pease, the chief Navy spokesman.
The Pentagon is also investigating accusations of harassment against the Army's general counsel, William Coleman III, according to the Washington Post, which reported the inquiries involving both men in yesterday's issue.
Coleman is the son of the secretary of transportation in the Ford administration, William T. Coleman Jr., and is a longtime friend and former Yale Law School classmate of President Clinton.
The investigation of Coleman was started after one or more calls to a telephone hot line that the Army set up in the wake of sex scandals at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County.
Mitchell has been put on administrative duties "due to allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer," Pease said in a telephone interview.
He said a subordinate had complained that Mitchell made advances and created a hostile working environment.
Pease said that Mitchell is married and that his record has been free of blemishes.
The Navy spokesman said the vice chief of naval operations, Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., decided to relieve Mitchell after reviewing the preliminary investigation by the Navy's inspector general.
Pease said Mitchell would not be available for comment. The Navy spokesman emphasized that no determination had been made as to Mitchell's guilt or innocence.
The allegations against Mitchell and Coleman come amid a swirl of sex scandals in the services, including rape and fraternization between officers and enlisted men and women.
The Washington Post said Coleman was accused of telling offensive sexual jokes in public, listening to rap music with offensive lyrics and touching a subordinate in an offensive manner.
His lawyer, Arthur B. Culvahouse, said, "We absolutely deny any allegation of sexual harassment."
Pub Date: 6/01/97
