No. 2 Officer at Sub Base Faces Charges of Sex Harassment

The second-ranking officer at the Naval Submarine Base here will be court-martialed on charges of sexual harassment and assault on two female officers and two enlisted women, Navy officials said Tuesday.

Cmdr. John Boyar, who as executive officer is second in command at the home base for 24 nuclear submarines, is the highest ranking Navy officer to be court-martialed on sexual harassment charges on the West Coast, according to Cmdr. George Osper, chief defense counsel for the Navy in San Diego and Boyar’s attorney. Boyar’s court-martial is scheduled to begin Monday.

Five Counts of Harassment

Boyar, 44, is charged with five counts of sexual harassment, four counts of assault, plus conduct unbecoming an officer, use of indecent language and fraternization. If convicted, Boyar faces up to 12 years in prison, dismissal from the service and forfeiture of pay and retirement benefits.

The sexual harassment and assault charges allege that the 27-year veteran put his hand on the leg of a female officer “in an intimate manner,” grabbed the face of an enlisted woman and kissed her lips, and put his arm around the shoulder of another female officer while sitting close to her. The incidents allegedly occurred in March and April of 1987.

Lt. Sonya Hedley, a Navy spokeswoman, declined to identify the female officers or elaborate on the alleged sexual harassment. She said that for sexual harassment allegations to reach the point of a court-martial is “very, very uncommon.”

Boyar, who was reassigned to the Miramar Naval Air Station here last November when the allegations surfaced, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But Osper said the charges against Boyar are based on “misunderstandings by the accusers.”

“The defense’s position is that the incidents were blown totally out of proportion,” he said. “We expect justice to be done . . . in an acquittal.”

Osper described the officer’s record as “outstanding” and said Boyar enlisted in the Navy 27 years ago and “worked his way through the ranks.”

Boyar, who came to San Diego after serving on the submarine tender Frank Cable, served as executive officer of the submarine base here from December of 1986 to November of last year, when he was reassigned amid the allegations of harassment.

Boyar is married and has two sons, including one who is a Navy officer in San Diego, Osper said.

According to a list of Navy charges against Boyar, in March of 1987, he allegedly harassed sexually a female officer at the Naval Submarine Base “after she had several times rebuffed his advances.” He is accused of harassing the officer in an “offensive and sexually suggestive manner.”

Use of Language

Boyar also is accused of “conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman” by using “inappropriate, insulting and demeaning language” when speaking to an enlisted man carrying a message from another officer. He is also charged with making “prejudicial comments” about a Navy commander, using “indecent language” to a civilian, and fraternizing with enlisted personnel, which is defined as unlawful contact between persons of differing ranks.

A year ago, the Department of Defense issued a scathing report criticizing the Navy and the Marine Corps in the Pacific for discrimination and “morally repugnant” sexual harassment against women. The report was based on visits to Navy and Marine Corps installations in Hawaii, the Philippines and Japan.