NAVY OFFICER FACES HEARING IN DRUG CASE

A person charged with drug dealing doesn't normally carry the title
lieutenant commander.

The Navy says this one does.

In a military hearing that began yesterday, the Navy claimed that Lt. Cmdr.
Robert L. Loeh sold the designer drug ecstasy, committed indecent assault
and took part in other actions unbecoming an officer.

Loeh, 40, faces charges that could put him in prison for 192 years.

He served on the carrier Constellation as a maintenance officer.

"Bizarre." "Unusual." "Unbelievable." Those were some of the adjectives
military officials used to describe the case yesterday. Government
witnesses dominated the half-day session.

Loeh also is accused of committing crimes both on his ship and at his
off-base residence in San Diego, including the hiring of male prostitutes.

The Navy charges that he routinely fraternized with enlisted men and
invited one to his Constellation stateroom, where they watched movies, ate
popcorn and drank alcohol.

Loeh also had classified and secret documents he should not have had in his
Chollas View condominium, the government claims.

San Diego police arrested him there last spring on charges of selling
ecstasy to undercover agents.

A Navy investigation resulted in more accusations against Loeh, a 19-year
veteran whose civilian charges later were dismissed, allowing for the
military to try Loeh in its own justice system.

His first day in court was yesterday in the Article 32 proceeding, which
hears evidence and then recommends whether a military defendant should be
court-martialed.

It's similar to a grand jury hearing, which decides if charges are to be
placed against civilians.

The proceeding, which resumes tomorrow and may conclude by week's end, is
taking place at the U.S. Marine Recruit Training Depot in a courtroom
where, not far in the distance, enlistees go through grueling drills.

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin O'Neil, the investigating officer presiding, could make a
recommendation for court-martial or some other action as early as two weeks
from the hearing's end.

The police drug raid in which Loeh was arrested netted two other Navy
personnel, Petty Officers 3rd Class Dustin Larck, 21, and Matthew Lenhoff,
24, who were living with Loeh at the time, the military claims.

Both enlisted men face charges.

Larck's Article 32 hearing is combined with Loeh's. Lenhoff opted not to
take part and will face the recommendation that comes from this hearing,
prosecutors said.

Each man's commanding officer -- different in the three cases -- decides
how to proceed based on O'Neil's recommendation.

Loeh remains free and holds a Navy job, but not on the carrier. In addition
to a military attorney, he was represented by a civilian, William Sams.

It was the Navy that tipped off city police about Loeh, saying it had
information that the lieutenant commander might be selling drugs from his
condominium, according to testimony yesterday.

San Diego police Detective Teddie Weston, who led the investigation, said
he organized an undercover drug buy.

Loeh sold 20 tablets of what later tested to be ecstasy to undercover men,
Weston said.

San Diego police, using a search warrant, then raided the apartment,
finding 731/2 more such tablets and other illegal drugs, such as LSD-laced
sugar cubes, they said.

In civilian court, Loeh had pleaded not guilty to drug charges.

Yesterday, he sat through four hours of mostly government testimony,
including the playing of a tape that is said to be a recording of his voice
on a sex-service answering machine.

It was entered into the record.