Navy Drops Charges Against 9 of 10 in Phony IDs Case

The U.S. Navy dropped charges Friday against nine civilians who had been accused of using phony military ID cards to enter the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme during the Gulf War.

But the Navy still is pursuing charges against Keven Empey, 34, of Oxnard, who allegedly provided the false ID cards and helped the others gain unauthorized access to the Seabee base in Port Hueneme.

Empey appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate Stephen Haberfeld for arraignment on charges of impersonating an officer and possession of false military identification, but the proceedings were postponed until May 14.

Empey declined to comment upon leaving the courtroom at the Ventura County Courthouse.

U.S. court authorities will review Empey’s case and decide whether he is eligible for diversion, which would require him to obey all laws and possibly undergo psychiatric counseling, in exchange for having the charges expunged from his record, said his attorney, Keith Carter of Ventura.

Authorities say Empey posed as an Army veteran and formed a small group of volunteers, some of them Army veterans, into the fictitious U.S. Army Auxiliary Forces. The group’s goal was to produce volunteers to augment U.S. armed forces on the home front during the Gulf War, according to documents that Empey circulated among the group.

Empey allegedly used blank 1952 Army identification cards to make ID passes for the members. The 10 of them entered the base on Feb. 2 and studied military procedures in a classroom there for three hours before security guards detained them.

Each was charged with impersonating an officer and possession of false military identification. But the Navy announced Thursday it would dismiss charges against eight of the people because they were reasonably mistaken about their authorization to enter the base.

On Friday, the Navy prosecutor, Lt. Cmdr. Edward R. Torrence, dismissed charges against those eight. He also dismissed charges against the ninth defendant, Joseph Mendoza, 30, of Oxnard after discussing the case with him in a courthouse conference room.