Case Against Last Officer Facing Tailhook Charges Is Dismissed

QUANTICO, Va. —  The last remaining case stemming from the 1991 Tailhook Assn. convention in Las Vegas has been dismissed because of insufficient evidence, an attorney said Wednesday.

Of 140 cases stemming from the scandal, not one person has been court-martialed. About 50 Navy and Marine officers received administrative discipline.

Officials at Quantico Marine Corps Base issued a release Wednesday saying that Lt. Gen. Charles C. Krulak had dismissed the case without imposing punishment against a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel accused of misconduct.

It did not identify the colonel, but the attorney for Marine Lt. Col. Cass D. Howell identified his client as the defendant. Howell’s attorney, David L. Beck of Knoxville, Tenn., said all charges against Howell were dismissed because of insufficient evidence.

Howell had been charged with lying and obstructing justice during the Tailhook probe. He was also charged with assaulting a Tailhook investigator and with spending a night during the convention at the Las Vegas Hilton with a woman other than his wife.

Pentagon investigators concluded that 83 women were assaulted or molested at the convention. Many of the women were molested on the hotel’s third floor, where men lined the hallway and grabbed women as they tried to pass.