Navy Man Charged With Sexual Assault Faces a Court-Martial

WASHINGTON —  A Navy cook who allegedly sexually assaulted a female subordinate on a commercial airline flight in October will face a court-martial, Navy officials said Wednesday.

Chief Petty Officer George Powell, 49, faces 10 charges, including one involving a second incident in which a woman said Powell groped her breasts last January when the two were assigned to the destroyer tender Samuel Gompers.

The charges include indecent assault, simple assault, drunk and disorderly conduct, failure to obey a lawful order and showing disrespect to a commissioned officer.

Powell faces a maximum sentence of six months’ confinement, a bad-conduct discharge and forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for six months. No trial date has been set.

The recent charges relate to an Oct. 27 American Airlines flight. Other Navy personnel on board allegedly did little to stop Powell, who is reported to have repeatedly groped the 23-year-old third-class petty officer’s breasts, thighs and crotch.

News of the event prompted Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda, chief of naval operations, to order a Navy-wide “stand-down,” the first since 1992, in which all sailors for a day last month were required to review and discuss regulations pertaining to “good order and discipline.”

During a preliminary hearing last week, Powell’s attorney argued that he was drunk at the time and had no recollection of the incident. He said the Navy was partly at fault because it had failed to give Powell proper treatment when he was court-martialed in 1993 for drunk and disorderly conduct in another assault involving a female sailor.

A Navy psychiatrist who examined Powell testified he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his experience in Vietnam.