Issue Date: September 06, 2004
SEAL officer may face court-martial
Drug charges could land him 30 years in prison
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
SAN DIEGO — When word came down that his platoon faced mandatory urinalysis for suspected drug use in Thailand in early May, the Navy contends Lt. Scott C. Hobbs told his men, “We have a rat.”
The next day, investigators say, Hobbs told one of his men, “There are ways to beat a piss test.”
Now the SEAL officer, caught in a springtime drug sweep of naval special warfare units, faces a potential court-martial on charges he used and distributed illegal drugs and tried to impede the investigation, officials said.
The Navy in July charged Hobbs, 31, with one count each of using cocaine and Ecstasy on May 13 in Pattaya, a resort on Thailand’s coast, and with one count of distributing ketamine, a hallucinogenic sedative, on May 5 while in Thailand.
He also faces three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, one count under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice — a general charge that covers his alleged advice to his platoon on ways to beat the urinalysis tests — and a count of twice using a government credit card June 3 to get cash, less than $250, from automated teller machines in San Diego, according to a spokesman and charge sheets provided by Naval Special Warfare Command to Navy Times.
If prosecuted and convicted on the drug charges, Hobbs could face as much as 30 years in prison, forfeiture of all pay and benefits and dismissal from the service.
The findings of a mid-August Article 32 preliminary hearing will determine Hobbs’ fate, said Cmdr. Jeff Bender, a Naval Special Warfare Command spokes-man at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Calif. Hobbs joined the Navy in 1997.
Hobbs, who was a member of SEAL Team 1, has since been reassigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 1, Bender said.
Hobbs is one of eight SEALs who popped positive on urinalysis drug tests that led the top SEAL commander to order commandwide testing for nearly 3,300 personnel and ask the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to investigate the cases. Another five sailors, who include special warfare combatant-craft crewmen and administrative personnel, also tested positive.
One of the remaining 12 naval special warfare members caught in the drug bust faces charges during Article 32 proceedings scheduled for the week of Aug. 30, Bender said. Specific charges would not be released until the hearing, he said. It’s not clear what punishment or charges, if any, have been levied against the other members who tested positive on their urinalyses.
The drug scandal began when the command received a report that 10 naval special warfare personnel were seen using illegal drugs while they were on liberty in Thailand in early May, around the start of the annual Cobra Gold military exercises. Seven of the 10 tested positive for illegal substances, although officials did not say which type of drugs. Navy officials pulled two SEAL platoons from the exercises and replaced them with two others.
Last year, Naval Special Warfare Command booted 21 members from service for drug use, down from 32 kicked out in 2002.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-NAVYPAPER-324818.php