Two recruiters will leave Navy rather than face court-martial

Since 09-22-04

By Christopher Munsey
NavyTimes staff writer
14 September 2004

Two Naval Reserve recruiters who allegedly altered physical examination results for recruits will leave the Navy rather then face special court-martial, a Navy spokesman said.

Navy Counselor 1st Class Donald Lepak, 31, and Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Kristen Winkelspecht, 28, originally faced charges of fraudulent enlistment, violation of a lawful order, false official statement and forgery.

Instead, both have accepted administrative separations.That means the pair will be discharged from the Navy, said Lt. Bill Davis, spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, Tenn.Davis would not describe what type of discharge the two will receive.

Lepak and Winkelspecht worked with Navy Counselor 1st Class Charles C. Clark, 36, at the recruiting office out of Fort Dix, N.J. Clark, faces a special court-martial Dec. 6 in Washington, D.C.

Investigators allege the recruiters falsified things like weight and blood pressure statistics on the physical examination forms for 35 recruits since April 2003. Their intent was to qualify recruits who would otherwise be medically prohibited from joining the Navy. Investigators said none of those recruits has died or been injured because he was deemed physically unsuited for Reserve duty and training.

If the recruiters had been found guilty at a special court-martial, they could have been imprisoned up to a year, forfeited pay, been busted to E-1 and given a bad-conduct discharge, Davis said.

In a separate case, three recruiters in Madison, Wis., have been charged with conspiracy, effecting a fraudulent enlistment, dereliction of duty and forgery.

Special courts-martial will be held in October for Damage Controlman 3rd Class Tony H. Randunz, 37, Equipment Operator 2nd Class Stephen W. Binsack, 36, and Navy Counselor 1st Class Ronald Pavlick, 34.

Randunz, Binsack and Pavlick allegedly altered physical exam results for 61 recruits over the past two years. Reserve-wide, the investigation to determine if additional recruiters altered exam results continues, and more changes are possible, Davis said.

Officials are still reviewing the cases identified through the investigation so far, to determine if those brought in after the alterations now meet the requirements, or whether medical waivers are possible, Davis said.
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Contributed,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(Ret)