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Sunday, June 18, 2000
Drug deal gets Kitty Hawk sailor 6-year sentence
By Alan Mueller
Stars and Stripes
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - For Airman Recruit Brandon Rudolph, being
accepted aboard the USS Kitty Hawk meant doing drugs.
It was a decision that earned him a six-year prison sentence.
Crystal methamphetamine is the most popular drug aboard the carrier,
the 21-year-old sailor said during his court-martial Friday. He told a Navy
judge that he was able to buy it through a petty officer third class with
connections ashore.
Rudolph said he bought 2 grams of the drug March 30 for two shipmates,
Seaman Recruit Andy Hirko and Airman Recruit Russell Evans, because he "didn't
want to feel like a loner."
"They approached me," Rudolph said. "I told them, yes,
I could get it, but I needed $300." Rudolph said he gave Hirko's and
Evans' money to the petty officer - three $100 bills - and waited about
two hours for the petty officer to return to the Kitty Hawk with two clear
packets of crystal meth.
"Hirko, Evans and I crushed it up and snorted it, " Rudolph
said.
On March 31, after Rudolph hosted an all-night meth party for the three
sailors near one of the Kitty Hawk's steam catapults, Evans, 19, showed
up to work bug-eyed and jittery. He was accused of being high on speed.
Evans confessed and named Rudolph as the supplier. Evans, who said he never
wants to use crystal meth again, served 30 days' confinement in May and
forfeited two months' pay. He is being drummed out of the Navy and said
he expects to be home in a couple weeks.
Rudolph pleaded guilty Friday to bringing, using and distributing crystal
methamphetamine aboard the Kitty Hawk. He said he began using the drug,
at sea and in port, in December 1999.
Capt. Shackley Raffetto, a Navy judge, sentenced him to six years in
prison. Rudolph faced a maximum punishment of 40 years' confinement. Based
on a pre-trial agreement, he will have to serve at least 18 more months
in prison. But if he abides by the agreement, he can be out of jail before
his 23rd birthday. After Raffetto announced the judgement, Rudolph nodded
as though in agreement.
Navy Lt. Ross Booher, a prosecutor, asked Raffetto to sentence Rudolph
to eight years.
Rudolph's defense lawyer, Marine Capt. Michael Mori, pounding on a podium
near Raffetto's bench, argued that Rudolph didn't deserve to be warehoused.
Three Kitty Hawk sailors who were part of Rudolph's circle of drug users
received relatively light punishment, Mori said. He cited Monday's sentencing
of another sailor accused of distributing methamphetamine aboard the Kitty
Haw: Airman Apprentice Kenji Jackson, 19, received a two-year sentence,
with nine months suspended.
Whatever punishment the others in Rudolph's group received is irrelevant,
Booher said. Rudolph "admitted to using drugs 15 to 30 times aboard
a warship, he was the old hand at it." Sailors knew Rudolph "was
the man who could hook them up. He was the kingpin."
Rudolph, who reported aboard the Kitty Hawk two years ago, told judge
that methamphetamine use among crewmembers is "spread wide."
Mori said that his client's drug abuse did nothing to harm the Kitty
Hawk's crew or equipment, and implied that Rudolph had been corrupted by
the crew.
"Where does he get the drugs?" Mori asked rhetorically. "A
petty officer is the supplier - on a warship!"
The petty officer was not fully identified on Friday. Throughout his
sentencing hearing, Rudolph referred to him as "Petty Officer Allen."
"As for the supplier," said Booher, referring to the petty
officer, "we don't know yet how severe that outcome will be."
Booher did not say whether "Allen" has been charged.
In addition to Rudolph's six-year jail sentence, his punishment includes
forfeiture of all Navy pay and benefits, and a dishonorable discharge.
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