The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan undergoes maintenance at its homeport, Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, April 23, 2023. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Five years after cracking an LSD ring aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, Navy investigators are probing reports of new drug activity aboard the carrier, a spokeswoman for Naval Forces Japan said Monday.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating an undisclosed number of sailors for “alleged drug use, possession and distribution,” Cmdr. Katie Cerezo told Stars and Stripes by email.
“An investigation is presently ongoing,” she said. “Possession, distribution and use of drugs is in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and strictly prohibited.”
Cerezo declined to detail the allegations, including the extent of drug use aboard the ship, the substances involved or if anyone had been arrested.
“The Navy takes this investigation seriously, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on an active investigation,” she said.
In 2018, Navy investigators implicated 15 sailors in a drug ring aboard the carrier that included the distribution and use of LSD and ecstasy. All but one of the sailors were assigned to the Ronald Reagan’s nuclear reactor department.
Five sailors went to court-martial and 10 received nonjudicial punishments in connection with the case.
Four of the five court-martialed sailors pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. In exchange, they were reduced in rank and given bad-conduct discharges. One was sentenced to 10 months confinement, another to 90 days.
The Ronald Reagan departed Yokosuka, its homeport, on May 12 for sea trials ahead of its upcoming patrol before returning on Friday, and it remained in port as of Monday afternoon.
