Navy: Call girl actually retired at O-3 - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Navy: Call girl actually retired at O-3

A female officer who admitted working as a high-end prostitute for the “D.C. Madam” was allowed to retire as an O-3 — not an O-4, as was previously stated by a Navy spokeswoman.

Navy Secretary Donald Winter “did make the decision to retire her as a lieutenant in determining that she did not serve satisfactorily as a lieutenant commander,” Winter’s spokeswoman Capt. Beci Brenton said Wednesday.

Another Navy spokeswoman, Lt. j.g. Jennifer Windstein, told Navy Times on Nov. 25 that Dickinson was allowed to retire as a lieutenant commander.

“We made an error,” said Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. John Daniels.

In federal court in April, Dickinson testified about her stint as an escort at the trial of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, a California businesswoman who came to be known as the “D.C. Madam.” Dickinson said she charged $275 for a 90-minute session, typically keeping $130 for herself and sending $145 to Palfrey.

The 38-year-old divorced mother of three enlisted in the Navy after high school in Tennessee and served as an aviation electronics technician third class. She received her commission in 1993. She served as the Naval Academy food services officer, responsible for feeding 4,000 midshipmen, and occasionally taught a Navy leadership class in the academy’s ethics department.

In April, the Navy fired her from her job at the Navy Supply Corps School in Georgia, gave her a letter of reprimand and forced her to go on indefinite leave.

Dickinson’s attorney, Jonathan Gladstone, said federal prosecutors granted Dickinson immunity earlier this year in exchange for her testimony. That agreement prevented naval authorities from taking Dickinson to court-martial, but it provided no guarantees regarding the terms of her retirement.

“We threw ourselves on the mercy of the Navy. They had the option to retire her as they chose, so we can’t fault them for doing what they did,” Gladstone said Wednesday.