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Navy officials intensified their accusations against Captain Bradley Geary, the officer who commanded the famously rigorous Hell Week program responsible for training Navy SEALs, and who Navy leadership has accused of causing the death of a trainee determined to be using steroids, claiming that his “dereliction of duty resulted in death and grievous bodily harm.”

Those new accusations come weeks after The Sentinel exclusively reported that the Navy misled the public about the death of enlistee Kyle Mullen, whose use of performance enhancing drugs played a role in his demise immediately after Hell Week two years ago. Navy officials have nevertheless claimed that training conditions under Geary were instrumental in his death.

Geary received a “show cause” letter last month asking him to demonstrate cause for retention in the Navy due to his “alleged misconduct and substandard performance,” according to a copy of the document provided to The Sentinel. Navy Personnel Command added the claim that his “dereliction of duty resulted in death and grievous bodily harm” to their prior accusations. The paperwork was sent to Geary after Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro denied his request for early retirement, which Geary had made following two years of inquiries and considerable legal expenses.

The letter added that the “least favorable outcome” from the board of inquiry, which will be convened by officers in the Navy Region Southeast, may result in a separation from the Navy classified as “other than honorable,” meaning that Geary would retire at an “inferior pay grade.”

The accusations levied against Geary, who previously received distinctions such as the highly prestigious James Bond Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership, came after a Naval Special Warfare investigation determined that “contributing factors” for the death of Mullen included the “use of prohibited performance enhancing drugs.” Even as his autopsy “did not list” performance enhancing drug use “as a contributing factor,” the investigation said there was “substantial evidence” that the twenty-four-year-old had been using the substances.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service indeed discovered vials of substances such as injectable testosterone believed to be from Pakistan in his vehicle, as well as texts on his phone in which Mullen had discussed the use of illegal drugs with four other individuals. The autopsy said that his heart was swollen to 700 grams, which is much larger than the typical adult male heart size of 300 grams to 350 grams, a symptom consistent with steroid use.

Navy officials nevertheless issued a press release claiming that “performance enhancing drugs were not a contributing cause.” Yet emails previously obtained by The Sentinel showed that Regina Mullen, the mother of Kyle Mullen, had been provided a draft of the press release and requested that the Navy tell the public that the death of her son was not attributed to the substances.

Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Vice Admiral Rick Cheeseman Jr., the officer who drafted the “show cause” letter sent to Geary, was copied on the email chain discussing the falsified press release, according to copies of the messages obtained by The Sentinel.

Jason Wareham, an attorney who represents Geary, previously contended to The Sentinel that the mishandling of the Mullen investigations points toward a culture of minimal accountability among top military brass, who in his experience have often preferred to shift responsibility for leadership failures to those under their command. Entities such as the Christian legal advocacy nonprofit Stand With Warriors have been financially assisting Geary with his defense.