Naval officer linked as call girl
The lieutanant commander testified at the D.C. Madam trial. She juggled huge debt at the time, she said.
A headline Saturday incorrectly stated that Navy Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca C. Dickerson, who testified that she moonlighted for an alleged prostitution ring, was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. She was posted to the Naval Academy as a supply officer but is not a graduate of the school.
A Navy officer who testified this week that she moonlighted for an alleged prostitution ring while stationed at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., was more than $280,000 in debt at the time, despite a Navy income of more than $93,000, court records show.
Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca C. Dickinson, 38, had unsecured loans and liabilities totaling $106,000, including $58,000 on 20 credit cards, according to records from a bankruptcy filing in December 2006. She also had $177,000 in three mortgages on a house in Georgia that was worth $166,000.
She also reported spending $700 a month on travel to see her three children, who lived with her former husband.
The records offer clues to why a decorated Navy officer would work as a call girl.
Dickinson, a supply officer, managed food services at the Naval Academy from September 2004 to May 2007, a Navy spokesman said. She also taught a leadership course.
On the side, she visited the homes of clients of an escort service, charging $275 for 90-minute appointments, which typically involved sex, she testified Thursday.
The service was allegedly run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam, who is being tried in U.S. District Court in Washington. Palfrey's clientele allegedly included a number of high-profile government officials.
Dickinson's lawyer, Jonathan Gladstone, said she regretted her actions. She wasn't available to interview.
Dickinson, now stationed at the Naval Supply Corps School in Athens, Ga., has been placed on leave, a Navy spokesman said.
Because she testified under grant of immunity, she cannot be court-martialed or prosecuted for federal crimes, the spokesman, Capt. Jack Hanzlik, said. The Navy is considering administrative punishment, which could include a "substantial" loss of retirement benefits, Hanzlik said.
Dickinson's December 2006 filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia portray a woman grappling with a broken marriage that separated her from her three young children while she navigated a sea of turbulent finances.