ARMY SAYS ABUSE VICTIMS ALSO THREATENED.

Byline: Alex Dominguez Associated Press 

Army instructors charged with raping and harassing female recruits at a training center are also accused of threatening them, sometimes with death, to keep quiet.

``I'm going to knock your teeth out and get away with it,'' one drill sergeant told a trainee, according to newly released Army documents.

Four drill instructors and a captain at the Army Ordnance Center have been charged, three with criminal complaints and two on administrative counts. They and 15 others have been suspended in the widening investigation.

The five men facing charges, which range from rape to sending improper love letters to the trainees, were accused of harassing at least a dozen women in their first weeks of training. The average age of the women was 21.

According to documents detailing the charges released late Saturday, one of the defendants, Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, threatened to kill women if they told anyone he was having sex with them.

He is accused of grabbing one woman's hair and jerking her head back after threatening to knock out her teeth.

The official charges provided the most detailed information yet of the allegations at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground training center, 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.

Maj. Susan Gibson, deputy staff judge advocate at the post, refused to comment on whether any of the defendants tried to carry out the alleged threats or beatings or death.

Another defendant, Capt. Derrick Robertson, is accused of trying to discharge a female soldier after sexually assaulting her, the documents said. He is charged with forcing her to engage in sodomy, engaging in an improper sexual relationship with her and telling her to lie about their sexual relationship.

Sgt. Nathaniel Beach is charged with defying orders to stay away from trainees while his conduct was being investigated, the documents said.

The two instructors facing administrative rather than criminal charges were not mentioned in the charges released Saturday, said Ed Starnes, a post spokesman.

The Army is looking into whether similar incidents occurred at any of its other installations.

There was no comment Sunday from military defense lawyers. Chief Defense Counsel Lt. Col. Wayne Price of the Trial Defense Service in Arlington, Va., did not answer office calls and has an unlisted home number.

No charges had been filed against the additional 15 instructors and drill sergeants whose suspensions were announced Saturday.

Army investigators plan to interview as many as 1,000 women who were trained at the post since the beginning of 1995.

After the investigation was announced Thursday, the Army set up a hotline for anyone wanting to report sexual abuse at the post, and 1,528 calls were received by late Saturday.

At least 50 calls were from women, including many trainees, who reported a variety of improper behavior ranging from crude remarks to severe sexual abuse. About 60 other callers complained of problems at other military installations nationwide, Army officials said.