Ray Locker

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A series of visits to strip clubs in Seoul and Rome with names like Candy Bar and Cica Cica Boom paid for with his government credit card helped land the former military aide to Defense Secretary Ash Carter in career-ending trouble, a report released Thursday by Pentagon inspector general shows.

Maj. Gen. Ron Lewis, one of Carter's closest aides, was fired last November after an undisclosed incident. He is one of a series of high-ranking Army officers who have had their careers derailed because of extramarital affairs, unauthorized uses of government resources and trips to strip and sex clubs.

Thursday's report sheds light on the November incident and many others. Lewis, the report said, "engaged in a course of inappropriate behavior that included patronizing an establishment off-limits to U.S. military personnel, drinking to excess in public, and improper interactions with females."

On the night of Nov. 5-6, 2015, on a trip to Hawaii with Carter, Lewis consumed 11 alcoholic beverages with a female enlisted service member, who was also drinking heavily, the report said. Witnesses said they saw Lewis and the woman on the beach near their hotel with Lewis' arms around her. Afterward, another female official on the trip told Lewis he was “being really stupid” and tried to get the enlisted woman away from his hotel room, the report said.

Allegations about Lewis' conduct in Hawaii were forwarded to Carter's staff on Nov. 9, the report said. After a preliminary investigation, Carter was told on Nov. 10. Carter's chief of staff told the inspector general a day later that Lewis would be fired, which happened on Nov. 12.

In his response to the inspector general's investigation, Lewis said he was "aware of my mistakes, errors in judgement, and perceptions I may have created,” but he criticized the investigation, denied sex club visits alleged in the report and said the relationship with the woman in Hawaii — and another in Malaysia — were mischaracterized.

Lewis was one of the highest-ranking African American officers in the Army, which has had problems diversifying its officer corps. Lewis was promoted to major general in January 2015 and had served as the Army's chief spokesman. He became Carter's senior military assistant in June 2015, a job that brought a promotion to lieutenant general, a rank he lost when he was fired.

In September 2014, Lewis, a helicopter pilot, told USA TODAY the Army leadership "does have an action plan in place" to increase the number of minority officers in combat commands. "And it's complicated."

Off limits in Seoul

In Seoul, the report said, Lewis spent more than $1120 one night in April 2015 at the Candy Bar, which had been deemed off limits by military authorities.

Lewis, the report said, gave an 81% tip at the Candy Bar, which is in a part of the South Korean capital known as "Hooker Hill" to service members based in the Seoul neighborhood of Itaewon.

The commander in Seoul "designated a number of establishments in the Hooker Hill area of Itaewon as off-limits establishments because of their ties to illicit activities, such as prostitution, controlled substances, and underage drinking," the report said. "Off-limits orders prohibit U.S. military personnel from patronizing those establishments."

Despite the off-limits ban, Lewis went to the Candy Bar anyway, the report said. Afterward, he denied that the bill on his government credit card record was his, and the Pentagon challenged the bill and got Lewis a new card.

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Cica Cica Boom in Rome

In Rome, the report said, Lewis visited the Cica Cica Boom club on Oct. 7, 2015, during a trip to the Italian capital with Carter. There, the report said, Lewis ran up a $1755.98 bill while dancing with women and drinking to "more than moderation." The club, the report said, featured signs outside "advertising 'Sexy Show,' 'Fans Club,' and 'Lap Dance.'"

Unable to pay the bill with his debit card, Lewis returned to his hotel with a "female foreign national employee" of the club to get his government credit card.

While at the hotel, the report said, Lewis awakened a female subordinate whose room was in the same hallway as Carter's. The subordinate told investigators "she thought it was 'very odd' that MG Lewis asked for his [government credit card] and that she 'felt like something wrong was about to happen, but I wasn’t in a place to tell him, No.'"

Generals gone wild

The release of the report on Lewis follows those conducted on Army Maj. Gen. David Haight, who had a key post at the U.S. European Command, and Brig. Gen. Michael Bobeck, a former general with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Haight was relieved of his post in May after investigators discovered he had an 11-year affair with a woman that included multiple trips to sex clubs across the country. The so-called "swinging general" is now facing a military panel to determine the rank with which he will retire.

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Bobeck was fired for having an extramarital affair, military records show. Interviews and records showed he had also negotiated a job and lived rent-free in the home of a defense contractor, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has asked the Pentagon inspector general to investigate Bobeck's connection with the contractor.

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