Ex-professor at Naval Academy enters plea in sex assault case

By Andrea F. Siegel

A former Naval Academy professor entered a plea Tuesday morning to sexually molesting an adolescent relative more than a decade ago.

Not admitting guilt but acknowledging that Anne Arundel County prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him, Patrick Ryan Harrison, 66, now of Hot Springs Village, Ark., entered an Alford plea to second-degree sexual assault before Judge Michael Wachs. The incidents took place at his Annapolis home in 1994 and 1995, said Sandra Foy Howell, assistant state's attorney. Related charges were dropped.

Under the plea agreement, he cannot be jailed for more than five years. Defense lawyer Thomas Pavlinic can seek a shorter jail term when Harrison is sentenced in September.

Howell said Harrison, who specialized in computer work and artificial intelligence, admitted to relatives in recent years that he had molested the child, who is now in her 20s, but offered various reasons, including describing it to one family member as "an affair" and to another as helping the girl deal with homosexuality issues.