Democratic New Jersey gubernatorial hopeful Mikie Sherrill’s husband was also caught up in the Naval Academy cheating scandal that has rocked her campaign, court documents exclusively obtained by The Post show.
Jason Hedberg was one of about four dozen midshipmen who sued top officials at the Naval Academy, Navy and Pentagon in 1994 in a desperate bid to block an Honor Board at Annapolis from deciding whether they should be dismissed from the school.
“In compliance with the orders of their superior military officers, each named plaintiff was compelled to make inculpatory statements to Navy Inspector General investigators,” read the complaint, which charged that the students were denied due process.
The details of any “inculpatory statements” by Hedberg are unclear. However, his name is included in the 1994 commencement program, suggesting that he — unlike Sherrill — was cleared to take part in exercises some three months after the suit was filed.
Sherrill told the New Jersey Globe, which first reported Thursday on her being barred from commencement, that her punishment was a consequence of her decision not to “turn in some of my classmates.”
A source close to a rival campaign questioned that statement.
“Nobody, including Mikie Sherrill, was barred from graduation ceremonies for covering for their friends,” claimed this person, who has reviewed the documents. “That’s a bunch of bulls—. Midshipmen were, however, punished for lying to Naval investigators.”
While no evidence has surfaced that the future congresswoman was punished for being untruthful to school officials, there are also indications that she has not been up front about what transpired.
Sherrill’s team has rejected requests to release disciplinary records from her academy days, which would provide details of any involvement in the scandal.
In response to inquiries from The Post Friday, Sherril’s campaign communications director Sean Higgins said: “The fact [GOP candidate] Jack Ciattarelli and MAGA Republicans are going after Mikie’s family is sick and desperate — Jason graduated [and] served honorably as a Naval Officer.
“The illegal disclosure of Mikie’s unredacted personal military records, including her Social Security Number, and the unlawful dissemination of those records by the Ciattarelli campaign is a disgrace and must be investigated.”
‘One of the largest cheating scandals ever at the US Naval Academy’
Multiple midshipmen acquired and shared answers to a Dec. 14, 1992, exam for Electrical Engineering 311, a mandatory class for all non-engineering majors. The test was administered to 663 students, according to the lawsuit that involved Hedberg.
In a 2002 episode of CBS News’ “48 Hours” that reported on the scandal, one of the students involved estimated that “probably 80% of the people who took that test had knowledge and had seen it the night before.”
The day after the test was administered, academy officials caught wind of the cheating and went on to open a series of investigations — including by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), multiple Honor Boards (disciplinary panels), and the Office of the Naval Inspector General.
Ultimately, 88 were found guilty of participation in the dissemination of the exam, the Washington Post reported at the time, with two dozen expelled and 64 receiving lesser penalties such as late graduation.
The Naval Academy’s “honor concept” states in plain language what is expected from prospective military leaders: “Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right. They tell the truth and ensure that the truth is known. They do not lie.
“They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. They do not cheat.”
After graduating, Hedberg became a Navy intelligence officer and Sherrill a Navy pilot. The two have four children together.
Lawyers for Hedberg and the other midshipmen filed the suit in February 1994, arguing that a prior inspector general investigation wrongly denied plaintiffs their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Citing those and other technical concerns, they sought to block the academy from proceeding with the “Allen Board” — an Honor Board formed in January 1994 to probe the cheating scandal.
One of the federal attorneys for the Navy, Pentagon and Naval Academy pressing the courts to throw out the case was future Attorney General Eric Holder.
Government attorneys argued that the case wasn’t ripe for judicial review because it wasn’t clear that the defendants were going to face criminal proceedings.
Ultimately, a judge agreed that the students’ Fifth Amendment concerns were moot because “no proceeding of a ‘criminal’ nature is either pending or contemplated.”
Campaign crunch time
Revelations about Sherrill and her husband getting caught up in the controversy come on the heels of a stunning Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey showing her and Ciatterelli dead even with fewer than six weeks to go before election day.
No Republican has won a New Jersey gubernatorial election since Chris Christie secured a second term in 2013.
The Post has reached out to the Naval Academy and attorneys who represented Hedberg and the other midshipmen for comment.
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