Sgt. Tiffany Robinson filed a complaint alleging that her commander, 1st Lt. Harold Hessig, a part-time reservist who also works as a Bellevue police detective, left a rope tied in a noose hanging from a pipe in their office in October.

Robinson, who served in Iraq with the Reserve's 784th Transportation Company, requested transfer to a new assignment, saying she felt that her civil rights had been violated.

"I felt it very offensive and psychologically damaging. I don't feel safe," she wrote in the complaint sent to Army Reserve officials.

Except to confirm that an investigation is in progress, Reserve officials declined to comment Friday.

"There is a formal investigation into these allegations that is currently under way. Until that is complete, we can't comment on the case," said Lt. Col. Kathy Klein, spokeswoman for the Reserve's 89th Regional Readiness Command in Wichita, Kan., which oversees Nebraska Reserve units.

Hessig did not return calls to the Bellevue Police Department seeking comment. A home phone listing for him had been disconnected.

Bellevue Police Chief John Stacey said that in light of the Army investigation, the department has opened an internal investigation into Hessig's actions. He remains on duty while the inquiry continues, Stacey said.

In Hessig's 7 1/2 years with the Police Department, no complaints have been lodged against him, Stacey said. He said Hessig had compiled an "exemplary record."

Stacey said Hessig left the department in 2004 to serve with the Army Reserve in Afghanistan, returning in 2006.

"I'm a little shocked they'd consider him at the center of this," the chief said. "I think they'll probably find out they've got the wrong guy, but that's what investigations are for. We'll find out."

According to her complaint, Robinson walked into her Reserve office in October to find Hessig and another soldier fashioning a noose out of a piece of rope that Robinson had found earlier in a file cabinet.

Robinson said she felt uncomfortable and left the office but "brushed it off" after she returned and didn't see the noose anywhere.

She said she found the noose hanging from a heating pipe in the office the following Monday.

"I don't know what the intentions were behind it or if it was racial at all, but I am very offended. I don't feel safe at home or at work," Robinson wrote in her complaint. "I don't think Lt. Hessig would intentionally do anything to hurt me, but under the circumstances I can't be 100 percent sure."

Robinson said she received several apologies from Hessig but that his attempts at reconciliation began to worry her when he showed up unannounced at her home.

Robinson included in the complaint photocopies of an apology letter and a note she said Hessig gave to her. The letter said: "I should have and will be more cognizant of the cultural backgrounds of our family members in an effort to prevent future incidents."

Robinson said that after finding the noose, she started getting phone calls in which the caller immediately hung up. She became worried enough about her safety to move her children to a friend's house.

"Since this incident, I fear my safety for my kids as well as myself. It's hard to sleep because I don't know if he will come by," she wrote.

Robinson's complaint said that her battalion commander, Lt. Col. Robert Pelletier, encouraged her to remain in Nebraska because "even if you leave, it could happen to you anywhere."

Pelletier showed her an article about a noose found hanging at Columbia University in New York City earlier this year, Robinson said. Pelletier asked her to stay and help educate other soldiers about why the incident was offensive, she said.

A woman who answered the phone at Pelletier's home referred questions to the Army Reserve.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha became involved in the case after Robinson sought his assistance.

Because it involves the military, Chambers said, this incident is worse than the incident involving nooses hung in a tree last year in Jena, La., which attracted national protests over the criminal justice system.

In a letter of complaint to President Bush, Chambers said Hessig's military superiors should not be allowed to sweep the incident under the rug. He said Hessig should be disciplined.

Chambers sent copies of his complaint to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others. He also alerted the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakahn of the Nation of Islam.

"I see it as a serious breach of military law," said Chambers, who is an Army veteran. "It's racism and intimidation. It's dishonoring the uniform and the Army."