Female midshipmen among victims in shower videos
As two sailors head to court-martial for their involvement in a ring that allegedly swapped videos of female officers undressing, allegations are emerging that female midshipmen were also recorded in a shower changing area aboard a submarine.
Three sailors have been charged with filming officers and female mids, who were temporarily aboard the ballistic missile submarine Wyoming, according to charge sheets obtained by Navy Times through the Freedom of Information Act. Previous accounts have only stated that female officers were filmed.
The students were allegedly recorded between March and June 2014, though charges show two sailors were allegedly using their cellphone cameras on board as early as August 2013.
The charges do not specify how many female mids or officers may have been recorded. This number could range into dozens of women, according to a Navy official familiar with the investigation, given the number of mids on summer cruises and female officers from other crews that were aboard during the 10 months during which recordings are alleged to have been taken.
Late last year, midshipmen who were aboard Wyoming at the time were notified that they had potentially been video recorded, the official said, and were offered victims' services. No evidence of the recordings has emerged in the course of the investigation, according to another Navy official.
Electronics Technician 2nd Class Joseph Bradley, 25, is charged with distributing videos and destroying evidence. And Missile Technician 3rd Class Brandon McGarity, 25, is charged with failing to report the videos and making a false official statement, according to charge sheets.
Bradley and McGarity are the first of seven sailors charged to be referred to court-martial for recording, distributing or failing to report the illicit videos of several female officers, some of the first to serve in submarine crews.
According to his charges, Bradley asked an unnamed sailor to send him recordings of the women while at the sub's Kings Bay, Ga., home port.
He is charged with three counts of distributing the recordings, as well as obstructing the investigation by destroying the recordings after the case was opened.
McGarity faces two counts of failing to report the videos, as well as making a false official statement to a senior chief about whether he was aware of the videos.
Neither sailor's attorney was immediately reachable Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, five more sailors — one from Trident Training Facility Kings Bay and the rest from the Wyoming crew — have been charged. Navy officials removed their names from their charge sheets, saying that the names of those accused would only be released for charges referred to court-martial. An Article 32 is a preliminary hearing similar to a grand jury hearing, after which a convening official can decide whether to refer the case to court-martial.