A group of male sailors aboard the USS Wyoming submarine secretly recorded their female shipmates changing and showering multiple times a day for nearly a year, sometimes working in teams to prevent being caught.
At least 12 male officers were implicated in the ring, which recorded every woman on the submarine crew repeatedly for about 10 months before an electronics technician on another ship heard about the recordings and reported them.
The details of the case, which the top submarine commander called a “breach of trust,” were revealed in a new command investigation obtained by the Navy Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Ten of the 12 men were prosecuted and given punishments ranging from prison time to a pay cut.
The men worked as a close-knit team, with some acting as lookouts while another would record the women undressing with cellphones or an iPod Touch — both of which are banned aboard the sub, Navy Times reported.
According to the report, one sailor admitted that he and a male peer rushed to secretly record each female midshipman while she was in the shower changing room. They recorded every woman each time she took a shower during the three-month patrol, several times a day.
The illicit ring persisted for so long because other sailors did not want to report the activity for fear of breaching close bonds with their shipmates.
The men spoke about the videos and shared them casually. A missile technician, Jonathan Ashby, reportedly told investigators he learned about the recordings from a colleague, Missile Tech. 2nd Class Charles Greaves, who “informed me that he had ’captured some Pokemon.’”
Greaves was dishonorably discharged from the Navy and sentenced to two years in prison, according to the report.
However, even though the case is over, questions still remain about who was involved and who knew about the videos without speaking up.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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