Feds: Women secretly filmed on Navy ship
San Diego Tribune
December 1, 2015
By Kristina Davis
A Navy reservist has been charged with peering into the rooms of female shipmates and secretly recording video of them in private moments, according to a complaint filed in San Diego federal court.
Delwen Lamar Sutton was arrested last week at his home in El Cajon on one misdemeanor charge of video voyeurism.
Sutton was working as a civil service mariner and was assigned to U.S. Naval Ship Kanawha, a fleet replenishment oiler, from December 2010 until he was removed in March 2013 because of the investigation. The ship is currently based on the East Coast. Authorities said he is not on active duty at this time.
While the ship was off the coast of Italy in February 2013, a civilian merchant marine on board caught Sutton lying on the ground outside a shipmate’s stateroom door, according to the charges filed Nov. 16. Sutton walked away.
Several hours later, another shipmate saw him lying on his side with his cellphone pointed at the vent of a female cadet’s door, the complaint says. When confronted, according to the complaint, Sutton apologized and said it would never happen again.
The ship captain got word and seized all of Sutton’s electronic devices, including a cellphone, laptop and hard drives, and handed them over to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent days later at the next port.
The investigation found nude images and videos of at least three identifiable women aboard the ship, according to the complaint. Agents also found that 23 stateroom doors, including every door to a room occupied by a woman, had damage to the vent louvers making it possible to peer inside.
In an interview with investigators, Sutton admitted filming the women and damaging the vents, the complaint states. He was granted $20,000 bail in San Diego federal court Nov. 24.
Sutton’s defense attorney, Charles Luckman, declined to discuss the charges but questioned why authorities decided to arrest Sutton two days before Thanksgiving, on accusations two years old.
“It’s taken an extraordinary amount of time for the NCIS to decide to do anything about this,” Luckman said Tuesday.
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Navy reservist gets probation in voyeurism case
San Diego Tribune
April 19, 2016
By Dana Littlefield
A Navy reservist accused of peering into the rooms of female shipmates and secretly recording video of them has been placed on probation for three years.
Delwen Lamar Sutton was arrested in November at his home in El Cajon and pleaded guilty about a month later to one misdemeanor count of video voyeurism.
During the first six months of his probation term, Sutton will have a curfew, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to federal court documents, he was working as a civil service mariner assigned to U.S. Naval Ship Kanawha in February 2013, when a civilian merchant marine caught Sutton lying on the ground outside a shipmate’s stateroom door.
Hours later, another shipmate saw Sutton lying on his side with his cellphone pointed at the vent of a female cadet’s door. Sutton apologized when confronted and said it would not happen again, according to the complaint.
Sutton’s phone, laptop and other electronic devices were seized. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service found nude images and videos of at least three women aboard the ship. Agents also found that 23 stateroom doors had damage that made it possible to peek inside the vent louvers.
Sutton admitted in an interview with investigators that he filmed the women and damaged the vents.
He has a separate case pending in El Cajon Superior Court in which he faces one misdemeanor count of prowling and peeking, according to the District Attorney’s Office. A trial is scheduled for May 10.