SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A 41-year-old Navy chief, who tried to meet up with a 14-year-old girl, told a colleague his mom “would probably slap him in the face” after he was caught on camera by a vigilante group, documents obtained by Team 10 show.
The sailor, who had been assigned to the USS Halsey, got set up by Vans Against Predators in an undercover sting operation that ended last July in an ambush outside a Rancho San Diego movie theater where the two agreed to meet up.
The group posed as a 14-year-old girl named Bree using the Whisper app and started an online relationship with the sailor last May.
Team 10 is not naming the sailor or showing his face because he has not been charged with a crime.
Military discipline records uncovered through a Freedom Of Information Act request say the chief, who had over 18 years of service in the Navy, engaged in “sexually suggestive language” and told Bree to keep the chats a secret from her mother.
In one message, the sailor wrote, “Your lips are very beautiful. So are your eyes.”
The documents obtained by Team 10 show the sailor asked Bree, “Do you find me attractive?”
‘I’m gonna lose my career’
In one message, the chief sent a selfie in his khaki Navy uniform. Bree informed him she was underage and about to turn 15 and asked if he was “OK with it.”
The sailor continued to call Bree cute and communicate with her on the Whisper app before exchanging phone numbers, military detachment records show.
He asked Bree to send her mom’s work schedule so the two could find a time to hang out and told her to refer to him as a family friend if they attended the movie.
The chief bought tickets for the two to see Spiderman and sent a screenshot after making the purchase.
Below, you'll find a copy of the documents Team 10 obtained. The 66-page PDF includes screenshots of the text conversation between the sailor and vigilante.
‘I apologize for everything’
Once he arrived outside the theater, Vans Against Predators confronted him and obtained a confession numerous times on video.
“I apologize for everything,” the chief says in the theater’s parking lot, adding he wasn’t going to do anything “nefarious.”
The group surrounded the chief with multiple cameras and kept him talking for almost 20 minutes. He pleaded with the vigilantes to “please don’t post this” and said “I’m gonna lose my career.”
When asked what he was apologizing for, he says, “I was trying to meet up with a girl that was underage.”
In a shocking twist, the chief calls his mother and says, “Hey, Mom, I’m sorry. I met someone that I wasn’t supposed to meet.”
He adds, “Mom, I’m going to go to jail,” and adds he’s probably going to lose his rank.
After the ambush, the sailor informed his supervisor about the incident, and a chief petty officer with the Navy was sent to check on his wellbeing.
She wrote in a statement that he broke down crying and said, “he was going to prison,” adding, “I’ve let the whole ship down. This is going to be on Navy Times.”
The officer he spoke to said, “he had disappointed his father, and his mother would probably slap him in the face.”
NCIS declines to charge sailor
Soon after, video of the ambush went viral online, and NCIS launched a criminal investigation.
Investigators found insufficient evidence that a crime occurred, NCIS spokesman Darwin Lam told Team 10.
“NCIS is dedicated to the prevention of child exploitation offenses, but we do not encourage or condone the conduct of child exploitation sting operations by private citizens,” he said.
Lam said vigilante stings put people in danger and often end with results that don’t hold up to the legal scrutiny required to prosecute child exploitation offenders.
“No grown man should be so lonely that they're going to hang out with a 14-year-old girl. That being said, that in itself, technically by the black letter of the law, isn't criminal,” said Cody Harnish, a military defense attorney.
Harnish reviewed the documents obtained by Team 10 and the video of the ambush.
He said, in his opinion, the messages between the sailor and Bree didn’t meet the legal definition of indecent language.
“Typically, these conversations with individuals who were caught in a law enforcement scheme are very explicit in their language. This particular case didn't have those elements of this grown man saying sexually explicit things to an underage person or, in this case, a decoy.”
Fired by military
After launching an investigation, the Navy took away the chief’s leadership role last August and reassigned him to other duties.
The commanding officer of the USS Halsey wrote, “I do not have confidence in his ability to perform in the military after this incident. Prior to this investigation, his performance was overall at best, subpar.”
Last October, the Navy kicked him out of the military for good, ordering an ‘other than honorable’ discharge.
“He was almost there at the 20-year mark where he could have started pulling from retirement or put in for retirement. However, now he cannot,” said Harnish, explaining the repercussions of the discharge.
Team 10 tried calling the former chief for comment, but the number he used to communicate with the decoy account is no longer working.
The founder of Vans Against Predators declined an interview request.
Investigative reporter Austin Grabish covers military investigations, the Medical Board of California and is a government watchdog. If you have a story to share email austin.grabish@10news.com
