No shortage of drama in Academy court-martial

[unhappycamper]

No shortage of drama in Academy court-martial
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 2, 2007 20:28:22 EDT

The court-martial of a Navy doctor accused of secretly taping the sexual encounters of several Naval Academy midshipmen at his Annapolis home packed some drama into its first week, with allegations that the prosecution’s chief witness could be a deserter and was trying to blackmail the accused, and that that doctor was sexually attracted to the “young, athletic men” he treated.

The proceedings also included the airing of a sex tape on a film screen before a jury made up of senior Navy officers.

Cmdr. Kevin Ronan could be dismissed from the Navy, lose his medical license and be sentenced to up to 18 years in prison if he is convicted on 11 counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and seven counts of violating state and federal wiretapping laws. He is accused of secretly videotaping sexual activity by members of the Navy football, soccer and gymnastics teams while they stayed at his Annapolis home.

Prosecutors say Ronan, an Ivy League-trained pediatrician, ordered an air purifier equipped with a hidden camera and microphone from a New York-based business, placed the purifier in guest bedrooms used by midshipmen, recorded sex activity between them and then watched the recordings from his master bedroom.

But they say that came to an end in January, when former midshipman Addy Strasdas went into Ronan’s bedroom to borrow toothpaste, noticed a stack of DVDs and tapes that he deemed suspicious, turned on his television only to see a live feed of the guest bedroom, and later watched footage of himself and several other midshipmen that had been downloaded onto tapes.

Ensign McKenzie Plank, one of the midshipmen in the tapes, said Strasdas picked him up from the Naval Academy dormitory the next morning and drove him to Ronan’s house, where the two searched the house and found the hidden camera, a receiver on the back of Ronan’s television and the videotapes and DVDs scattered about Ronan’s bedroom.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/navy_courtmartial_update_07110w/