A Secret Service agent in training has been charged with felony eavesdropping for allegedly spying on his roommate at a federal training academy.
ABC News reported that Joel Lara Canvasser faces charges for allegedly secretly filming his roommate through a camera hidden in a phone charger.
"On April 8, disturbing facts involving a Secret Service trainee assigned to a special agent training class at FLETC in Glynco, Georgia, were brought to light," Secret Service Deputy Director Mattew Quinn said in a statement to ABC News.
"An initial investigation by the Secret Service and FLETC led to the individual's arrest by local authorities. The charges are deeply troubling and raise significant concerns about the individual's character and fitness to serve," Quinn stated. "As this matter is now before the courts, we will allow the facts to be presented through the judicial process. We commend the swift actions of Secret Service trainers and FLETC personnel, whose prompt response ensured the matter was quickly brought forward and addressed through appropriate legal channels."
According to the outlet, Canvasser offered the roommate a charger after theirs went missing. According to police reports, "Roughly a week after [the roommate] plugs in the charger, he begins receiving odd text messages from various numbers. In the beginning he believed they were spam messages, however over time he began to realize whoever was texting him was simultaneously watching him."
The roommate first believed his phone had been hacked and placed a Band-Aid over the camera. Eventually, the roommate received a message referencing him using the bathroom and realized that he must have been being watched from another device. He inspected the charge and realized it was a camera, ABC News reported.
The network reported that the roommate also told police that Canvasser would come into his room while he was asleep, leading the roommate to lock his door at night.
