Secret Service Trainee Charged With Felony Eavesdropping

A trainee at the nation's top federal law enforcement academy is facing a felony charge for allegedly spying on his own roommate. Police in Glynn County, Georgia, say Secret Service trainee Joel Lara Canvasser hid a camera inside a phone charger and used it to record his suitemate at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco. According to a police report obtained by ABC News, the device was plugged in below the TV, giving it a view of the entire room—including the bathroom area. Investigators say that after the bug was in place, the roommate began receiving a series of unsettling text messages from multiple numbers that suggested the sender could see him inside the suite.

The victim, a fellow Secret Service trainee, initially thought his phone had been hacked and turned to Canvasser—who "has a cyber background and is supposedly good with technology," according to the police report—for help. Canvasser allegedly blamed malware and helped reset the phone, which then mysteriously auto-connected to his personal WiFi. The messages briefly stopped, then resumed. The roommate became convinced he was being watched by another device after receiving a text that referenced him using the bathroom while his phone was in his pocket. He later spotted a suspicious glint on the charger, removed it from the wall, and realized it contained a camera, police say.

Police say Canvasser offered the roommate the charger last month after the roommate's own charger disappeared. They say Canvasser told the roommate "the cleaning ladies may have taken it." The roommate also told officers that Canvasser had entered his room multiple times at night while he was sleeping, prompting him to lock up his belongings. Canvasser was arrested Wednesday and charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance, a felony under Georgia law.

• Canvasser, a former analyst with the Office of Strategic Information and Intelligence presidential protection team, started Secret Service training in the fall but his security clearance has now been suspended. "The charges are deeply troubling and raise significant concerns about the individual's character and fitness to serve," Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said in a statement. "As this matter is now before the courts, we will allow the facts to be presented through the judicial process."