Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
November 7, 2007
Pg. B2
Defendant Says Equipment Purchased to Monitor Parties
By Raymond McCaffrey, Washington Post Staff Writer
A Navy physician testifying in his defense at a court-martial yesterday denied that he secretly videotaped U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen having sex at his Annapolis home.
Cmdr. Kevin J. Ronan, 41, who is assigned to the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, said he purchased the video surveillance equipment so he could monitor parties that midshipmen might have at his home if he were deployed overseas.
Ronan, who sponsored midshipmen in a program that allows them to stay at private homes on weekends and holidays, said his concern was rooted in his experience as a doctor. "All the bad stuff that happens at the Naval Academy happens around alcohol," he said, adding that his intention was to "keep my kids safe from any mischief."
"I was their mentor, their friend," he said.
Although he said the former midshipman who allegedly found the recordings asked him at one point for money, Ronan said little about an extortion plot his attorney has described. Defense attorney William T. Ferris has said that the tapes became public after Ronan refused to give money to the former midshipman, Addy Strasdas, who had been dismissed from the Naval Academy for academic reasons and needed money for expenses.
"This was a plan to extort money from Commander Ronan that went awry," Ferris said during his opening statement last week at the Washington Navy Yard.
In more than four hours of testimony yesterday, Ronan said Strasdas approached him in January and asked him for financial help. Ronan said he turned Strasdas down because he felt that it was "a teachable moment."
"I figured if I helped him out, he wouldn't learn," Ronan said.
Ronan said that Strasdas "seemed sort of frustrated" but that no other words were exchanged. He offered no testimony that Strasdas attempted to extort money from him or mentioned the video.
Strasdas testified last week that he stumbled upon the recordings at Ronan's home in January. He provided some of them to the Navy, which charged Ronan with conduct unbecoming an officer, illegal wiretapping and obstruction of justice.
On cross-examination, Strasdas admitted falsifying academy transcripts when he applied for a job and sending the academy a fake admissions letter from another university in an attempt to delay a requirement that he fulfill his military service or repay his tuition.
The activities of nine midshipmen were recorded, apparently with video equipment concealed in a working air purifier.
Ronan testified that he purchased the equipment last year but, after an initial test, did not use it to conduct surveillance. He testified that he moved the purifier to an attic sometime before last Thanksgiving and that someone later moved it to one of the guest bedrooms.
Ronan said he did not know he was implicated in making the recordings until he arrived home one day to find investigators searching his house. "It was shocking. It was embarrassing, but again I didn't think it was me. . . . I didn't do anything wrong," he said.
Ronan denied knowledge of pornography that investigators said they found on his home computer. He acknowledged that an adult film found in his bedroom VCR was his but said it had been put there by someone else.
November 7, 2007
Pg. B2
Defendant Says Equipment Purchased to Monitor Parties
By Raymond McCaffrey, Washington Post Staff Writer
A Navy physician testifying in his defense at a court-martial yesterday denied that he secretly videotaped U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen having sex at his Annapolis home.
Cmdr. Kevin J. Ronan, 41, who is assigned to the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, said he purchased the video surveillance equipment so he could monitor parties that midshipmen might have at his home if he were deployed overseas.
Ronan, who sponsored midshipmen in a program that allows them to stay at private homes on weekends and holidays, said his concern was rooted in his experience as a doctor. "All the bad stuff that happens at the Naval Academy happens around alcohol," he said, adding that his intention was to "keep my kids safe from any mischief."
"I was their mentor, their friend," he said.
Although he said the former midshipman who allegedly found the recordings asked him at one point for money, Ronan said little about an extortion plot his attorney has described. Defense attorney William T. Ferris has said that the tapes became public after Ronan refused to give money to the former midshipman, Addy Strasdas, who had been dismissed from the Naval Academy for academic reasons and needed money for expenses.
"This was a plan to extort money from Commander Ronan that went awry," Ferris said during his opening statement last week at the Washington Navy Yard.
In more than four hours of testimony yesterday, Ronan said Strasdas approached him in January and asked him for financial help. Ronan said he turned Strasdas down because he felt that it was "a teachable moment."
"I figured if I helped him out, he wouldn't learn," Ronan said.
Ronan said that Strasdas "seemed sort of frustrated" but that no other words were exchanged. He offered no testimony that Strasdas attempted to extort money from him or mentioned the video.
Strasdas testified last week that he stumbled upon the recordings at Ronan's home in January. He provided some of them to the Navy, which charged Ronan with conduct unbecoming an officer, illegal wiretapping and obstruction of justice.
On cross-examination, Strasdas admitted falsifying academy transcripts when he applied for a job and sending the academy a fake admissions letter from another university in an attempt to delay a requirement that he fulfill his military service or repay his tuition.
The activities of nine midshipmen were recorded, apparently with video equipment concealed in a working air purifier.
Ronan testified that he purchased the equipment last year but, after an initial test, did not use it to conduct surveillance. He testified that he moved the purifier to an attic sometime before last Thanksgiving and that someone later moved it to one of the guest bedrooms.
Ronan said he did not know he was implicated in making the recordings until he arrived home one day to find investigators searching his house. "It was shocking. It was embarrassing, but again I didn't think it was me. . . . I didn't do anything wrong," he said.
Ronan denied knowledge of pornography that investigators said they found on his home computer. He acknowledged that an adult film found in his bedroom VCR was his but said it had been put there by someone else.