A Navy officer has been accused of utilizing chat applications to attempt to lure an individual whom he believed to be a 14-year-old lady into assembly him for intercourse, federal courtroom paperwork present.
Christopher Paul Hetherington, a 33-year-old lieutenant, was arrested Dec. 21. In accordance with an affidavit filed within the case, he was stationed on the destroyer USS Ross as its weapons officer and had been chosen for promotion to lieutenant commander.
The investigation, which started in late October, began wanting into Hetherington when he allegedly responded to a submit that an secret agent from the Naval Prison Investigative Service made on Whisper — an app that enables nameless posting of photographs and video. The Ross had simply accomplished a homeport change to Norfolk from Rota, Spain, in early September.
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After the agent instructed the suspect she was in ninth grade, he moved the dialog to Snapchat the place, in accordance with the courtroom doc, his username was “sw0daddy” and he had “a show identify of ‘Chris H.'”
This element, amongst just a few others, rapidly led investigators to suspect they had been coping with a sailor.
“As a former Floor Warfare Officer (SWO) within the U.S. Navy, I do know that ‘SWO’ is brief for Floor Warfare Officer,” the agent wrote within the affidavit.
She additionally famous that, at one level, the suspect mentioned “he was sporting ‘coveralls,’ which I do know to be a typical uniform for SWOs and different U.S. Navy service members that work on ships.”
Navy.com reached out to the Navy for a remark and unbiased affirmation of Hetherington’s standing however didn’t hear again by publication. Hetherington’s lawyer instructed Navy.com she had no remark in an e mail Wednesday.
Hetherington would go on to converse with the account that he believed belonged to a younger teenage lady for greater than a month, in accordance with the affidavit. Early on of their conversations, he would ask for assurances that the particular person on the opposite finish of the dialog was not a cop.
“You not a cop proper, Like are you able to present me your I would? [sic]” Hetherington requested the agent on Nov. 5, as recounted in courtroom filings.
The dialog ultimately grew to become an increasing number of sexual and, by Dec. 11, the Navy officer requested the agent for footage of what he believed to be a 14-year-old lady in her underwear. That very same day, Hetherington urged having intercourse and warranted the secret agent that he “would put on a condom.”
Days later, the courtroom paperwork describe that brokers started to verify Hetherington’s identification by not solely looking out databases for his Navy standing however verifying his handle and telephone quantity. On Dec. 15, the secret agent known as a quantity tied to the Navy officer and listened to a voicemail message.
“I acknowledged the voice of the person leaving the voicemail as the identical particular person as Snapchat person ‘sw0daddy’ throughout our Snapchat audio calls,” the agent wrote within the doc.
Hetherington is at the very least the second sailor to be arrested not too long ago on fees associated to youngster pornography. In Could 2022, the Justice Division introduced it had arrested 34-year-old Adam Lee-Fucci Ferenbach, “an active-duty member of the U.S. Navy, stationed at Naval Station Mayport” after brokers discovered a cellphone of his that had “a number of movies within the machine’s picture software depicting younger youngsters being sexually abused.”
Hetherington has been charged with trying to coerce a minor and trying to make youngster pornography. Courtroom data present he’s in jail forward of his trial. His subsequent listening to is ready for Jan. 10, 2023.
— Konstantin Toropin will be reached at konstantin.toropin@navy.com. Comply with him on Twitter @ktoropin.
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