A member of the famed Navy SEAL Team 6 has reportedly been charged with pretending to be another person via text message to get nude photos of women.
Charge documents show that Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Howard has been accused of pretending to be multiple people while requesting the pictures, The Virginian Pilot reported Friday.
{mosads}Howard’s defense attorney, Michael Waddington, told the Pilot that Navy investigators did not find nude photos on Howard’s phone and that the SEAL passed two polygraph tests. He added that the only connection between Howard and the messages is that the sender said in messages that they were once stationed in San Diego and enjoyed working out with kettle bells, noting that this could apply to multiple people, or could have been made up.
Waddington is reportedly trying to have the case dismissed at a hearing next week. If he is unsuccessful, he said Howard will plead not guilty.
“We’re fighting this to the end,” Waddington said.
He told The Virginian Pilot that he thinks the Navy essentially invented charges not specified in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The charges reportedly fall under an article covering “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.”
The Hill has reached out to the Navy for comment.