WASHINGTON — A Navy doctor was found guilty Friday of using a hidden camera to videotape Naval Academy midshipmen engaged in sex acts and was sentenced to more than 3½ years in prison.
The jury of six Navy captains gave Cmdr. Kevin Ronan a 46-month term in the Navy brig and ordered his dismissal from the military. He is a pediatrician assigned to the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C..
Jurors had found him guilty of seven counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, three counts of illegal wiretapping and one count of obstruction of justice.
Before he was sentenced, Ronan expressed regret but did not take responsibility for the tapes. “A crime occurred in my house with equipment I knowingly provided and I take responsibility for that,” he said.
Ronan, 41, stood at attention and showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read. He was later led away by military police. The bureau’s commanding officer will review the jury’s decision, and can throw it out or reduce the sentence.
Navy prosecutors asked for the 46-month term, equal to the time a midshipman spends at the academy. Lt. Justin Henderson called Ronan a “sex criminal” who lied about his role in the crimes and violated the trust of the midshipmen who stayed at his home.
Navy prosecutors alleged Ronan used a camera hidden in an air purifier to tape the male midshipmen having sex with girlfriends or masturbating while they stayed in guest bedrooms at his home in Annapolis, Md. They were there as part of an academy program that places students in private homes during free time.
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