Joel Canvasser, aged 41, has been taken into custody on charges of felony-level unlawful eavesdropping.
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A prospective Secret Service agent found himself in legal trouble on Wednesday in Glynn County, as reported by ABC News. He stands accused of monitoring his roommate without consent.
While undergoing instruction at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Canvasser allegedly engaged in surveillance activities targeting a fellow Secret Service trainee from March 8 to April 8. Authorities from the Glynn County Police Department have now charged him with unlawful eavesdropping, a serious felony offense.
Details from the incident report reveal that Canvasser’s roommate, identified as Cade, alerted training center officials after noticing his phone charger was missing around March 8. When Cade questioned Canvasser about the disappearance, Canvasser reportedly claimed it had been taken.
Subsequently, Canvasser provided Cade with a replacement charger, according to police.
Within a week of using the new charger, Cade began receiving a series of “odd test messages” from unfamiliar numbers, which he initially dismissed as spam.
When going to Canvasser for help with his phone, the report says Cade found it odd that it had automatically connected to Canvasser’s Wi-Fi after being reset, since he reportedly had never connected to the network before.
The report says the “odd text messages” Cade was receiving then stopped, but returned around a week later.
“There was a specific instance where Mr. Cade was using the bathroom and his phone was in his pocket,” the report states. “When he finished, he checked his phone and saw a message referencing him using the bathroom. It was at this point that Mr. Cade realized the individual was not watching hum through his phone camera, but instead from another device.”
Cade then found that the charging block he had received from Canvasser was a camera, according to the report.
“He realized this because when he had pulled it out of the wall, the light hit the device in such a way that made the lens visible,” the report states.
Canvasser was arrested later Wednesday. According to ABC News, he has since been released from jail on an $8,458 bond.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn shared the following statement to ABC News regarding the incident:
“On April 8, disturbing facts involving a Secret Service trainee assigned to a special agent training class at FLETC in Glynco, Georgia, were brought to light. An initial investigation by the Secret Service and FLETC led to the individual’s arrest by local authorities. The charges are deeply troubling and raise significant concerns about the individual’s character and fitness to serve. As this matter is now before the courts, we will allow the facts to be presented through the judicial process. We commend the swift actions of Secret Service trainers and FLETC personnel, whose prompt response ensured the matter was quickly brought forward and addressed through appropriate legal channels.”
