NORFOLK, Va. — A Navy SEAL has been arrested on charges that he possessed dozens of images of child pornography and recorded himself molesting a young girl while she slept, according to court documents.
Petty Officer 1st Class Gregory Kyle Seerden, 31, of Missouri, was arrested April 3 in San Diego after a three-month investigation. He is a member of SEAL Team One, based in California.
The investigation began after a woman alleged that Seerden had sexually assaulted her in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he was on temporary assignment, according to court records. But the probe soon expanded after agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service obtained a warrant for Seerden's cellphone, which contained the illicit materials, those documents show.
Seerden remained in custody in San Diego on Friday after being denied bail earlier this week.
U.S. Marshals are preparing to take him to Norfolk, Virginia, where the federal charges are filed, according to Ed Buice, an NCIS spokesman.
Lt. Zachary Keating, a Navy spokesman, said Naval Special Warfare is cooperating with authorities. An attorney listed in court documents for Seerden in California did not respond to an email or phone call seeking comment.
NCIS agents first spoke to Seerden in January after a woman said he sexually assaulted her, court records stated. They said the assault occurred in Seerden's hotel room on a Navy base in Virginia Beach after the two had been drinking.
The woman said she began to black out but remembers telling Seerden to stop during the assault, according to court records. She woke up at 4 a.m. and reported the alleged assault to base guards.
While investigating the allegations, agents got permission to seize Seerden's phone. They found 78 photos of child pornography, including an image involving a dog, and videos Seerden made of himself a sleeping girl, according to the court documents.
The girl appeared to be 5 or 6 years old.
Buice, the NCIS spokesman, said the investigation into the woman's allegations is ongoing and that no charges have been filed.
