PORT ORCHARD — A Puget Sound Naval Shipyard worker apparently wasn’t using his phone at work to steal national security secrets but was using it to help pimp three women, according to charges filed last week in Kitsap County Superior Court.
A Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office detective wrote that Christopher J. Edwards, 32, had been investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after Edwards was seen with a cell phone in a restricted area of the shipyard, according to charging documents.
The phone was analyzed for “evidence of spillage of national security-related material (of) both classified and unclassified naval nuclear propulsion information.”
During the analysis, investigators found texts, videos and photographs that led federal agents to suspect Edwards was helping three women work as prostitutes, according to documents. In October, the federal agents approached local law enforcement about their findings.
In one text message exchange, a woman pleads for help from Edwards because her phone is constantly alerting her to all the messages from prospective clients, and she needed help setting “appointments.”
“It’s overwhelming me,” the woman wrote, according to court documents, when asking if Edwards could handle the influx of messages. “That would be just really really awesome.”
In March, detectives answered an online advertisement for one of the women, who told investigators Edwards had been posting her online advertisements since December 2016 and had driven her to “dates” in exchange for $40 a ride.
A warrant was issued for Edwards’ arrest, charging him with three counts of second-degree promoting prostitution.
