CSAM Charge Dismissed; Marine Convicted of Indecent Recording, Receives Thirty Months and Dishonorable Discharge

CSAM Charge Dismissed; Marine Convicted of Indecent Recording, Receives Thirty Months and Dishonorable Discharge

February 2026

MCB Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan

Marine Sergeant | E-5

Allegations: UCMJ Article 120c Indecent Recording; UCMJ Article 80 Attempted Indecent Recording; UCMJ Article 131b Obstruction of Justice; UCMJ Article 107 False Official Statement; UCMJ Article 134 Possession of Child Pornography

Facts

A Marine Sergeant assigned to the III MEF Band at Camp Foster was caught after a female Marine found a hidden camera under a toilet seat in the female head. Military police responded, CID was notified, NCIS took over, the camera was seized, the bathroom was photographed, and female Marines from the unit were interviewed.

The next day, the Sergeant came forward to command and admitted he had placed the camera, but his explanation made the situation worse. He claimed he had placed cameras in the female head to identify security vulnerabilities and "red team" the bathroom so nobody else could do the same thing. He said he had read about a similar hidden-camera incident on a ship and wanted to see whether the III MEF Band female head had the same vulnerability. NCIS had him walk through the female head and explain how he supposedly conducted the vulnerability assessment. They video recorded him showing where the camera had been placed, how the area could be accessed, and how his "red team" plan supposedly worked. The explanation did not hold. After NCIS pushed him on it, he confessed.

He was placed into pretrial confinement, and the later search of his devices made the case worse. NCIS reviewed phones, SD cards, a computer tower, cloud data, and other digital evidence. Investigators recovered hours of hidden camera footage, deleted files, edited clips, recovered videos, file names tied to the recordings, and evidence that cameras had been placed in multiple locations inside the female head, including the changing area, the handicap toilet area, and under a toilet seat. The footage was not just sitting there untouched. He had taken hours of recordings and made compilations from them. The device search also led to an Article 134 CSAM possession charge.

The Sergeant admitted the core Article 120c conduct. He placed cameras inside the female head and recorded female Marines in private areas without their consent. By then, the Government had the discovered camera, the command admission, the recorded walkthrough, the confession, multiple camera placements, hours of recordings, edited compilation videos, deleted and recovered files, pretrial confinement, victim impact evidence, and the CSAM charge.

Tim Bilecki traveled to MCB Camp Foster, Okinawa for the guilty plea and sentencing hearing. OSTC wanted five years, and the negotiation was difficult. Bilecki personally met with OSTC and negotiated an agreement that kept the final conviction record limited to the Article 120c conduct, dismissed the CSAM charge, dismissed the obstruction, false official statement, and attempted recording charges, and controlled the confinement across the three indecent recording specifications.

The Sergeant pleaded guilty to three Article 120c indecent recording specifications. In exchange, the Government dismissed the CSAM charge, the attempted indecent recording specifications, the obstruction charge, and the false official statement charge.

The plea agreement required a Dishonorable Discharge, reduction to E-1, total forfeitures, and 30 months confinement on each Article 120c specification. The confinement ran concurrently, so the total adjudged confinement was 30 months.

At the sentencing hearing, the Sergeant was sentenced pursuant to the plea agreement: 30 months confinement, reduction to E-1, total forfeitures, and a Dishonorable Discharge.

OSTC wanted five years. The final sentence was 30 months confinement. The CSAM charge, obstruction charge, false official statement charge, and attempted recording charges were dismissed.

The dismissal of the child-pornography charge narrowed the conviction record. It did not eliminate the registration consequences of the remaining indecent-recording convictions.

Result: Plea to three Article 120c specifications. CSAM, obstruction, false official statement, and attempted recording dismissed. 30 months confinement concurrent. Reduction to E-1. Total forfeitures. Dishonorable Discharge.

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FAQ

Q: Did dismissal of the CSAM charge eliminate sex offender registration?
No. The remaining convictions were for nonconsensual indecent recording, an offense included in the military registration framework. Bilecki removed the CSAM charge and other allegations, but the conviction record still carried registration consequences.

Q: What did Bilecki obtain in the negotiations?
OSTC had sought five years. Bilecki negotiated dismissal of the additional charges and three concurrent thirty-month terms for the recording convictions. The total confinement was thirty months, with a dishonorable discharge, reduction to E-1 and total forfeitures. The sentence remained substantial, but the agreement cut the confinement sought by the prosecution in half.