(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Secret Service trainee was arrested Wednesday for spying on his roommate, also an agent-in-training, with a hidden camera, according to ABC News.
“Police reports from Glynn County, Georgia, said the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center student, Joel Lara Canvasser, secretly filmed his suitemate’s every move with a spy camera hidden in a phone charger,” ABC News reported.
“Canvasser allegedly targeted the roommate with a weekslong campaign of harassing text messages written to suggest the roommate was being watched by a stalking stranger who could see into his suite and even the bathroom.”
Canvasser was reportedly charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance, according to police records. He posted bond of $8,458.
A Secret Service agent in training who previously worked as an analyst with the presidential protection team was arrested this week on charges of felony eavesdropping at the nation's premiere federal law enforcement training academy. https://t.co/PljL0GWX87
— ABC News (@ABC) April 10, 2026
A police report describes crimes more sociopathic in nature—rather than acts of espionage.
“Roughly a week after [the roommate] plugs in the charger, he begins receiving odd text messages from various numbers. In the beginning he believed they were spam messages, however over time he began to realize whoever was texting him was simultaneously watching him,” the police report said, per ABC News.
The roommate then sought help from Canvasser, who told him he was probably the victim of a malware attack. But when the roommate reset the phone, he found that his troubles persisted.
“There was a specific instance where [the roommate] was using the bathroom and his phone was in his pocket. When he finished, he checked his phone and saw a message referencing him using the bathroom. It was at this point that [the roommate] realized the individual was not watching him through his phone camera but instead from another device,” the police report said.
“When he had pulled [the charger] out of the wall, the light hit the device in such a way that made the lens visible.”
Wednesday’s arrest marks the latest public embarrassment for the agency.
Last month, for instance, a Secret Service agent protecting former First Lady Jill Biden shot himself in the buttocks at the Philadelphia International Airport.
And earlier in the month, Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree reported that agent Myosoty Perez, who is a lesbian, has been suspended and is under investigation for marrying a foreign national—possibly an illegal immigrant—without declaring it. Perez was one of the agents responsible for nearly getting President Donald Trump killed at his July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In January, journalist James O’Keefe published a shocking report about how a Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance’s security detail leaked details about his travels to one of O’Keefe’s undercover reporters.
Also in January, a Secret Service recruit shot and killed a 16-year-old in Tamarac, Florida. The 16-year-old victim was identified as Orlando Wedderburn. A woman was also grazed. The Secret Service recruit, for his part, is claiming self-defense.
According to Crabtree, Secret Service Director Sean Curran is receiving internal criticism for not doing enough to eliminate the agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which were implemented starting in the Obama era.
Meanwhile, the agency is looking to hire 4,000 new employees by 2028.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
