March 17 (UPI) — The growing scandal around nude photos of female Marines shared on a private Facebook page has grown to include an investigation of public gay pornography sites that contain pictures of male Marines engaged in sex acts, according to officials.
As the controversy grows, a California lawmaker leading the investigation said the Naval Criminal Investigation Service has identified 1,200 Marines who were members of the photo-sharing group Marines United on Facebook, the group that distributed pictures of the women.
According to USA Today, dozens of investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service have been scouring gay porn websites and pages on the photo blogging site Tumblr to identify any military members whose sexually explicit photos have been shared. The report said NCIS investigators are also attempting to determine whether the men in the photos were victims of malicious posts or consented to the images of sex acts in uniform, which could violate military law.
Unlike the Marines United photos of women, the male photos are not limited to the Marines and include members of the Navy, Army and Air Force.
The Pentagon has created an inter-branch task force to handle the growing investigation, an NCIS spokeswoman said Friday.
As for the Marines United scandal, it remains unclear how many of the 1,200 Marines identified by name as members of the Facebook group actually interacted with the photos, which were stored on a separate Google drive, officials told Stars and Stripes. It’s believed at least 500 of the group members took, shared and posted derogatory comments about the illicit photos.
The figures were first reported by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee that is leading the congressional investigation into the scandal. Speier’s office said all 1,200 Marines identified thus far are being considered possible offenders and will be subjected to disciplinary measures as the investigation continues to unfold.
The Marines United group had more than 30,000 members.
Speier has introduced legislation that would criminalize the nonconsensual posting of nude photos by a member of the military. The Uniform Code of Military Justice does not currently address the subject.
