Command senior chief convicted for unauthorized Wi-Fi on her ship

The former command senior chief of the littoral combat ship Manchester’s gold crew pleaded guilty at a court-martial in March to charges that she installed an unauthorized Wi-Fi system aboard the ship and then lied about it to superiors, according to records obtained by Navy Times.

Before her trial, Naval Surface Force Pacific, or SURFPAC, quietly relieved then-Senior Chief Grisel Marrero from her leadership position aboard Manchester in September, due to a “loss of confidence,” the command said in a statement.

Marrero, whose online biography indicates a background in Navy intelligence, declined comment for this report. SURFPAC officials also declined to discuss further specifics of the case.

She was sentenced to reduction in rank to E-7 in March, according to a trial summary obtained by Navy Times.

US Navy receives 12th littoral combat ship, the Manchester

Marrero wasn’t the only high-level relief aboard Manchester’s gold crew last year.

The Navy also ousted the second-in-command of the ship’s gold crew, Cmdr. Matthew Yokeley, in May 2023. The reliefs of Marrero and Yokeley were not related, according to SURFPAC, which declined to provide further details regarding the reasons for Yokeley’s ouster.

At a special court-martial earlier this year, Marrero pleaded guilty to willful dereliction of duty charge specifications.

According to her charge sheet, Marrero failed to safeguard the Manchester against operational security risks when she set up the secret Wi-Fi.

Such Wi-Fi systems are generally banned aboard Navy ships because of cybersecurity concerns.

Marrero “willfully coordinated the procurement, installation and use of an unauthorized and unapproved Wi-Fi system” onboard the ship between March 2023 and August 2023, according to her charge sheet.

Charge sheets state that she “willfully failed” to share a commanding officer’s suggestion box comment from a crew member about the Wi-Fi system with the then-commanding officer of the Manchester’s gold crew in June 2023.

She pleaded not guilty to an obstruction of justice charge, but was found guilty at trial, according to the trial summary record.

That charge involved an incident near Naval Base Guam in August 2023, where Marrero altered a data usage image on a chiefs mess Starlink account to reflect less data usage, which she did to “influence or impede” pending criminal or disciplinary actions against another Navy member whose name is redacted on the charge sheet copy provided to Navy Times.

Starlink provides broadband internet access to remote locations via an array of satellites.

SURFPAC spokesman Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson told Navy Times that other sailors were also disciplined in connection to the unauthorized Wi-Fi, but he declined to provide further details.

Marrero also pleaded guilty to two false official statement charge specifications that involved her telling the CO that there was no Wi-Fi aboard the Manchester, according to her trial summary.

Marrero is currently assigned to Naval Surface Forces.

The Manchester was in or around San Diego, Hawaii and Guam at the time of Marrero’s crimes.