A US Navy chief who wanted WiFi on her warship secretly ran an illegal Starlink network that she named 'STINKY': report
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- A US Navy leader was demoted for installing an illegal WiFi network on a warship, a new report says.
- Grisel Marrero installed a Starlink network on the USS Manchester and named it "STINKY."
- She lied to and misled her commanding officer at least three times when questioned about the network, per the report.
A senior US Navy enlisted leader who was demoted after she was caught running illegal WiFi on a warship used a leadership association's debit card to pay for its monthly bills and named it "STINKY," according to a new report.
Grisel Marrero, who was the command senior chief of the USS Manchester, installed and operated the unauthorized network during a deployment in 2023, lying to her commanders and falsifying records to cover up its presence, according to a Navy charge sheet seen by Business Insider.
According to a judgment filed on May 29, Marrero was demoted from senior chief petty officer to chief petty officer after being found guilty of dereliction of duty and providing false official statements to her commanders.
A new report from Navy Times, citing documents from a Navy investigation, reveals new information on Marrero's conduct, saying she worked secretly with other enlisted chiefs to install and maintain a $1,000-a-month Starlink network on the Manchester.
Marrero had paid for the $2,800 Starlink dish and kit with a personal credit card and was the network administrator, maintaining the sole authority to add others to the network, per the outlet.
She and another chief installed the dish on the Manchester's weather deck during a blanket "aloft" period when duties aren't recorded in the ship's logs, per Navy Times.
Though Marrero had paid for the dish with a personal credit card, the chiefs on the Manchester split the cost of Starlink's recurring bills and paid them with a Chief Petty Officer Association debit card.
The chief's mess then kept access to the Starlink network — which they named "STINKY" — only to themselves, Navy Times reported.
When junior sailors and commanding officers began noticing the WiFi network, Marrero denied its existence, according to Navy Times.
Marrero's charge sheet said she lied to her commanding officer on at least three occasions from July to August 2023, telling them each time that there was no WiFi onboard.
Later, she changed the network's name from "STINKY" to something that sounded like a wireless printer, although there were no such printers on the ship, Navy Times wrote, citing the investigation.
The Starlink dish was eventually discovered on August 18 by a civilian installing a separate, authorized satellite communication system.
"The gig is up," Marrero texted a crew member at the time, according to the investigation seen by Navy Times.
After being confronted, she and the other chiefs tried to remove the dish, then told commanders that they only used it while in port, per Navy Times. Marrero's charge sheet also said that she altered data usage records for the Starlink account.
Navy Times reported that Marrero admitted to her commanding officer on August 26, 2023, that she had installed the illegal WiFi network.
Court records show that Marrero pleaded guilty to two counts of dereliction of duty, and not guilty for one count of obstruction of justice, though she was found guilty of all three.
The US Navy press office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside business hours.