Navy Base Contractor Charged With Filming Restricted Areas at Point Mugu
Todd Jeremy Senff, 46, of Camarillo, faces 14 misdemeanor counts over photos and videos of military equipment and exercises that prosecutors say he shared.
A civilian construction contractor at Naval Base Ventura County has been charged with using his base pass to get into restricted areas at Point Mugu, photographing and filming military equipment, aircraft and training exercises, and sending some of the images to other people.
Todd Jeremy Senff, 46, of Camarillo, California, faces 14 misdemeanor counts: 11 counts of violating a defense property security regulation and three counts of entering military property for an unlawful purpose, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
What prosecutors say he did
Senff worked for a Navy construction services contractor. The base awarded his employer a three-year construction contract in September 2023, and Senff worked on about four of its projects, according to the office. That work came with a credential giving him access to parts of the base.
From June to September 2024, prosecutors say, he used that access to take photos and videos of sensitive military equipment and exercises. He then sent some of them to associates “along with messages regarding military activities,” the office said. The release does not say who those associates were, and he is not charged with espionage.
The Navy strictly limits photography on its bases, and Point Mugu had posted signs saying photography was prohibited, according to prosecutors.
Why Point Mugu matters
Naval Base Ventura County has about 19,000 personnel across three installations. Point Mugu houses naval weapons testing commands and facilities for weapons research, development and evaluation, the office said. It also gives direct access to the Point Mugu Sea Range, the Navy’s largest instrumented sea range, used for air, surface and submarine operations, missile defense support and multinational exercises.
What the court records show
Prosecutors charged Senff by information, a charging document filed without a grand jury that is allowed for misdemeanors, on Oct. 6, 2026, the docket shows. The case is United States v. Senff, No. 2:26-cr-00614.
The paper trail starts earlier. A federal citation was issued to Senff on Dec. 13, 2024, in a separate petty-offense file, No. 2:24-po-01371. That file was closed on Jan. 23, 2025. On Oct. 5, 2026, the day before the information was filed, it was merged into the new criminal case, according to the court records. The docket does not say what the 2024 citation was for.
Possible penalties
Each count of violating a defense property security regulation carries up to one year in federal prison. Each count of entering military property for an unlawful purpose carries up to six months.
The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph S. Guzman of the office’s National Security Division is prosecuting the case.
