After being accused of conspiring to transfer prohibited data to a foreign government, a US Navy engineer pleaded guilty.
Last October, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe, a suburban couple from Annapolis, Maryland, were arrested and accused of attempting to sell the design of US nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign power representative who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
Jonathan Toebbe pleaded guilty and stated that he transmitted a package to an unidentified foreign government in April 2020.
U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung for the Western District of Pennsylvania said in a release on Monday:
“Today Jonathan Toebbe admitted that he violated federal law when he conspired with his wife to sell sensitive government information to a foreign power,”
“My office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and hold accountable those who would pursue financial gain at the expense of their solemn duty to protect our country’s closely held secrets.”
According to court documents, the package was intercepted in the Brazilian mail system and rerouted to an FBI legal attached.
The package contained “a sample of Restricted Data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship to purchase additional Restricted Data.”
A note accompanying the package read, “Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency,” “I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax.”
For months, the FBI agent spoke with Toebbe via encrypted email, eventually leading to Toebbe agreeing to a ruse in which he would sell the limited data for thousands of dollars in bitcoin. To make his cover more plausible, the undercover agent wired Toebbe $10,000 in bitcoin in June 2021 and promised him $20,000 once he dropped off the data in West Virginia.
The card held restricted data about “submarine nuclear reactors,” according to the FBI and Naval officials investigating the couple. Toebbe made a second drop, putting another card with even more data in a pack of chewing gum.
“After he deposited yet another SD card at a pre-arranged ‘dead drop’ at a second location in West Virginia,” Toebbe and his wife were detained on October 9.
Jonathan Toebbe faces up to 17 and a half years in prison while Diana Toebbe faces up to three.
Sources: Thegatewaypundit, Dailymail, Djhjmedia