![]() I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. The FBI said the scheme began in April 2020, when Mr Toebbe - a US government employee since 2012 - sent a package of Navy documents to a foreign government and said he was interested in selling operations manuals, performance reports and other sensitive information.Īuthorities said he also provided instructions on how to conduct the furtive relationship, with a letter that said: "I apologize for this poor translation into your language. It was not immediately clear whether Mr Toebbe or his wife had engaged lawyers. The couple are from Annapolis, Maryland. Mr Toebbe, 42, was arrested in West Virginia on Saturday along with his 45-year-old wife, Diana, after he placed a removable memory card at a prearranged "dead drop" in the state's Jefferson County, according to the department. That country was not named in the court documents. This is not a hoax," the letter said, according to the criminal complaint.In a criminal complaint detailing espionage-related charges against Jonathan Toebbe, the Justice Department said he sold information to a contact he believed represented a foreign power. "I apologize for this poor translation into your language. Navy information marked CONFIDENTIAL that included printouts, digital media files containing technical details, operations manuals, and performance reports," the charging documents said. Toebbe sent a letter to the intelligence service of Brazil in April 2020 that "stated a desire to sell documents containing U.S. ![]() Jonathan Toebbe, 43, also pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to communicate restricted data pursuant to an agreement that calls for a sentence of up to 17 years in prison. Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble accepted her plea but noted a different judge would determine whether the new sentencing terms were sufficient. ![]() The new plea agreement appeared to call for a sentence of about 12 years in prison, four times as long as Diana Toebbe's prior agreement. Navy, to sell secrets to a foreign country, which ABC News has previously identified as Brazil.Īccording to the charging documents, one of those dead drops included a blue 16GB SanDisk SD "wrapped in plastic and placed between two slices of bread on a half of a peanut butter sandwich." A review of the SD card revealed that it contained restricted data related to submarine nuclear reactors, the indictment said.ĭiana Toebbe, 46, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data, conceding she "knowingly and voluntarily" joined a conspiracy with her husband, a former nuclear engineer for the U.S. In return, Jonathan Toebbe emailed the undercover agent a decryption key for the SD card. ![]() There, with Diana Toebbe acting as a lookout, Jonathan Toebbe placed an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged "dead drop" location, they said.Īfter retrieving the SD card, the undercover agent sent Jonathan Toebbe a $20,000 cryptocurrency payment, prosecutors said. ![]() MORE: Judge rejects plea deals for couple accused of trying to sell nuclear sub secretsĪ few weeks later, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe traveled to a location in West Virginia, prosecutors said. Toebbe said he began corresponding with someone he thought was a representative of the foreign government who was really an undercover FBI agent. The Toebbes, of Annapolis, Maryland, seemed to neighbors and co-workers to be the typical suburban couple before they were arrested last October for allegedly scheming to sell secrets about Virginia-class nuclear submarines to a foreign country, which was not identified in court papers but was Brazil, a source told ABC News.Īt the time of his plea, Toebbe conceded he sent a package to a foreign government, listing a return address in Pittsburgh that contained a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing relationship to buy additional restricted data. The couple originally pleaded guilty in February but a judge threw out the plea agreements last month after deciding the sentences called for were too low. submarine nuclear propulsion systems to a foreign country. Jonathan and Diana Toebbe pleaded guilty for a second time on Tuesday to federal charges that they tried to sell secrets about U.S. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |