Navy engineer from Annapolis charged with selling US nuclear secrets Please Guilty – CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) – Jonathan Toebbe, a Navy engineer accused of trying to sell nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign government, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.

His agreement with the government called for him to be sentenced to between 12 and a half to 17 and a half years in prison. The judge is not bound by the agreement, and The maximum sentence for this crime is life imprisonment.

Breaking: The judge formally accepts Jonathan Toebbe’s guilty plea to conspiracy to attempt to sell nuclear secrets. Toebbe is a Naval engineer from Annapolis. His wife, Diana, a former Key School teacher, is also charged in the case. @wjz

– Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) February 14, 2022

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Toebbe before pleaded not guilty in his last court appearance in October 2021.

He led what from the outside seemed like a typical suburban life, but it was quickly turned upside down.

Federal agents raided his home in Annapolis last year, a move that stunned neighbors who couldn’t believe the father of two children accused of selling government secrets .

The plot is like a Hollywood scenario: The government says that Toebbe placed top secret information about nuclear submarines on small data storage devices that then passed them on to foreign governments. An unnamed country has been contacted by the FBI.

The agents set up a difficult operation in which Toebbe, believing he was dealing with foreign intelligence, dropped classified information at locations in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He hid them on thumb drives in peanut butter sandwiches and gum wrappers.

“There’s a message here for anyone looking to sell America’s secrets,” said Assistant Director Alan Kohler Jr. of the FBI Counterintelligence Division said in a prepared statement.

Here is a more detailed outline of the crimes committed by federal prosecutors:

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“On June 8, 2021, the secret agent sent $10,000 in crypto to Toebbe as a ‘goodwill’ payment. Soon after, on June 26, Toebbe fixed the problem by placing an SD card, which was hidden in half a peanut butter sandwich and contained military sensitive design elements related to the reactor. nuclear submarines, at a pre-arranged location. After retrieving the SD card, the underground employee sent Toebbe a $20,000 crypto payment. In return, Toebbe emailed the security officer a decryption key for the SD Card. An assessment of the SD card found it contained Limited Data related to underground nuclear reactors. On August 28, Toebbe performed an SD card “kill” in eastern Virginia, this time hiding the card in a pack of gum. After paying Toebbe $70,000 in crypto, the FBI received the decryption key for the card. It also contains Restricted Data relating to nuclear reactors on submarines. The FBI arrested Toebbe and his wife on October 9, after he placed another SD card at a pre-arranged ‘dead spot’ at a second location in West Virginia. “

The government accused his wife, Diana Toebbe, of contempt. She pleaded not guilty.

Diana has made knitting videos on YouTube and taught at Key School.

In a previous court filing, her lawyer said she had no idea what her husband was doing. He argued for her to be released from custody.

“She has no prior record of any kind and is not a danger to anyone. She doesn’t have the money to fly and she doesn’t have a passport to do so. She has asserted her innocence,” her attorney said.

The couple has two children.

As part of Jonathan Toebbe’s plea agreement, he must work with the government to recover all classified information and return $100,000 in crypto the government paid him in the process. their bad performance.

Governments are drawing out facts they can prove. Toebbe left the SD card with top-secret information in a peanut butter sandwich and gum wrapper. @wjz

– Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) February 14, 2022

He will be sentenced at a later date.

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“Jonathan Toebbe admitted today that he violated federal law by conspiring with his wife to sell sensitive government information to a foreign power,” said Attorney Cindy Chung for the Western District of Pennsylvania. . “My office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and hold accountable those who pursue financial gain at the expense of their solemn obligation to protect our country’s well-organized secrecy.”