US Navy engineer and wife sentenced for conspiring to sell classified information to foreign country

A United States Navy nuclear engineer and his partner have actually each been sentenced to about 20 years behind bars for conspiring to offer categorized details associated to the style of nuclear-powered warships to a foreign nation in exchange for countless dollars in cryptocurrency.

The Justice Department revealed Wednesday that Jonathan Toebbe, 44, of Annapolis, Maryland, was sentenced to more than 19 years. His partner, Diana Toebbe, 46, was sentenced to more than 21 years in jail.

The couple pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy and intended to get a federal judge in West Virginia to accept proposed plea arrangements for lower sentences. Judge Gina Groh turned down the arrangements mentioning that it was not in the very best interest of the nation to accept the handle which Jonathan Toebbe might have been sentenced to in between 12 and 18 years in jail, while his partner might have been sentenced to approximately 3 years in jail.

The Toebbes pleaded guilty once again in September as part of brand-new arrangements that exposed them to longer possible sentences, according to court files.

The couple collaborated drop-offs of encrypted SD cards including categorized details about nuclear submarines, particularly Virginia-class vessels, for who they thought were members of a foreign federal government in exchange for countless dollars in cryptocurrency, according to a criminal grievance.

District attorneys stated the couple went to excellent lengths to conceal the SD cards at the dead-drop places throughout numerous months, tucking an SD card into a Saran-wrapped peanut butter sandwich in one circumstances, while others were concealed inside a package of gum and a sealed Band-Aid wrapper.

” The Toebbes conspired to offer limited defense details that would put the lives of our males and females in uniform and the security of the United States at danger,” stated Assistant Attorney general of the United States Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Department.