A couple from Annapolis, Maryland, has entered new guilty pleas in US federal court for attempting to sell classified military information to a foreign government, the Baltimore Sun reported on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2022) A couple from Annapolis, Maryland, has entered new guilty pleas in US Federal court for attempting to sell classified military information to a foreign government, the Baltimore Sun reported on Tuesday.
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe pleaded guilty to one felony count each of conspiracy to communicate restricted data after their previous plea agreements that called for specific sentencing guidelines were rejected by the court, the report said.
The previous sentencing range agreed to by lawyers for Jonathan Toebbe had called for a potential punishment between 12 years and 17 years in prison, according to court documents.
The court rejected the initial pleas last month, saying the sentencing options were strikingly deficient considering the seriousness of the case. The couple then immediately withdrew their initial guilty pleas and judge in the case set trial for January, the report said.
Prosecutors in the case said on Tuesday that the sentences they seek would be some of the most significant imposed in modern times under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the report said. Under the latest plea agreement entered on Tuesday, the couple would each face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $100,000 fine, although prosecutors are asking for a three-yer sentence for Diana Toebbe, the report added.
According to the court documents, Jonathan Toebbe, a former US Navy officer, smuggled classified documents on nuclear submarines from his workplace and sent a letter to an undisclosed foreign government in April 2020 with a sample of material for sale. However, the recipient of the letter passed the information to the FBI.
Over the course of several months in 2021, the Toebbes supplied undercover FBI agents posing as representatives of the foreign government with the smuggled material during multiple document drops, after which they were arrested by the authorities, the documents said.
