![]() ![]() Navy and his wife have been charged with trying to share some of the United States’ most closely held secrets on submarine technology with another. On Saturday October 9, Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana Toebbe were arrested in a sting operation in West Virginia by the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In June, the FBI says, the undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Toebbe, describing it as a “sign of good faith and trust.”Īs part of the operation, authorities say, the FBI observed the Toebbes arrive on multiple occasions at agreed-upon locations for the exchange, concealing an SD card between two slices of bread on a half of a peanut butter sandwich in one instance and in a chewing gum package in another. WASHINGTON A nuclear engineer for the U.S. That led to a monthslong undercover operation in which an agent posing as a representative of the foreign government offered to pay thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency for the information Toebbe was offering. The FBI’s legal office in the foreign country received the package, which had a return address of Pittsburgh, last December. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. Toebbe, who as part of his job had a top-secret security clearance, agreed as part of the plea deal to help federal officials with locating all classified information in his possession, as well as the roughly $100,000 in cryptocurrency that was paid to him by the FBI.įBI agents who searched the couple’s Annapolis, Maryland, home found a trash bag of shredded documents, thousands of dollars in cash, valid children’s passports and a “go-bag” containing a USB flash drive and latex gloves.Authorities say he also provided instructions for how to continue to the furtive relationship, with a letter that said: “I apologize for this poor translation into your language. The country to which Jonathan Toebbe was looking to sell the information has not been identified in court documents and was not disclosed in court during the plea hearing Monday. She has pleaded not guilty and the case against her remains pending. Naval nuclear engineer, wife arrested on espionage charges previously taught school in Denverĭiana Toebbe was accused of serving as a lookout at several prearranged “dead-drop” locations at which her husband deposited memory cards containing government secrets, concealing them in objects such as a chewing gum wrapper and a peanut butter sandwich. That set off a monthslong undercover operation in which an agent posing as a representative of a foreign country made contact with Toebbe and agreed to pay thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency for the information Toebbe was offering. That package was obtained by the FBI last December through its legal attaché office in the unspecified foreign country. Navy Engineer Sentenced for Attempted Espionage Passed Information on Latest Aircraft Carrier to Undercover Agent The dead drop area in a Virginia park that was used by Navy civilian engineer. Justice Department lawyer unveiled the agreement with nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe during a court hearing in West Virginia federal court. Jonathan and Diana Toebbe pleaded guilty last month in the espionage case. The FBI has said the scheme began in April 2020, when Jonathan Toebbe sent a package of Navy documents to a foreign government and wrote that he was interested in selling to that country operations manuals, performance reports and other sensitive information. 6 Jonathan Toebbe, a Navy nuclear engineer, and his wife Diana faced a judge. Jonathan Toebbe taught at Kent Denver, a private prep school in Englewood, from 2005 to 2008, and Diana Toebbe taught there from 2005 to 2012, according to a school spokeswoman. “Yes, your honor,” Toebbe said when asked if he considered himself guilty. 9, 2021, after he placed an SD card at a pre-arranged dead drop at a. Jonathan Toebbe, 43, of Annapolis, was arrested on Oct. Toebbe acknowledged during the plea hearing to conspiring to pass classified information to a foreign government in exchange for money with the intent to “injure the United States.” The person Toebbe thought was a representative of a foreign government was actually an undercover FBI agent. A Maryland man pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to communicate restricted data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships to a person he believed was a representative of a foreign nation. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu ![]()
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