Tuesday 27 September 2022 07:20 PM US Navy nuclear engineer, wife enter new guilty pleas in scheme to sell secrets trends now
A US Navy nuclear engineer and his wife face life behind bars after entering new guilty pleas in a case involving an alleged plot to sell secrets about nuclear-powered warships to Brazil.
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe of Annapolis, Maryland, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to one felony count each of conspiracy to communicate restricted data.
The couple were first arrested in October 2021, after trying to sell submarine secrets to Brazil, a plan reportedly motivated in part by Diana Toebbe's outrage over Donald Trump's election as US president.
After Brazilian officials alerted the FBI, an elaborate sting operation snared the couple leaving military secrets at dead-drops, including one where a digital memory card was hidden in a peanut butter sandwich.
The new guilty pleas came a month after US District Judge Gina Groh rejected the couple's initial pleas to the same charges, saying the sentencing options were 'strikingly deficient' considering the seriousness of the case.
The previous sentencing range in the initial plea deals had called for Jonathan to face a potential punishment between roughly 12 years and 17 years in prison, while Diana had faced up to three years.
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe of Annapolis, Maryland, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court to one felony count each of conspiracy to communicate restricted data
Jonathan Toebbe was a nuclear engineer for the US Navy dealing with nuclear submarine propulsion systems when he tried to sell Navy secrets. Pictured: Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS New Mexico
Under the latest plea agreement entered Tuesday before US Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble, the couple would each face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $100,000 fine, although prosecutors are asking for a sentence for Diana Toebbe at the lowest end of the guideline range.
Prosecutors said that such a sentence would still be one of the most significant imposed in modern times under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
If the court doesn't accept the latest agreement, the defendants would again have the right to withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial.
Prosecutors said Jonathan Toebbe, 43, abused his access to top-secret government information and repeatedly sold details about the design elements and performance characteristics of Virginia-class submarines to someone he believed was a representative of a foreign government, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Though court filings do not name the foreign government, the New York Times identified it as Brazil, citing a senior Brazilian official and others briefed on the investigation.
Diana Toebbe, 46, who was teaching at a private school in Maryland at the time of the couple's arrest last October, was accused of acting as a lookout at several prearranged 'dead-drop' locations at which memory
