WASHINGTON — A Navy engineer was sentenced Wednesday to more than 19 years in prison for attempting to sell nuclear submarine secrets, while his wife – who admitted to serving as look-out for his clandestine efforts – received a nearly 22-year sentence.
U.S. District Judge Gina Groh of the Northern District of West Virginia sentenced Jonathan Toebbe, 44, and his 46-year-old wife, Diane Toebbe, for their attempt to broker a deal with an individual they believed was a representative of a foreign government, The Hill reported.
As per The Washington Post: “Jonathan Toebbe, a civilian nuclear engineer with a top-secret security clearance, and Diana Toebbe, a private-school teacher in their hometown of Annapolis, admitted they tried to sell restricted data about nuclear propulsion systems on submarines to a foreign country — a violation of the Atomic Energy Act that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.”
The alleged espionage plot was thwarted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Stars and Stripes reported, citing court documents at the time of the couple’s October 2021 arrest. The couple was taken into custody after Jonathan Toebbe received $100,000 in cryptocurrency from an FBI agent posing as a representative of a foreign government to whom he had sent secrets about nuclear submarine reactors in return for the money. Although not classified, the secrets were considered confidential, The Hill reported.
The couple pleaded guilty in August 2022 to conspiracy to communicate restricted data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships.
During sentencing, Groh said Toebbe’s “actions and greedy self-serving intentions placed military service members at sea and every citizen of this country in a vulnerable position and at risk of harm from adversaries.”
According to the Post, Diane Toebbe received a lengthier sentence than her husband because intercepted letters she tried to send him from jail revealed that she encouraged him to lie about her involvement in the scheme. She also instructed him to destroy the correspondence by flushing the letters down the toilet.
©2022 Cox Media Group
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/B62QQBSTIFBZJOQD2O7LFC3UCY.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/ZGOGENAJTBFTBFET73EGTT4W3U.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/3SUUUF6GS5A6PJGOC73LQAR2RE.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/GQ4NWPTWR5HXJNKBPEBT6UROFQ.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/YTK2QEDELBGA5NANZVEXTY4L6Q.jpeg)