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A West Virginia court has sentenced a U.S. Navy engineer and his wife to long prison terms for conspiring to sell secrets about nuclear submarines to individuals who called themselves representatives of a foreign government, the Navy Times writes.
Recall that earlier it was reported about the attempt of nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe to make money on the sale of data on the design features of American nuclear submarines. The man sent a sample of information to a person who introduced himself as a member of a foreign government (which country is not specified). Then the engineer negotiated with the buyer via closed communication.
In fact, the "secret buyer" was FBI agents. The man was arrested when he tried to transmit information on a flash drive, which he left in an agreed place, hiding it in a peanut butter sandwich.
The article says that U.S. District Judge Gina Groh in August rejected the defense's motion to commute the sentence for the defendants, taking into account the candid confession. As a result, Jonathan Toebbe was sentenced to 19 years in prison, and his wife Diana Toebbe was sentenced to almost 22 years. At the time of sentencing, the engineer was 44 years old.
According to the newspaper, the lawyers of the couple did everything possible, trying to shorten the term: they claimed that the defendants had problems with the psyche and alcohol. In addition, the defense claimed that Jonathan and Diana Toebbe tried to sell secret data for 100 thousand dollars in cryptocurrency, as they were concerned about the "political climate" in the country.
It is reported that Diana Toebbe received a tougher sentence after information was revealed about her attempts to send her husband two letters from prison. In them, the woman forced the spouse to lie about the fact that she did not participate in the crime.
- the publication quotes the words of Judge Groh.
