Submarine.Photo: HANDOUT/US NAVY/AFP via Getty
The wife of a former engineer has pleaded guilty just days after herhusband did the samein a case that federal prosecutors have described asan elaborate espionage plotinvolving hidden devices and nuclear secrets.
Diana Toebbeon Friday admittedto conspiracy to communicate restricted data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships, according to the Department of Justice. That’s the same charge her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, pleaded guilty to last week.
The department has says that Diana acted as “lookout” for her husband while he made three dead drops to what he thought was a foreign nation (but was actually an FBI agent).
According to the Department of Justice, Jonathan initially sent a package to an un-identified foreign government in April 2020 which contained “a sample of Restricted Data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship to purchase additional Restricted Data.”
Unbeknownst to Jonathan, though, the government that received the package handed it off to American authorities — who worked undercover to begin communicating with the engineer via encrypted email.
Over time, Jonathan and an undercover FBI agent came to an agreement (he thought) that would see him selling restricted data in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.
After participating in three dead drops — one of which saw Jonathan hide a storage card within half of a peanut butter sandwich — the two were arrested once it was determined that the cards contained “Restricted Data related to submarine nuclear reactors,” authorities have said.
Jonathan and Diana were charged with conspiracy to communicate restricted data and communication of restricted data and taken into custody nearly a year after prosecutors alleged Jonathan — with Diana’s help — began sending information “concerning the design of nuclear-powered warships to a person they believed was a representative of a foreign power. In actuality, that person was an undercover FBI agent.”
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While the two were each facing maximum penalties of up to life in prison, their plea agreements have reduced that. In in accordance with his plea, Jonathan will serve “a minimum of 151 months, or 12 and a half years, in federal prison,” authorities said last week.
Diana meanwhile, will serve a sentence of “not more than 36 months of imprisonment in federal prison.”
source: people.com
