A Navy engineer and his wife, who both pleaded guilty to trying to sell sensitive secrets about the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign country, are going to prison for a long time.
The judge cited the "great danger" that Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana posed to U.S. security while handing down the sentences, which were 19 years for him and 22 years for her.
The sentences were handed down on Mr. Toebbe's 44th birthday.
"If not for the remarkable efforts of FBI agents, the sensitive data stolen by Mr. Toebbe could have ended up in the hands of an adversary of the United States and put the safety of our military and our nation at risk," said U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II for the Northern District of West Virginia said in a statement. "The FBI keeps American citizens safe from enemies both foreign and domestic and this case is an excellent reminder of their important work."
Prosecutors said Jonathan Toebbe abused his access to top-secret government information and repeatedly sold details about the design and performance of Virginia-class submarines to someone he believed was a representative of a foreign government but who was actually an undercover FBI agent, the Associated Press reported.
Diana Toebbe, 46, admitted she acted as a lookout at several prearranged “dead-drop” locations where memory cards containing the secret information were left behind, per the AP.
Prosecutors say on one occasion, the couple hid the information in a peanut butter sandwich. In another instance, information was concealed in a chewing gum package.
At the time of his arrest, Jonathan Toebbe was a Navy employee who served as a nuclear engineer and was assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, also known as Naval Reactors, according to the Department of Justice. He held an active national security clearance through the Department of Defense, giving him access to "Restricted Data" concerning naval nuclear propulsion, including information related to military sensitive design elements, operating parameters and performance characteristics of the reactors for nuclear powered warships.
The government said Jonathan Toebbe sold the secrets for $100,000 in cryptocurrency. About $54,000 of the cryptocurrency has been recovered, according to the AP.
The couple was arrested on Oct. 9, 2021 after dropping an SD card at a pre-arranged location in West Virginia. Both pleaded guilty to the conspiracy in August 2022.
Diana Toebbe received an enhanced sentence after it was revealed that she tried to send her husband two letters from jail, encouraging him to lie about her involvement in the scheme, the AP reported. Both letters were intercepted before being delivered.
"The Toebbes betrayed the American people and put our national security at significant risk when they selfishly attempted to sell highly sensitive information related to nuclear-powered warships for their own financial benefit," Special Agent in Charge Brice Miller, of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Office of Special Projects, said in a statement.
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