In what could have been the plot for the next great spy movie, a couple from Maryland were arrested on Saturday for attempting to sell military secrets to a foreign power.
The Justice Department reported that Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were arrested in West Virginia after they allegedly attempted to sell information about the design of nuclear reactors on American submarines.
The person they thought they were selling the information to turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
Attorney General Merrick Garland shared in a statement from the DOJ what precisely the couple was doing.
"The complaint charges a plot to transmit information relating to the design of our nuclear submarines to a foreign nation," Garland said in the statement.
Jonathan Toebbe, 42, and his wife Diana, 45, first sent information in April to an unspecified country, according to the DOJ. The DOJ described Jonathan Toebbe as a nuclear engineer employed by the Navy, Politico reported.
The couple reportedly offered "a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship," the DOJ said.
Related
The DOJ shared that Jonathan Toebbe was using emails to sell the information about the submarines.
"The affidavit also alleges that, thereafter, Toebbe began corresponding via encrypted email with an individual whom he believed to be a representative of the foreign government," the DOJ said. "The individual was really an undercover FBI agent."
According to the criminal complaint, the FBI convinced Jonathan Toebbe that he was talking to a foreign agent, even though he was skeptical.
The complaint goes on to say that the FBI was able to "conduct an operation in the Washington, D.C. area that involved placing a signal at a location associated" with the country that remained unnamed.
The goal of the FBI was to get Jonathan Toebbe to think he was trading messages with a member of the country's intelligence service. After months of communication, Toebbe allegedly came to an agreement with the country to sell restricted data in exchange for cryptocurrency.
The couple allegedly went to make the first drop of information on June 26 in West Virginia. Diana went with Toebbe and served as the lookout.
Related
"There, with Diana Toebbe acting as a lookout, Jonathan Toebbe placed an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged 'dead drop 'location," the Justice Department said, Politico reported.
An exchange also took place in August, and they were finally arrested after the third drop. The DOJ reported that they received $100,000 in cryptocurrency in exchange for the information they provided and keys to accessing the information on SD cards.
Residents of Annapolis, the couple will appear in court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on Tuesday.
