US Navy Engineer Arrested for Attempts to Sell Nuclear Sub Secrets
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According to the US Department of Justice, a US Navy nuclear engineer and his wife were arrested on espionage charges after allegedly attempting to sell classified information.
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Justice Department: The FBI conducted cryptocurrency transfers to Toebbe in exchange for the data
According to the US Justice Department, a US Navy nuclear engineer was arrested and charged with attempting to provide secret information on US nuclear-powered submarines to someone he mistook for a representative of a foreign government.
"For almost a year, Jonathan Toebbe, 42, aided by his wife, Diana, 45, sold information known as Restricted Data 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. The Toebbes had been charged in a criminal complaint alleging violations of the Atomic Energy Act," the Justice Department said on Sunday.
Jonathan Toebbe has been a nuclear engineer with the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program since 2012, and the US Department of Defense has granted him active national security clearance.
Toebbe had access to a variety of confidential information and gave an undercover FBI agent, posing as a representative of a foreign government, several memory cards with restricted data about submarine nuclear reactors.
According to the Justice Department, the FBI conducted cryptocurrency transfers to Toebbe in exchange for the data.
Moreover, the Justice Department added that Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were detained in Jefferson County, West Virginia, on Saturday after placing yet another memory card at a designated "dead drop" location.
The case is currently being investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
