Maryland couple plead guilty in nuclear secrets plot

[IcyPeas]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60442225

A US Navy engineer's wife has pleaded guilty to helping her husband try to sell secrets about nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign country.

Diana Toebbe, 46, acted as a lookout while her husband left information at a "dead drop" spot, once hiding a data card inside a peanut butter sandwich.

A former teacher, she will go to prison for up to three years under her plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, 42, pleaded guilty earlier this week.

Under his plea deal, he will receive a sentence of about 12-17 years.

Both of the Toebbes pleaded guilty in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to conspiring to communicate restricted data.

Jonathan Toebbe was an expert in nuclear-propulsion systems on submarines, one of the nation's most closely guarded secrets.

He tried to sell the information to a foreign government, sending messages to someone who he believed was a foreign official, according to the justice department. In fact, the individual was an undercover FBI agent.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. And trump took top secret documents

He he betrayed the trust of our country ,should get more than 12 to 17 years for the document stealing and destroying..

[crickets]

2. Well educated, good jobs, two kids, nice home...

They were living the American Dream. What were they thinking to betray their country this way?

[Turbineguy]

3. $100,000

What were they going to do, not work for 8 months?

[crickets]

4. But this was something Toebbe planned and did over years' time.

It wasn't a spur of the moment thing. It makes no sense, so I did some looking around.

WaPo no paywall link, October 20, 2021: https://archive.ph/9XzaA

His Facebook page lists “Cryptonomicon” as one of his favorite books.

It’s a science-fiction novel that runs nearly 1,000 pages and spans three generations. The book begins with a young Navy captain in World War II and eventually chronicles his hacker grandson’s mission to build a place where encrypted data can be exchanged without scrutiny.

The key to keeping that data haven running, it turns out, is a sunken Nazi submarine.

Oh, boy. It sounds like maybe he wanted to live out his own personal spy novel.

He dangled the possibility of more than 11,000 pages of sensitive documents to follow. For a price of $5 million in cryptocurrency, he said, he would deliver it all.

Okay, there's the money. There it is. They had their passports ready and a go plan. They thought they'd get away and live in luxury overseas for the rest of their days. Never mind uprooting their kids to take them on the run.

What an idiotic waste of talents and opportunities on both their parts. They threw away a wonderful life many would envy. What a shame for their children. So stupid, and I'm so very glad they were caught.

[IcyPeas]

5. it really does sound like that book gave him ideas

and cryptocurrency still boggles my mind. to me it's not real. And $5million would seem a bargain for such sensitive nuclear secrets. Like you said.... what a waste.

[uponit7771]

6. +1