Toebbe had plans to exchange data with the country for a total cost of $5 million. Additionally, Toebbe has agreed to help the government recover classified information and approximately $100,000 in cash he and his wife collected from the government. Toebbe agreed Monday to surrender any electronics, online accounts, information or anything else associated with the investigation. The packages were then dropped by Toebbe as his wife acted as a lookout at locations in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. The couple initially pleaded not guilty to the charges.Ĭourt documents allege Toebbe hid the restricted data on memory cards inside ordinary items, such as a sandwich or a pack of gum. Navy nuclear operations and the Virginia-class submarine to a foreign power. Toebbe and his wife were accused of violating the Atomic Energy Act by transmitting sensitive information about U.S. The plea deal could reduce Toebbe’s time behind bars to 17.5 years. Each charge has a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. The couple was charged with conspiracy to communicate restricted data and communication of restricted data in violation of the Atomic Energy Act. Other charges would be dropped as part of the agreement. Toebbe, 43, of Annapolis, Maryland, agreed during a Monday afternoon hearing to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data. Diana and Jonathan Toebbe were arrested Oct. Navy nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe for selling classified data and conspiracy. Trumble has accepted a plea deal from former U.S. They also checked boxes showing that the prosecution, under the Atomic Energy Act, involves an “offense for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment or death.MARTINSBURG, W.Va. In the detention memo, prosecutors checked boxes indicating that they believe the Toebbes represent a risk to flee and to obstruct justice. It was not immediately clear if either of the Toebbes had an attorney. Diana Toebbe accompanied him on several occasions, including serving as a lookout during one such dead-drop operation in Jefferson County, West Virginia, court documents say. Toebbe left memory cards containing sensitive documents in pre-arranged “dead-drop” locations, concealing it in one instance inside a peanut butter sandwich and on occasions inside a chewing gum package and Band-Aid wrapper, the FBI says. But the package he sent was obtained eight months later by the FBI, which initiated contact with Toebbe through an undercover agent who agreed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency in exchange for the government secrets.
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The identity of the country was not revealed in court documents.Īccording to the documents, Toebbe reached out in April 2020 to the foreign country to offer information about the submarines and to provide instructions for how to maintain a furtive dialogue. Jonathan Toebbe is accused of passing on design information about sophisticated Virginia-class submarines to someone he thought represented a foreign government but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. The Justice Department submitted an identical motion for Toebbe's wife, Diana, who was also arrested Saturday. The detention memo for Jonathan Toebbe was filed ahead of an expected appearance in federal court in West Virginia on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors asked Monday that a Navy engineer remain locked up as they press forward with charges that he tried to sell submarine secrets to a foreign country.
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