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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNuclear engineer, wife used Pittsburgh address to commit espionage
By WPXI.com News Staff
WEST VIRGINIA Like a scene right out of a spy movie, two Maryland residents were arrested in West Virginia after federal authorities said they used a Pittsburgh address, among other concealed methods, to commit espionage by selling restricted data to an undercover FBI agent.
Jonathan, 42, and Diana Toebbe, 45, both of Annapolis, Maryland, were arrested in Jefferson County, West Virginia, by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) on Saturday and charged with violations of the Atomic Energy Act.
The complaint charges a plot to transmit information relating to the design of our nuclear submarines to a foreign nation, said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. The work of the FBI, Department of Justice prosecutors, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Department of Energy was critical in thwarting the plot charged in the complaint and taking this first step in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The FBI agent posed as representative of a foreign country and for almost a year, purchased information known as Restricted Data concerning the design of nuclear-powered warships from the Toebbes, who worked as a nuclear engineer at the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, where he had access to the restricted data, including information related to sensitive military design elements, operating parameters and performance characteristics of the reactors for nuclear-powered warships.
According to officials, the investigation began in April 2020 after Jonathan Toebbe sent a package to a foreign government, listing a return address in Pittsburgh, containing a sample of the Restricted Data and instructions to purchase additional secrets. The FBI set up a sting, and corresponded for several months before providing $100,000 in cryptocurrency for the secrets, which were left in encrypted SD cards at pre-arranged dead drops in West Virginia and Virginia, inside a half a peanut butter sandwich or chewing gum packages.
- video story at link -
WPXI Channel 11 is the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh.
LOCK THEM UP!
yonder
(9,674 posts)than those of the treason weasels associated with the last administration.
Orrex
(63,224 posts)The Pittsburgh area has a triple-helping of ignorant racist fuckheads, and they can't wait to showcase their ugliness on any and all news stories.
Traffic tied up? Probably an immigrant's fault
Grocery prices rising? Thanks, VP Harris!
Weapons charge? Brace for a string of racist euphemisms
Power outage? Well, it's obviously Biden's fault.
And all the while the fuckheads are howling about the Left bias of WPXI, which lets Trump's cultists post whatever the fuck they want on any story they can find.
I haven't read the comments on this story yet, but I'm sure that it's Biden's fault.
FakeNoose
(32,748 posts)... who have hired ultra-rightwing managing editors to carry out their wishes. I've lived in Pittsburgh long enough to remember our glorious days of left-leaning pro-union newspapers - morning and evening editions. But sadly those days are long gone.
Edit to add: the WPXI TV station is owned by Cox Media Group, which was bought by Sinclair a few years ago. Does anyone detect a pattern here?
Response to FakeNoose (Reply #3)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
FM123
(10,054 posts)The FBI later recovered the package Toebbe had left behind. Authorities said they found a 16-gigabyte data card "wrapped in plastic and placed between two slices of bread on a half of a peanut butter sandwich. The half sandwich was housed inside of a plastic bag."
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/10/1044883780/nuclear-engineer-navy-and-wife-arrested-espionage-charges
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)... and there are more of them