Sailor pleads guilty to espionage

[deadparrot]

NORFOLK, Va. - A sailor accused of stealing a Navy laptop and peddling its classified contents to an undisclosed foreign government pleaded guilty Monday to espionage, desertion and other charges.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann, 22, of Salem, Ore., faces a sentence of life in prison without parole, a dishonorable discharge from the Navy and forfeiture of all pay.

Under a plea agreement, Weinmann pleaded guilty to one count each of espionage, desertion, failing to properly safeguard and store classified information, copying classified information, communicating classified information to a person not entitled to receive it, and stealing and destroying a government computer.

Weinmann pleaded guilty to trying to transmit classified information related to national defense to a representative of a foreign government on Oct. 19, 2005 while he was in or near Vienna, Austria.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061204/ap_on_re_us/sailor_espionage

[Captain Hilts]

1. Like Johnnie Walker Red, he gave away submarine technology secrets. Lock 'im up! nt