Try Selling Secrets Of Virginia Class Nuclear Submarine, Former US Navy Engineer Threatened With Dozen Years In Prison

Kapal selam nuklir USS Virginia (SSN-774). (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Navy/General Dynamics Electric Boat)

JAKARTA - A former United States Navy engineer accused of trying to sell secrets about nuclear submarines to foreign powers pleaded guilty Monday as part of a deal with prosecutors.

A US Department of Justice attorney disclosed the agreement with nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe during a trial in West Virginia federal court.

Toebbe, 42, admitted to conspiring with his wife to disclose prohibited data, a violation of the Atomic Energy Act that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

However, Toebbe's plea deal calls for him to face a possible sentence of between 12 years and 17 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Toebbe's 45-year-old wife Diana, who was charged with helping her husband, is still facing criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him.

The plea deal "shows the government may have a very strong case, seeing this action as a very serious risk to national security," said Brandon Van Grack, a national security attorney at Morrison & Foerster who was not involved in the case, cited from Reuters, February 15.

Previously, prosecutors allege in the October indictment that Toebbe tried to sell government secrets about nuclear submarine propulsion to an unknown foreign country.

Toebbe, who has a top-secret security clearance, communicated with FBI agents posing as foreign officials for several months, the Justice Department said.

At one point, Toebbe hid a digital memory card containing documents about the submarine's nuclear reactor in half a peanut butter sandwich at a dead drop location, West Virginia, while his wife acted as a scout, the Justice Department said.

The memory card contains "military sensitive design elements, operating parameters and performance characteristics of the Virginia Class Submarine reactor," according to the Justice Department.

To note, an FBI agent testified during a court hearing in October, Toebbe demanded $5 million worth of cryptocurrency in exchange for classified information on the submarine. Payments made by the FBI to Toebbe worth about $100,000 have not been found, the agency said.