A couple from Maryland was arrested on Saturday for trying to sell military secrets to a foreign government.
A former lieutenant from the Navy, Jonathan Toebbe, and his wife, Diana Toebbe, are getting charged with violating the Atomic Energy Act for attempting to sell data regarding the design of nuclear-powered submarines to an agent of a foreign government, who was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Toebbe’s position in the Navy granted him access to restricted data about naval nuclear technology. He also held a national security clearance that was issued to him by the Pentagon.
The FBI spent several months communicating and investigating Toebbe after they noticed that he was trying to reach out to a foreign agent after he left the Navy. The undercover agents convinced a skeptical Toebbe that he successfully connected with a foreign government official and they reached an agreement to sell the restricted data for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.
To complete the transaction, Toebbe would drop off the material in an agreed location, while his wife acted as a lookout, and the undercover agents would recover it later.
On one occasion, authorities found a 16-gigabyte data card that was wrapped in plastic and stuffed inside half a peanut butter sandwich. Yes, you read that right. Sensitive military secrets jammed inside a peanut butter sandwich.
Another transaction was completed by hiding an SD card in a chewing gum package.
The couple will appear in a federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia on Tuesday.
NYC, NYCTastemakers, nuclearsubmarines, militarysecrets, jonathantoebbe, fbi, peanutbuttersandwich,
