The couple were charged with conspiracy to communicate restricted data and communication of restricted data and are scheduled to make an appearance in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on Tuesday. Toebbe was an employee at the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, also known as Naval Reactors, and had access to information related to military sensitive design elements, operating parameters and performance characteristics of the reactors for nuclear-powered warships. Navy Nuclear Engineers make the most in San Francisco at 132,639, averaging total compensation 51 greater than the US average. “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,” he said. How much does a Navy Nuclear Engineer make The average Navy Nuclear Engineer in the US makes 87,836. The FBI arrested Toebbe and his wife on Saturday, after two more “dead drops”.Īttorney General Merrick B Garland welcomed the arrest. The undercover agent sent Jonathan Toebbe a $20,000 cryptocurrency payment and received in return a decryption key for the SD card, which contained restricted data on US submarine nuclear reactors. The smallest nuclear-powered submarine, the U.S. With his wife acting as a lookout, he concealed an SD card within a peanut butter sandwich at a prearranged “dead drop” location. History USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. The undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Toebbe as “good faith” payment before he agreed to travel to a location in West Virginia to complete the transaction. He began corresponding via encrypted email with an individual whom he believed to be a representative of the foreign government, who was instead an undercover FBI agent, and continued a correspondence for several months before reaching an exchange agreement for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency. Naval Nuclear Laboratory develops advanced naval nuclear propulsion technology, for the safety and reliability of our Navys submarine and aircraft carrier. Toebbe had listed a return address in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, containing a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship to obtain additional information. In December 2020, an FBI official received a package from someone attempting to establish “a covert relationship” with a representative from a foreign country, identified only as “COUNTRY1” in court documents. The department said Toebbe, who held a security clearance, unwittingly communicated with FBI agents and passed along sensitive military secrets, in a scheme that stretched nearly a year. A United States Navy nuclear engineer and his spouse have been arrested on espionage charges after allegedly attempting to sell confidential information, the US Department of Justice said.Īccording to court records unsealed on Sunday, Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, were arrested and charged with violating the Atomic Energy Act after attempting to sell the design of nuclear-powered warships to a person they believed was a representative of a foreign power.
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