WV/PA/MD/VA - Jonathan and Diana Toebbe, charged, shared submarine secrets with a foreign country, 2020

[Elley Mae]

The court papers note that Toebbe had worked for the Navy for almost a decade on nuclear propulsion for submarines, a technology that the United States recently agreed to provide to Australia. Previously, the United States had only shared the technology with Britain, also a partner in the deal with Australia. The agreement scuttled an Australian deal with France, igniting a diplomatic row between Washington and Paris.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/14/toebbe-plea-navy-spy/

“The information was slowly and carefully collected over several years in the normal course of my job to avoid attracting attention and smuggled past security checkpoints a few pages at a time,” Toebbe allegedly wrote, adding that he no longer had access to classified data but could answer any technical questions the foreign country might have.

 

[Elley Mae]

Treason is what this is, life in prison should be the out come.

Jmo

 

[IDK]

Interesting that he seems to have thrown his wife under the bus in his plea agreement. Originally he said she wasn’t involved and would be fully exonerated and now this. But maybe she is also doing a plea? And with a very short prison term? Would love to know what is happening behind the scenes.

 

[Elley Mae]

Wife of Navy Nuclear Engineer Pleads Guilty in Submarine Spy Case

Wife of Navy Nuclear Engineer Pleads Guilty in Submarine Spy Case

Four days after her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, pleaded guilty in the case under a deal with the government, Diana Toebbe, a high school teacher in Annapolis, Md., acknowledged her part in a scheme to sell nuclear reactor secrets her husband had taken from the Navy, and will face a sentence of not more than three years, according to the terms of her agreement with the government. Her plea was entered during a hearing at a federal courthouse in Martinsburg.

.....

Well there you go, espionage? Treason?

No worries three years and your out.

Jmo

 

[Cryptic]

Well there you go, espionage? Treason?

No worries three years and your out.

Jmo

That is disgusting. I wish the judge would reject the plea bargain- or somebody in Washington would retract it.

For comparison....

My family and have opened our home to a variety of at risk youth types over the years. One of these youths is on my son's football team. His mother, "Tenisha", is serving a "must do 7 years" sentence for opiod distribution. The sentence was due to strict state laws, and not the scale of the operation.

"Tenisha" is everything that Dianna Toebe is not: low education, 'hood residency, low income and... well, black. In addition to some flash bling, she intended to spend the money on a private football league for her son.

Like Diana, she was an active and willing participant in her crime. Also, like Diana, she was not the initiator of the crime. Rather, the crime was conceived by her then boyfriend. Unlike Diana, Tenisha's crime is repeated legally everyday by white coat - and largely white doctors operating "pill mills".

I have never been a fan of leftist protest groups. But..... comparisons like this make me think that they might have some points.

 

[Elley Mae]

The potential client country to which a Maryland couple attempted to sell U.S. nuclear submarine secrets has been revealed in a new report.

Prosecutors kept the identity of the country under wraps for months, but a report Tuesday from the New York Times disclosed Brazil as the nation at the center of the case, and unfortunately for the duo, Brasilia went straight to the FBI after it was approached.


Brazil revealed as country to which spy couple tried to sell nuclear secrets

 

[IDK]

The potential client country to which a Maryland couple attempted to sell U.S. nuclear submarine secrets has been revealed in a new report.

Prosecutors kept the identity of the country under wraps for months, but a report Tuesday from the New York Times disclosed Brazil as the nation at the center of the case, and unfortunately for the duo, Brasilia went straight to the FBI after it was approached.


Brazil revealed as country to which spy couple tried to sell nuclear secrets

Wow!

 

[IDK]

I wonder if the sentencing is still set for tomorrow at 1 pm. Can’t find any updates other than the previous ones that mentioned 8/16/22 at 1 pm

Toebee sentencing hearings scheduled

Sentencing hearings have been scheduled for a couple that pleaded guilty in a submarine spy case.

www.wdtv.com

 

[Cryptic]

I wonder if the sentencing is still set for tomorrow at 1 pm. Can’t find any updates other than the previous ones that mentioned 8/16/22 at 1 pm

Toebee sentencing hearings scheduled

Sentencing hearings have been scheduled for a couple that pleaded guilty in a submarine spy case.

www.wdtv.com

Sadly, it looks like DT's amazingly light sentence is locked in. I am thinking she will do about, say...

- 2 years and seven months in prison (federal good time is pretty much automatically given). Half way house and time served with then be deducted from this.

Hoping for a meaningful sentence the ring leader.

 

[Cryptic]

Brazil revealed as country to which spy couple tried to sell nuclear secrets

Wow, Brazil.

Brazil has exported two successful military aircraft designs all over the world. The military ventures were a natural step from their ubber popular series of small passenger jets.

But.....

Brazil has never built a nuclear submarine. The even cancelled a proposed France / Brazil joint venture to build a single nuclear submarine as costing way too much money for an unneeded status symbol. Brazil, did, however, buy highly rated French diesel electric submarines.

Good thing Brazil is our friend and informed the FBI about these two traitors. Has they not been our friend and accepted the offer, I bet the un needed secrets would have been re-sold to say, Russia or China.

 

[realanastasia]

I wonder about the Toebbe's sentencing in light of (and I am treading carefully here) other current events that pertain to violations of laws against espionage. If these folks receive a light sentence, the public might have the expectation that other former federal employees will be similarly sentenced if found to have violated their oath of office of loyalty. Not to cast aspersions on the judge in this case (because I don't know anything about them and also have no reason to think the judge's political biases would play into the sentence he or she metes out), but I could imagine that a judge might want to punish these two criminals to the fullest extent possible in order to make it clear that our country doesn't suffer traitors gladly. Just IMO, of course--I will be watching for the sentence tomorrow with great interest.

 

[IDK]

You could be right realanastasia: A judge has rejected the plea agreements.

Judge rejects plea agreement in submarine secrets sale case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife withdrew their guilty...

www.sfgate.com

 

[IDK]

You could be right realanastasia: A judge has rejected the plea agreements.

Judge rejects plea agreement in submarine secrets sale case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife withdrew their guilty...

www.sfgate.com

“U.S. District Judge Gina Groh said that while she generally honors plea agreements, in this case she said the sentencing options were “strikingly deficient” considering the seriousness of the charges.


Groh said the act to which the couple pleaded guilty was done “for selfish and greedy reasons, but could have caused great harm” to the Navy and others.”

 

[Cryptic]

You could be right realanastasia: A judge has rejected the plea agreements.

Judge rejects plea agreement in submarine secrets sale case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife withdrew their guilty...

www.sfgate.com

Wow, the judge not only rejected the 3 year sweet deal given to DT, but also rejected the possible 17 year sentence for her husband.

A 17 year federal sentence equates to about 14 years of incarceration. This, in my opinion, was still light given the severity of the charges, but not exactly an "In 'n Out- move on with life" type sentence.

With plea deals rejected and a trial ordered, the duo can face life- which the federal government defines as a 30 year straight sentence.

 

[IDK]

Wow, the judge not only rejected the 3 year sweet deal given to DT, but also rejected the possible 17 year sentence for her husband.

A 17 year federal sentence equates to about 14 years of incarceration. This, in my opinion, was still light given the severity of the charges, but not exactly an "In 'n Out- move on with life" type sentence.

With plea deals rejected and a trial ordered, the duo can face life- which the federal government defines as a 30 year straight sentence.

I have such mixed feelings about this— on the one hand, I believe they committed a serious crime and should face the full consequences.
On the other hand, I feel horrible for their children.
At one time, JT had written a letter to DT’s parents and told them he thought she would be completely exonerated and I wonder what that was based on.

 

[Cryptic]

I have such mixed feelings about this— on the one hand, I believe they committed a serious crime and should face the full consequences.
On the other hand, I feel horrible for their children.

I agree.

One of the at risk youth types that stayed with us from time to time has both his mother and her common law husband (the youth identifies him as his "father") in prison after running a relatively low level opiod trafficking ring in a state that had seen enough of it and then launched a get tough campaign.

I would favor early release of the youth's mother simply to provide a sense of family for the youth. In this case, maybe.....

- The children look what 5 and 7 ish? They could be a little older now. Perhaps a 9 year ( equates to 7 years in prison, followed by 1 year in a half way house) sentence for DT would be a good balance between the need for a meaningful punishment and the desire not to permanently break up a family?

 

[IDK]

I agree.

One of the at risk youth types that stayed with us from time to time has both his mother and her common law husband (the youth identifies him as his "father") in prison after running a relatively low level opiod trafficking ring in a state that had seen enough of it and then launched a get tough campaign.

I would favor early release of the youth's mother simply to provide a sense of family for the youth. In this case, maybe.....

- The children look what 5 and 7 ish? They could be a little older now. Perhaps a 9 year ( equates to 7 years in prison, followed by 1 year in a half way house) sentence for DT would be a good balance between the need for a meaningful punishment and the desire not to permanently break up a family?

That sounds like a humane approach, and would be good for the kids, I think. I still have a hard time grasping why they did this—unless it was pure greed, as the judge seems to think. DT said she has no “loyalty to abstractions”, but what about to her family? Does she consider them an abstraction also?

I wonder if they will try to negotiate another plea deal.

 

[realanastasia]

It seems, for lack of a better word, unfair to offer a defendant a plea deal, which they accept—and, in doing so publically, accept responsibility/admit guilt—only to have an entirely different party (the judge, in this case) turn around and throw it out as insufficiently punitive. How could the defendants subsequently receive a fair and unbiased trial if the prosecution is going to point out that they have already admitted their guilt, which maybe they wouldn’t have were it not for the plea deal?
I’m mostly concerned about the potentially long absences of both parents from the lives of their young children if found guilty (which I think it’s almost certain they will be).

 

[Laughing]

Does Maryland have the Alford plea (or equivalent?) This essentially is the defendant proclaiming their innocence but accepting that there is enough evidence to convict them of the crime.

Could either of these people entered such a plea? IS this what the judge rejected?

jmho ymmv lrr

 

[JerseyGirl]

West Virginia fed trial now set in mid-January in alleged Navy nuke sub espionage case

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — The West Virginia federal trial for a Navy engineer and his wife on espionage-related allegations was set to begin Jan. 17 in Martinsburg after District

www.wvnews.com