{"id":871291,"date":"2021-10-12T12:59:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T16:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=871291"},"modified":"2021-10-12T12:59:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T16:59:09","slug":"navy-nuclear-engineer-and-wife-facing-life-in-jail-suspected-of-selling-nuclear-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/navy-nuclear-engineer-and-wife-facing-life-in-jail-suspected-of-selling-nuclear-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy Nuclear Engineer And Wife Facing Life In Jail, Suspected Of Selling Nuclear Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnavy-nuclear-engineer-and-wife-facing-life-in-jail-suspected-of-selling-nuclear-secrets%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=871291&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-73096441-e1634056569569.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>A U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and his wife are facing a potential maximum penalty of life in prison after they were accused of selling nuclear secrets to an unknown foreign power.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cJonathan and Diana Toebbe, of Annapolis, were arrested Saturday in Jefferson County, West Virginia, on espionage-related charges,\u201d reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/maryland-couple-navy-nuclear-secrets-life-prison\">Fox News<\/a>. \u201cFederal prosecutors say they should remain in custody pending their trials as they face a potential maximum penalty of life in prison and are at \u2018serious risk\u2019 of fleeing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The couple is being charged with violating the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/laws-regulations\/summary-atomic-energy-act\"><span>Atomic Energy Act<\/span><\/a><span> (AEA). In 1946, the AEA established the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to promote the \u201cutilization of atomic energy for peaceful purposes to the maximum extent consistent with the common defense and security and with the health and safety of the public.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As Fox News explained, the AEA \u201crestricts the disclosure of information related to atomic weapons or nuclear materials.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cUnfortunately there always will be people willing to compromise our nation\u2019s security for personal gain. It\u2019s treasonous, it\u2019s rare, but such individuals are traitors and should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,\u201d former acting United States Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly told Fox News. \u201cOur nuclear submarine force provides a significant military capability for the United States. It is a capability our adversaries both covet and fear. Information related to it must be protected \u2014 and for the most part, it is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/news\/crime\/bs-md-cr-toebbe-espionage-folo-20211011-rdtwskeq55asbddq5nu72x7oee-story.html\">Baltimore Sun<\/a> reported, a criminal complaint was unsealed on Sunday in U.S. District Court in West Virginia which alleges that Jonathan Toebbe \u201creached out to an unidentified foreign country in the spring of last year offering to sell secrets but the package was obtained by the FBI, which began communicating with him in December.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cJonathan Toebbe allegedly communicated with undercover agents via secure channels, received secret signals and left memory cards with sensitive information embedded in a peanut butter sandwich and a Band-Aid wrapper at prearranged locations, according to the complaint. His wife was observed assisting with the drops, the FBI says,\u201d the Baltimore Sun added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Diana Toebbe \u2014 a teacher at the private Key School in Annapolis \u2014 is also being accused of \u201cacting as a lookout\u201d for her husband. She has now been indefinitely suspended from her job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAlthough most spy cases don\u2019t involve peanut butter and Band-Aids, the facts alleged follow a familiar pattern: Insider within the U.S. government approaches a foreign power to sell U.S. secrets for money, is compromised despite their best efforts at tradecraft, and \u2014 to their surprise \u2014 is subsequently arrested,\u201d David Laufman, a former senior Justice Department official, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/toebbe-navy-spy-annapolis\/2021\/10\/11\/ef1b4364-2a9e-11ec-985d-3150f7e106b2_story.html\"><span>told the Washington Post<\/span><\/a><span>.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Prosecutors in the case also claim that Jonathan Toebbe informed his contact that he may be required to leave the country urgently.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cShould that ever become necessary, I will be forever grateful for your help extracting me and my family,\u201d said Toebbe, according to documents. \u201cI surmise the first step would be unannounced travel to a safe third country with plans to meet your colleagues. We have passports and cash set aside for this purpose.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Both are scheduled for an initial appearance on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span> member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and his wife are facing a potential maximum penalty of life in prison after they were accused of selling nuclear secrets to an unknown foreign &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-871291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}