Maryland man, wife, get long federal prison terms for selling nuclear warship data; case has Pittsburgh connection
Nov. 10—A Maryland man and his wife will serve prison terms with a combined total of more than 41 years for conspiring to sell restricted data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships.
Jonathan Toebbe, 44, of Annapolis, and his wife, Diana, 46, pleaded guilty in February to the conspiracy.
Toebbe on Wednesday was sentenced to 232 months — more than 19 years — in prison. His wife received a sentence of 262 months, or more than 21 years.
"The Toebbes conspired to sell restricted defense information that would place the lives of our men and women in uniform and the security of the United States at risk," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division.
"If not for the remarkable efforts of FBI agents, the sensitive data stolen by Mr. Toebbe could have ended up in the hands of an adversary of the United States and put the safety of our military and our nation at risk," said U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II for the Northern District of West Virginia.
According to court documents, at the time of his arrest, on Oct. 9, 2021, Jonathan Toebbe was employed by the Navy as a nuclear engineer and was assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Holding an active national security clearance through the Defense Department, he had access to "restricted data" — including information related to military sensitive design elements, operating parameters and performance characteristics of the reactors for nuclear-powered warships.
He sent a package to a foreign government that listed a return address in Pittsburgh. It contained a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship to purchase additional restricted data, according to court documents.
He began corresponding via encrypted email with someone he believed to be a representative of the foreign government who was really an undercover FBI agent.
Jonathan Toebbe continued the correspondence for several months, leading to an agreement to sell data in exchange for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.
On June 8, 2021, the undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Toebbe as "good faith" payment. In a "dead drop" 18 days later, Toebbe placed an SD (secure digital) card in a prearranged location. The card — which was concealed in a peanut butter sandwich — contained military sensitive design elements relating to submarine nuclear reactors.
The undercover agent retrieved the SD card and then sent Toebbe a $20,000 cryptocurrency payment. In return, Toebbe emailed the agent a decryption key for the SD card.
The FBI paid $70,000 to Toebbe for the decryption key for a second SD card that contained restricted data. Toebbe provided that card, concealed in a chewing gum package, in a "dead drop" in August 2021 in eastern Virginia.
The FBI arrested Toebbe and his wife on Oct. 9, 2021 after he placed yet another SD card at a location in West Virginia.
The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigated the case.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .
