A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife from Annapolis, Maryland were arrested by federal agents for attempting to pass military secrets to an undisclosed country, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were arrested Sunday in Jefferson County, West Virginia, allegedly as they were on a trip to deposit another SD card with classified information on it at a drop point. The FBI says it would’ve been the third time Toebbe provided information on the microchips.
What didn’t Toebbe didn’t know is that he had been dealing with FBI agents the entire time A Navy veteran, Toebbe sent a package to the government of the unnamed foreign country in April 2020 saying he was providing restricted info. “This is not a hoax,” he wrote. Eight months later, the FBI had the package and had opened up communications with Toebbe. It is not known how the FBI got the information.
Toebbe arranged dead drops in Maryland and Pennsylvania before being apprehended while trying to make one in West Virginia. His wife, a teacher at a private school in Annapolis, would travel with him and act as a lookout.
They were arrested because Toebbe said in a message that he may have to leave the United States, hoping for the countries help to escape. Toebbe wanted to ensure the country would assist him and his family. This led investigators to fear Toebbe would leave before being apprehended.