Maryland Spy Couple Peddled Nuclear Data in Peanut Butter Sandwich
A former Naval nuclear engineer and his wife will each serve some two decades in prison in an espionage-for-sale case that involved concealing secret data in a peanut butter sandwich and, in another incident, a chewing gum package, and delivering it to a series of “dead drops.”
Landwebs
A former Naval nuclear engineer and his wife will each serve some two decades in prison for attempting to sell secrete technology about U.S. nuclear powered warships. Jonathan Toebbe, 44, of Annapolis, Maryland and his wife, Diana Toebbe, 46, were sentenced to 232 months (over 19 years) and 262 months (over 21 years), respectively, in federal court following their conviction in August, 2022.. Federal authorities described their actions as a “betrayal of trust.”
“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 in a statement, following the sentencing. According to the indictment, the couple’s activities were revealed through an informant, after they conducted a series of dead drops in various locations in Virginia, involving an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich and a chewing gum package containing sensitive military design elements relating to submarine nuclear reactors, in return for $100,000 in cryptocurrency. The designated purchaser of the data was not identified.
