Couple sentenced in plot to sell nuclear submarine secrets

A Navy engineer and his wife were sentenced Wednesday to more than 19 years in prison after they pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to sell secrets about nuclear submarines to what they believed was a foreign government representative.

Jonathan Toebbe, 44, was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison and his 46-year-old wife, Diane Toebbe, was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Gina Groh of the Northern District of West Virginia.

The Toebbes were arrested in October 2021 after Jonathan Toebbe received $100,000 in cryptocurrency from an FBI agent posing as a representative of a foreign government to whom he had sent secrets about nuclear submarine reactors in return for the money. The secrets were not classified but considered confidential.

The couple pleaded guilty in August 2022 to conspiracy to communicate restricted data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said the couple “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.”

“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,” Olsen said in a statement.

During the sentencing hearing, defense attorneys for the couple had argued the Toebbes struggled with mental health issues and alcohol and were worried about the political climate in the U.S., while prior to sentencing Toebbe himself said he believed his family was in “dire threat” and that “democracy was under collapse.”

But Groh, the judge, said Toebbe’s “actions and greedy self-serving intentions placed military service members at sea and every citizen of this country in a vulnerable position and at risk of harm from adversaries.”

“This is an exceptional story, right out of the movies,” Groh said.

Groh handed down a lengthier sentence for Diana Toebbe after she tried to send her husband two letters from jail. The letters were intercepted and they apparently encouraged Jonathan Toebbe to lie about her involvement in the plan and then instructed him to flush the letters down the toilet.

Jonathan Toebbe was a nuclear engineer in the Defense Department’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program when he sent a package to an unidentified foreign government last year, according to the Justice Department.

He began corresponding with the FBI agent, whom he believed to be a representative of the government, over encrypted email.

Toebbe left SD cards containing the information about nuclear submarine reactors at several dead drop locations in return for payment via cryptocurrency. One was concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich, the Justice Department said.

Dianne Toebbe pleaded guilty to acting as a lookout.

U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung for the Western District of Pennsylvania said the Toebbes “put the security of our country at risk for financial gain.”

“Their serious criminal conduct betrayed and endangered the Department of the Navy’s loyal and selfless service members. The seriousness of the offense in this case cannot be overstated,” Chung said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.