Groh noted that she had been particularly influenced by a victim impact statement submitted by the Navy. Judge Groh followed up her verbal order in the courtroom last week with a written order, again concluding that the plea agreements didn’t measure up to how serious the consequences could have been. That plea meant she faced up to three years in prison. Toebbe had faced as long as life in prison but, by pleading, assured he would only serve 12.5 to 17.5 years.įour days after that plea, Diana Toebbe, 46, acknowledged guilty of conspiracy to communicate restricted data. Other charges were dropped because of the plea agreement.
14 to one count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data. 2021, when Toebbe left another memory card in a chewing gum package. The memory card also contained a typed message that included statements, “I hope your experts are very happy with the sample provided,” and “I want our relationship to be very successful for us both.”Īnother drop off in Jefferson County occurred Oct. Investigators said when Jonathan Toebbe dropped off a computer memory card, it was placed inside a peanut butter sandwich. The first West Virginia incident occurred June 26, 2021, when Diana was the lookout for Jonathan for an exchange in Jefferson County. The information in their possession was classified as confidential, according to court filings. The Toebbes unknowingly worked with undercover FBI agents until they were arrested. The foreign country remains unnamed, but its representatives turned the information over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Their activity began in 2020 when the Toebbes reached out to a foreign country offering to sell U.S. In exchange, the Toebbes had proposed receiving 51 packages totaling $5 million in cryptocurrency. He had an active top secret/sensitive compartmented information security clearance through the federal government.ĭiana Toebbe, 46, is accused of being his lookout for a series of dead drops of information.
Jonathan Toebbe, 43, was a nuclear engineer for the Department of the Navy, assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. If we can reach an agreement that the court approves, it could be resolved that way.” Diana and Jonathan Toebbe were arrested Oct. “There’s also a possibility that a new agreement could be reached with these defendants, and so we are in communication with the attorneys for each of the defendants. Trial has been scheduled for January the 17th, and we’ll be ready to proceed with the trial at that time,” Ihlenfeld said. They elected to do so, so we are back to square one. “She offered for the defendants to be able to withdraw their guilty pleas. Ihlenfeld said he respects that conclusion. His wife, who stood as a lookout, faced three years.ĭuring the hearing, federal prosecutors and defense attorneys contended that the penalties proposed in the plea agreement were appropriate, but Groh wound up disagreeing. Jonathan Toebbe was accused 0f gathering, formatting and attempting to sell the sophisticated secrets and faced the possibility of more than 17 years incarceration under the plea agreement that wound up being rejected. District Judge Gina Groh of the Northern District of West Virginia last week concluded the proposed penalties were too light for the damage that could have been inflicted.īefore her were Jonathan and Diana Toebbe, accused of working together to place information about America’s most sophisticated nuclear-powered vessels on memory cards, taking them to drop points hidden in mundane disguises like sandwiches or gum wrappers and asking for infusions of cryptocurrency from agents they believed represented a foreign power. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
And it is her prerogative, and we respect that,” U.S. “It’s rare for a judge to reject plea agreements, but not unheard of. The top federal prosecutor in West Virginia’s northern counties says a judge used her discretion in rejecting a plea deal for a couple accused of selling secrets of America’s most sophisticated nuclear submarines.
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