Last month, a federal judge rejected plea deals for a couple accused of attempting to sell the secrets of America’s nuclear submarine fleet, saying the proposed penalty was too light for the damage that could have been inflicted.
Today, the couple and federal prosecutors again entered a plea agreement, this time with plenty of latitude for the judge’s discretion.
“You understand that at this time no one can know the exact sentence that will be imposed in your case,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble warned defendant Jonathan Toebbe today at the federal courthouse in Martinsburg.
When Toebbe and his wife Diana, his co-defendant, next appear for their sentencing hearing, it will be before U.S. District Judge Gina Groh, who rejected their previous pleas.
The Toebbes are accused of working together to sell 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. Instead, it was an FBI agent.
Jonathan Toebbe was a nuclear engineer for the Department of the Navy, assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. He had an active top secret/sensitive compartmented information security clearance through the federal government.
Diana Toebbe is accused of being his lookout for a series of dead drops of information, including in Jefferson County, the location that prompted the federal court jurisdiction in West Virginia.
Each had pleaded guilty earlier this year to agreements that would have limited their time in prison. Judge Groh, at their sentencing hearing in August, determined those penalties fell short of the risk their crimes would have placed on the nation’s security.
“That could have easily caused great harm to the Navy, the United States, servicemen, and even the world,” Judge Groh said then. “These are tough times, we’re in.”
Today’s plea agreements will give the judge greater latitude to impose what she concludes is reasonable within federal sentencing guidelines.
Both Diana and Jonathan Toebbe pleaded guilty to a federal count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data, a felony, in exchange for dropping other charges. Without the pleas, they would have faced a jury trial early next year.
The upper range of punishment for that crime is no more than life in prison plus a possible fine of up to $10,000 and supervised release of no more than five years. There is no minimum sentence.
Diana Toebbe’s previous plea called for jail time of no more than 36 months. The latest version would result in a prison sentence of no more than the low end of the applicable guideline range.
“That means the lowest number of months imprisonment available in the applicable guidelines range,” said federal prosecutor Jarod Douglas during the hearing.
Diana Toebbe read a statement of guilt.
“During the time alleged in Count 1 of the indictment I knowingly and voluntarily joined a conspiracy with my husband, Jonathan Toebbe, to communicate restricted data to another person with the intent to secure an advantage to a foreign nation,” she said.
“And in furtherance of the conspiracy, I acted as lookout for my husband when he serviced three dead drops, one of which occurred in Jefferson County, West Virginia, which is within the northern district of West Virginia.”
Jonathan Toebbe’s previous plea would have resulted in 12.5 to 17.5 years imprisonment. Now the judge may sentence Toebbe to whatever is reasonable within the federal guidelines.
“It used to state a range that had cut off two years off the top end of the guideline range,” Douglas, the prosecutor, explained in court today. “Now it simply says a sentence of imprisonment within the advisory guidelines range, which means the court would have available to it the entirety of the applicable guidelines range.”
Jonathan Toebbe also read a statement admitting guilt.
“I conspired with Diana Toebbe to communicate restricted data to another person with intent to secure an advantage to a foreign nation,” he said.