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A grand jury indicted Annapolis-based naval nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe in the spy case in October 2021. He is accused of trying to sell top-secret information about nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign government. 

He formally pleaded guilty on Monday. And is charged with one count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data. As well as two counts of "communication of restricted data." 

The 42-year-old suspect and his 45-year-old wife allegedly believed they were dealing with foreign operatives. But actually, the FBI had intercepted his communications and was communicating with Toebbe. 

The would-be spy will be sentenced to 12.5 years to 17.5 years in prison. And will also be restricted from any contact with foreign governments.

Through his job, Toebbe had access to US nuclear secrets. And all of the memory cards allegedly passed to the FBI contain data, plans, and designs of Virginia-class nuclear submarines. And under the plea deal, he will also help federal officials to locate all classified information and restricted data he owns. 

Update: On Friday, February 23rd Johnathan Toebbe's wife Dianna plead guilty to acting as the lookout while her husband left memory cards hidden in items such as a peanut butter sandwich and a packet of gum at three “dead drop” locations. The offenses took place over several months in 2021, the Department of Justice said.

Spy case busted by FBI

Toebbe attempted to reach out to an unknown foreign government, which has not been named in court documents.  He first attempted to contact them in April 2020. The FBI has not disclosed how it obtained the package.

The US Naval engineer sent a package containing top-secret Navy documents. And instructions on how to use “encrypted communications.’’ Toebbe communicated his desire to start a “covert relationship,” according to the criminal complaint. 

The spy case got more complicated when the FBI responded.

"I believe this information will be of great value to your nation," he wrote, according to the complaint. "This is not a hoax." 

For months Toebbe believed he was in contact with a foreign government. 

He even asked his contact, who was really an FBI operative, to leave him a sign on the embassy in Washington, D.C. 

"The signal will be inside our main building from Saturday morning until Sunday evening Memorial Day weekend," the FBI wrote in May 2021. Then the FBI posing as a foreign government placed a signal “at a location associated with the unnamed country”, according to the complaint. 

Dead drops and cryptocurrency

Court documents claim the Navy engineer agreed to sell restricted data to the undercover agent for payments equaling tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.

He was arrested after a series of "dead drops'' where he left information at secret locations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  Spies use dead drops to avoid the two parties directly meeting. 

The dead drops got more elaborate. And in one, Toebbe placed a memory card inside half a peanut butter sandwich. And in others, he concealed memory cards inside a sealed Band-Aid wrapper and a chewing gum package. 

Wife denies guilt

Prosecutors allege Dianna Toebbe acted as a lookout during some of the dead drops. But she is pleading not guilty to the charges against her.

Using more than two dozen exhibits including video and photos the government successfully convinced a West Virginia judge to hold her in jail pending her trial. 

Her legal team declares she is innocent in the spy case. They maintain her innocence, in multiple filings with the court. And say that even "Mr. Toebbe has stated that his wife is innocent." 

"Mrs. Toebbe is now an unemployed school teacher and a mother of two teenage children, with no means of support," her attorney wrote to the court.

 "She has professed her innocence as to the serious charges she faces, which charges carry no presumption in favor of detention, but remains incarcerated pretrial despite overwhelming evidence that she is neither a danger to the community or a flight risk."