Navy nuclear engineer charged with trying to pass secrets

| October 11, 2021

Fox News reports;

A Navy nuclear engineer with access to military secrets has been charged with trying to pass information about the design of American nuclear-powered submarines to someone he thought was a representative of a foreign government but who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, the Justice Department said Sunday.

In a criminal complaint detailing espionage-related charges against Jonathan Toebbe, the government said he sold information for nearly the past year to a contact he believed represented a foreign power. That country was not named in the court documents.

Toebbe, 42, was arrested in West Virginia on Saturday along with his wife, Diana, 45, after he had placed a removable memory card at a prearranged “dead drop” in the state, according to the Justice Department.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Toebbes, who are from Annapolis, Maryland, have lawyers. The Navy declined to comment Sunday.

The FBI says the scheme began in April 2020 when Jonathan Toebbe sent a package of Navy documents to a foreign government and wrote that he was interested in selling to that country operations manuals, performance reports and other sensitive information.

Authorities say he also provided instructions for how to conduct the furtive relationship, with a letter that said: “I apologize for this poor translation into your language. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax.”

That package, which had a return address in Pittsburgh, was obtained by the FBI last December through its legal attache office in the unspecified foreign country. That led to a monthslong undercover operation in which an agent posing as a representative of the foreign government made contact with Toebbe an agreed to pay thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency for the information he was offering.

In June, the FBI says, the undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Toebbe, describing it as a sign of good faith and trust.

Weeks later, federal agents watched as the Toebbes arrived at an agreed-upon location in West Virginia for the exchange, with Diana Toebbe appearing to serve as a lookout for her husband during a dead-drop operation for which the FBI paid $20,000, according to the complaint. The FBI recovered a blue memory card wrapped in plastic and placed between two slices of bread on a peanut butter sandwich, court documents say.

The FBI provided the contents of the memory card to a Navy subject matter expert, who determined that the records included design elements and performance characteristics of Virginia-class submarine reactors, the Justice Department said.

Those submarines are sophisticated, nuclear-powered “cruise missile fast-attack submarines,” according to the complaint.

The memory card also included a typed message that said, in part: “I hope your experts are very happy with the sample provided and I understand the importance of a small exchange to grow our trust.”

The FBI conducted similar dead-drop exchanges over the next several months, including one in August in Virginia in which Toebbe concealed in a chewing gum package a memory card that contained schematic designs for the Virginia-class submarine and was paid roughly $70,000, according to court documents.

The complaint alleges violations of the Atomic Energy Act, which restricts the disclosure of information related to atomic weapons or nuclear materials.

The Toebbes are expected to have their initial court appearances Tuesday in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Jonathan Toebbe has worked for the U.S. government since 2012, holding a top-secret security clearance and specializing in naval nuclear propulsion, the FBI says. He has also been assigned to a government-owned laboratory in the Pittsburgh area that officials say works on nuclear power for the U.S. Navy.

No one answered at the Toebbe residence on Sunday afternoon in a waterside Annapolis community by the South River. An outside light was on above the door of their home, and a dog barked inside.

John Cooley, who lives across the street from the Toebbes, said he counted more than 30 FBI agents on his block on Saturday from about 2:30 p.m. until after dark. He said agents went inside the home.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are unavailable for comment.

Category: Crime, Navy

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Hack Stone
M48DAT

Thanks Hack, now I have to get another cup of coffee to wash down the vomit.

Ex-PH2

Still an attention whore, isn’t it?

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight

Wait…..what? Manning gets invited to cross the border into Canuckistan…..just so that “it” can be deported”?

Yeah, our Canukistanian Gov’t loves to stand on that sort of procedure. You know; procedure is everything, right..? *shrug* Maybe Chelsea and Eddie Snowdon can hook up and find a nice little dascha in Russia and start a nice little family of traitors all of their own… Could be good.

A Proud Infidel®™

I was hoping that the left would leave that damned thing on the ash heap of history where it belongs.

5JC

That is all because Canada is racist…. or anti whatever…

FC2 (SW) Ron

Execution for espionage needs a comeback. I was in at the height of the Walker spy ring and remember just how much damage he did. Michael Walker was arrested on the Nimitz when we arrived in the Med in ’85. It’s all about money and greed.

Carlton

Amen.

Execute both of these traitors.

KoB

Do modern Navy Ships still have yardarms? I got rope I’d donate to that cause. Just saying. IDC SARC may want to hit that before they string Diana up.

Ex-PH2

No, not any more, Big Guy. Those were 3 and 4-masted ships, and the yardarms were used for hanging mutinous sailors. But that was in another world, where things sometimes made sense.

MarineDad61

KoB & Ex-PH2,
Annapolis Fake Marine Phony Purple Hearts
Chippster the maritime historian
could advise on masts and yardarms.

He’s just down the road, about 2 miles away.
He could (now) babysit for the Toebbes.
[Private “Chipp” Reid – Bassackwards Phony Marine
| April 28, 2021]
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=113026

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight

How about keelhauling? All large ships still have keels (I think).

MarineDad61

KoB,
Schoolteacher + purple hair + AOC = Diana Smay Toebbe.
I wouldn’t suggest anyone hit that.
Not even a hit and run.
Unless you’re pranking a friend (or an enemy).

KoB

Yep…Foo of Google found me those pics. I’d hit it…with a 2X4. I guess her husband will soon become someone else’s bitch…real soon.

Hatchet

This? YIKES!!

comment image?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1

Sleeping with this women would eventually lead to only one thing: Coyote ugly…
e.g. A man being caused to gnaw off his own arm as to avoid waking the sleeping beast that he took home while drunk. In the case of “double coyote ugly” a man gnaws off both arms because he knows she’ll be looking for a one armed man.

Ex-PH2

This was in my morning newspaper. I meant to post it, but Mason beat me to it, which is fine with me.

There is a bunch of stuff going on that comes up and is real news, but it never seems to appear online, when it should. So much for the online networks being superior.

MarineDad61

Ex-PH2 & Mason,
Kudos to LC,
who dropped comments about this story on Weekend Open Thread
last evening at 10pm.

NR Pax

Why do they always give the information to the Feds? You’d think they want to get arrested. It’s a simple observation: The foreign agent who wants to buy your secrets is a fed.

Claw

Hope somebody is doing a check on the dog left in the house.

Anyway, FRPR* score on the Whiz Wheel®™ for Jonathan (either Nelson or Smay) Toebbe is 296.

Full Retard Past Rutabaga (H/T to API®™)

MarineDad61

Claw,
The wifey’s score will top that!!!
Find her page on the Book of the Fake,
and anyone can see what she believes in,
and where SHE PUTS HER MONEY.

Example – A charity for underserved illegal aliens?

She’s not just a typical misguided liberal Democrat.
Diana Smay Toebbe is a way off ultra liberal leftwingnut.
With newly purple hair.

Looking forward to seeing the spin of the Wheel.

Claw

Nope, Sorry, the wifey’s score (even when pumped up to FLTPSM*) doesn’t make it past his score:

Diana B. Smay Toebbe : 28 x 9 = 252

*Full Loony Tunes Past Shower Mold (H/T to Ret_25X)

MarineDad61

Claw,
Thanks for the 2nd spin.

Anyone having trouble finding the wifey?
Just Du the Fu of Gu Ghoul…
and it all comes up, her Book of the Fake,
alongside articles like this.
[SUB SECRETS Who is Jonathan Toebbe’s wife Diana?]
https://www.the-sun.com/news/3832011/jonathan-toebbe-wife-diana-espionage-charges/

Berliner

Nice house. Wife until very recently _was_ a Humanities teacher in a private school. Per Zillow, the typical home value of homes in Annapolis is $514,273. Wonder if they were looking for $$ to upgrade.

comment image

MarineDad61

Berliner,
Yep.
That’s (soon) gone.
They screwed over their children.
Shitty spies = shitty parents.
Hopefully an aunt or uncle steps up,
which could improve their childhood.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight

Went and looked…..
I’m thinking Rachael MadCow’s (only slightly) better looking missing sister.

MarineDad61

Someone said rutabaga?
Scramble the jets.
US Air Force Major – “Somebody’s bombing Denver?”

MarineDad61

For the youngin’s…
It’s from an episode of GREEN ACRES.

Hatchet

Loved this series. Thank God for reruns

MarineDad61

Hatchet,
…. and Green Acres on DVD.
And now, a complete series 24 DVD box set.
🙂
https://www.google.com/search?q=green+acres+dvd+complete

nobunny

I love the amateurish way he initiated the contact by just up and mailing a bunch of stuff to the country. Should have read a Clancy novel or two.

Dear China, I got this stuff for you. I like you.
Do you like me too?

[] yes (please send $$$)
[] no
[] maybe

SFC D

I’m willing to bet that note was found on Hunter’s laptop.

Green Thumb

Under a pile of empty fast food wrappers at All-Points Logistics.

5JC

France? They had this thing about aubs…

nobunny

Can you imagine the reaction in whatever office received it? Wonder if he mailed it in US Mail packaging – ol’ red, white, and blue allllll over it. Subtle. Devious. He dropped that thing in the mail and started rubbing his hands together. What are we gonna do with the money, honey?

I’m guessing China. What could the Norks offer? Some really awful recipe suggestions, maybe. At least Iran has that black gold. 5JC said France. They did get their panties in a twist recently over a sub deal that went tits up. Or so they say…

RGR 4-78

China?
They may not want to pay good yen for something they already have.

LC

Almost certainly not North Korea or Iran, given that the complaint suggests the US arranged for a signal from the foreign country’s building (embassy, I assume) in Washington, DC on Memorial Day weekend.

LC

China is absolutely a possibility. I’d not rule out a few other options, too. India being one of them – their “Project 75 Alpha” initiative is focused on building nuclear attack subs, presumably like the Virginia-class subs we have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_75_Alpha

There’s a variety of reasons for why they could be attractive, too, and under less scrutiny than China. But they’re also friendly with the US.

One of the biggest curiosities to me is that the foreign country received the package in April, and didn’t give it to the US until December. So whoever it was seemed tempted, or wasn’t sure how to approach us. Hoping we learn more in the weeks ahead.

DavidatWork17

The direct approach has worked for a surprising number of insider threats. Many of the worst ones do exactly that. The Soviets were appropriately cautious about volunteers who would just walk right into the embassy, but if you brought data they could verify with a second source, they’d start listening and paying.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight

Normally I’d wax scathing about another FiBbIe sting, but it seems that The Good Semen made the first (idiotic) move.

What happens to them next?
“Toebbe, or not Toebbe, that is the question…..”

Hie thee hence and read the rest of Shakespeare’s poetry. It fits.

PETDR SAH NBWDVESS,
The answer….
Toebbe (pronounced tebby(?)).

Coming soon (from Kyrgyzstan), the long awaited sequel to
Debbie Does Dallas,
appropriately titled
Toebbe Does Talas.

Veritas Omnia Vincit

Hang them both, on Pay Per View.

Then dump their bodies in the ocean tied to a few cinder blocks…

Let no one remember them, rat bastard traitors that they are.

Hatchet

Hang them both, on Pay Per View?
Yup.
Then dump their bodies in the ocean tied to a few cinder blocks…
Nope.
I’m sure Greenpeace wouldn’t stop bitching and complaining about it for years. Nah. Instead, go full-on Richard Kuklinski – tie ’em both up in a cave and just let the rats slowly have at these ‘rat bastard traitors’…

nobunny

Ooo Hatchet. You seem like such a mild-mannered Canadian. Then you suggest retribution a la The Iceman. Chilling. I’ll never look at you the same way again. 😉

Sapper3307

A Proud Infidel®™

1. Rope.
2. Tree or Gallows.
3. Traitor.
Some assembly required.

rgr769

Bring back the death penalty for more crimes, and then actually enforce it, in public, and it could be more of a deterrent. But then it is always a permanent deterrent for the executed felon.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight

I VOLUNTEER!
Line forms behind me.

Sapper3307

Is the rope organic?

rgr769

As someone who has used real hemp rope, I can attest that a condemned man should not be hanged with a manilla rope. Manilla rope is very course and causes unsightly rope burns on the neck. Hemp rope, not so much. According to my favorite judge of the Old West: “It is is cruel and unusual punishment to hang a man with a manilla rope.”

Sapper3307

Perhaps a nice silk rope?

Claw

I think they should be hanged using the davit and the all new chain hoist (used to lift the 4.2/5KW generator/APU) from a Army M577A2/M577A3 Command Post Carrier.

2590-00-953-2172 Davit
3950-00-889-8722 Chain Hoist

Or just go old school with a Davit and Block & Tackle (3940-00-076-9001) with an appropriate length of Hemp Rope/s

rgr769

Or, the tracked recovery vehicle know as “The Beak.” Except it was the M578, I think. Has it’s own boom. Or the M88.

Herbert J Messkit

Did anyone ever use the David? We would just manhandle down the trim and. 2 men on the track and two on the ground.

5JC

So as it turns out they are big supporters of leftist/ Marxist causes such as BLM, and of course THE ORANGE MAN IS BAD!!!!!

Here is my surprised face:

😐

Anonymous

An anti-American commie tried to sell secrets to an enemy? You said it.

I believe they fried the pinko Rosenbergs for that.

rgr769

The Rosenbergs were more than just pinko’s (commie fanbois). Mr. Rosenberg even had a Soviet agent codename, as discovered in the Venona files.

Sapper3307
Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

WOW, the fbi actually doing their job after all the dishonest stuff they did in the past against Pres. Trump and his supporters AKA Gen Flynn and others. I figured that maybe that they were in on the $$$$$$$$ take.

Twist
Poetrooper

Although MarineDad61 will no doubt castigate ol’ Poe for his source, here’s a bit of visual evidence re the BLM support:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/update-us-traitors-gave-away-secrets-us-submarines-foreign-power-blm-sign-front-yard/

MarineDad61

Poetrooper,
Not this time.
In fact, for this article,
The Gateway Pundit followed and echoed Daily Mail UK and FoxNews,
put out much less than Fox,
and linked to their Daily Mail source.

(See Twist comment right above yours for the article from FoxNews.)

The problem is when The Gateway Pundit
leads the way with their own original articles…
… and then others on the fringe fall for it.

So, you don’t need to poke or prompt me.

Poetrooper

MD61, I’ll just have to take your word for it in the case extant. No doubt, due to your callow youth, you have the distinct advantage on an’ ol’ tech-challenged ol’ dawg like ol’ Poe when it comes to navigating this wondrous invention of Al Gore’s.

Hell, I’m such a Luddite Miz Poe has to remind me to take my mobile phone in with me when we go to Walmart, in case I wander off in search of who knows what, about the only true application I have for that infernal device…😖

MarineDad61

Poetrooper,
Well, here’s an example from TODAY.

Raiders coach Jon Gruden resigned today,
due to his emails.
Yes, he emailed this about (VP) Biden, back in 2012,
but Gruden also emailed the same thing about multiple NFL officials, and emailed WORSE things about others involved in the NFL as well.

It’s really about what Gruden emailed about the NFL types,
not the gravy add of Obama and Biden 9 years ago.

So, when the The Gateway Pundit headline
makes it all about the Biden email (which it’s NOT),
it’s pure political misdirection
(from sports to politics) bullshit.

But of course, no one reads The Gateway Pundit for sports.

[Raiders Coach Resigns After Leaked Emails Show
He Called Joe Biden a “Nervous Clueless Pus*y”]
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/raiders-coach-resigns-leaked-emails-show-called-joe-biden-nervous-clueless-pusy/

SFC D

He’s not wrong about Biden.

MarineDad61

SFC D,
Sure..
but the Gruden story is NOT about Biden.

Today….. more.
NO mention of Obama or Biden.
Not in the headline.
Not in the article.

[Bucs remove Jon Gruden from Ring of Honor
after hateful emails were exposed]
https://sports.yahoo.com/bucs-remove-jon-gruden-from-ring-of-honor-after-hateful-emails-exposed-220646054.html

SFC D

No, it’s not about Biden. My understanding is that the emails were discovered during an unrelated investigation. As wrong as those emails are, it’s just as wrong to leak them. Why didn’t the NFL object at the time they were written and sent? It’s official correspondence. I’m not defending Gruden at all. I’m questioning the role of the NFL in this.

MarineDad61

SFC D,
It’s been a years long investigation into the Washington Redskins / Football Team,
and their owner Dan Snyder.

Team wide assholishness in D.C. is why the NFL is now going after ALL their emails.

Gruden ended up being collateral damage.

[Washington Redskins: First came the racism, now it’s sexism, too
May 11, 2018]
https://medium.com/@Al_Neal_STL/washington-redskins-first-came-the-racism-now-its-sexism-too-89f281e42d50

MarineDad61

Everyone is denying leaking…
but Wall Street Journal and New York times
had no problem printing what they were given.

nobunny

Cat food, Poe. You need cat food, and more toys, for your kitten.

Anonymous

Depends on the kitten…

nobunny

In that case, chicken. Lots of raw chicken. Don’t forget the giblets.

When placed inside a pumpkin/jack o lantern chicken/giblets become a TOY.

SFC D

No, M-80’s go in a pumpkin.

nobunny

While I love detonation as much as any red blooded American girl, you can’t deny this kind of thing is fun (a lioness scores a chicken part at about 3:00):

MarineDad61

Poetrooper,
So you know,
I took Typing 1 in 12th grade (late 70s),
anticipating possible need with computers (in the future),
and mostly to sit in a class full of females
from 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.
22 females, 2 males.

Nailed the IBM Selectric III over 40 years ago.
Never slammed my fingers with the font ball.
To this day, good with full sized keyboards. And PCs.
I suck with cellphones.
I suck with cats, too.

Poetrooper

MD61, young Poe was a bit of a super-achiever in the Army enlisted ranks, the honor graduate of the numerous specialty schools to which his superiors sent him, including the fairly difficult Staff NCO CBR Course at the Army Chemical School at Fort McClellan.

But with one glaring exception:

After only a few days, the SFC instructor of the 101st Airborne Division typing school pulled the totally fumble-fingered and befuddled young PFC Poe aside and said, “Son, with those godawful clumsy fingers, you’re wasting your time here,” and sent me back to my unit as an inglorious washout.

And that was in spite of the fact that young Poe possessed the hand-eye coordination to be considered the unofficial battalion artist.

But he could not master two-handed QWERTY.

To this day, ol’ Poe remains a two-fingered typist, a fairly fast one as my career legal assistant and skilled typist spouse will attest, but still, two fingers only.

“Two-fingered” serves as fairly good descriptive of my computer and Internet skills as well, rendering me a bit of a handicapped competitor.

MarineDad61

Poetrooper,
Your English (spelling, grammar,
vocabulary, and spell checking)
is better than most here.
Better than some with 2 left hands, or 10 thumbs.

I am cellphone handicapped,
and will surely sport a desktop PC
and carry along the trip laptop (with camo case)
to the grave.

NHSparky

I made a comment about this in the Book of Face and got a 30-day ban for “inciting violence.”

Good thing I didn’t say what I REALLY thought.

Anonymous

Leftbook likes the little commie bastard and his wife, of course.

MarineDad61

NHSparky,
Wow, and you probably didn’t say anything that severe.
Perhaps 30 days is due to past trips to FakeBook Jail?

If it helps,
on the Book of the Fake,
in a popular group for fans of The Three Stooges…
FakeBook handed a bunch of group members 24 hour FakeBook jail,
and put the group on double secret probation,
with 30 day admin post approval on all posts,
all for posts with nothing more than
verbatim Three Stooges script, punch lines,
or photos of the more violent stuff
(several from this scene).

A Proud Infidel®™

I once got 30 days in Farcebook jail for posting a meme that insulted Che Guevara!

Carlton

Old girl probably thinks to herself that she’ll at least be safe in jail because all “da sisters” will recognize that she is “down with the ’cause’ ”

I can’t wait to read about her getting brutalized.

Anonymous

Prisoner tend to like traitors only slightly less bad than child molesters.

Hack Stone

That’s the trouble with funneling military secrets to the Chinese military, 30 minutes later, you want to commit espionage again.

Carlton

I see what you did there.

nobunny

Very well played sir.