It looks like an episode of “The Americans“: A couple of spies with two kids working near Washington, D.C.
The FBI arrested a married couple from Annapolis, Maryland, for selling submarine secrets to an undercover agent for almost a year.
Diana and Jonathan Toebbe were charged with “conspiracy to communicate restricted data.” They are looking at spending the rest of their lives in the hoosegow.
Jonathan Toebbe hid data cards in things such as chewing gum and Band-Aid wrappers, as well as a peanut butter sandwich. His wife Diana was reportedly his “lookout.” They would drop data cards off for the person they thought was a foreign agent. They were arrested after their latest “dead drop” (dropping information to their compatriot) in Jefferson County, West Virginia.
Most of the documents (purportedly thousands of them) were on nuclear submarine propulsion systems.
Here’s the kicker: It looks like the couple support BLM and various anti-Trump “resistance” movements. Imagine Don Lemon’s glee if they’d had a “Trump 2024” sign on their lawn.
Diana Toebbe retweeted an anti-Trump meme in 2017.
To The Rest Of The World: America Is Temporarily Out Of Order. We Hope To Restore Service Soon. #TheResistance #MuslimBan #StandUpToTrump
To The Rest Of The World: America Is Temporarily Out Of Order. We Hope To Restore Service Soon. #TheResistance #MuslimBan #StandUpToTrump pic.twitter.com/fBXbB7qwUm
— W Smith Ω 🧢 (@WesSmith123) January 31, 2017
One of Diana’s Facebook posts includes a picture that reads “Women Can Stop Trump.” Another shows the same picture with a rainbow flag.
Fox News has ascertained the couple registered as Democrats in Colorado back in 2008.
Jonathan worked as a nuclear engineer for the Navy.
The spy scheme began in April of 2020, when Jonathan sent secret documents to someone in an unknown foreign country. The data found its way to the FBI in December 2020.
The undercover FBI team contacted Jonathan, forwarded $10,000 in cryptocurrency to him, and set up a meeting for more secret information. They paid him another $20,000 for data cards full of submarine secrets.
A naval expert confirmed the data involved reactors on Virginia-class submarines.
Diana was a teacher at Key School, a private school in Annapolis. The school issued a statement distancing itself from her after the news of the arrests:
“Key School is shocked and appalled to learn of the charges filed against faculty member Diana Toebbe and Jonathan Toebbe. Key School had no prior knowledge of their alleged criminal activities, nor is the School connected to the investigation in any way.”
She was suspended indefinitely.
“Unfortunately there always will be people willing to compromise our nation’s security for personal gain. It’s treasonous, it’s rare, but such individuals are traitors and should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” former acting United States Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly told Fox News.
“Our nuclear submarine force provides a significant military capability for the United States. It is a capability our adversaries both covet and fear. Information related to it must be protected, and for the most part, it is,” Modly continued.
Related: How Many Chinese Spies Are Too Many?
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