A military policeman has been sentenced to 16 years behind bars for selling secret documents to an undercover FBI agent he thought was a Russian official.
William Millay, 23, of Owensboro, Ky., was stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage when he was arrested in October 2011. He pleaded guilty to soliciting another individual to commit espionage.
Millay apparently went to other persons at the base to get support for his plan to sell secrets to the Russians.“Some of the individuals he made statements to did not take him seriously, but some did,” said Special Agent Derrick Criswell. “Still, no one came forward to report his activity.”
Millay became a cause celeb last fall on the Daily Paul, with members charging that the government wasn’t being forthcoming about his status and sucked him into a “black hole.”
The FBI said Millay had “white supremacist tattoos on his body” that “likely reflect his ideology,” but believe he was motivated by greed in the attempted espionage.
“This case really drives home the point that the insider threat is alive and well,” said Special Agent Sam Johnson, who supervises a national security squad in our Anchorage Division.
“Money was what he was after. He was willing to sell sensitive information—to potentially endanger his fellow military members as well as the security of the country—for a payday.”
Millay dropped secret documents about military technology at a prearranged spot for a payment of $3,000.
“This has been a significant case for Alaska,” Johnson said. “It’s the first known espionage arrest and prosecution that I am aware of in the state. And if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.”
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