US navy spy wife’s peanut butter sandwich ruse came unstuck

THE wife of a US navy engineer has admitted helping her husband try to sell information about nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign nation, sometimes using sandwiches to do so.

Diana Toebbe, 46, acted as a lookout and helped her husband distribute information, once even hiding a data card inside a peanut butter sandwich.

Her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, 42, tried to sell his knowledge of nuclear-propulsion systems to a foreign country. He pleaded guilty earlier this week. The information is some of the most classified in the US.

Mrs Toebbe, a school teacher, could be jailed for up to three years over her involvement. Under Mr Toebbe’s plea deal, he could be imprisoned for up to 17 years.

Mr Toebbe, 42, had worked for the US government since 2012, holding a top-secret security clearance and specialising in naval nuclear propulsion and had been assigned to a laboratory in the Pittsburgh area that works on nuclear power projects for the US navy.

The FBI says in April 2020 Mr Toebbe sent a package of navy documents to an unidentified foreign government, saying he was interested in selling operations manuals, performance reports and other sensitive information.

Authorities claim he also provided instructions for how to conduct the furtive relationship, with a letter that said: “I apologise 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.”

The FBI’s legal office in the foreign country received the package, which bore a return address in Pittsburgh, last December. That led to an undercover operation in which an agent posing as a representative of the foreign power offered to pay thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency for the information Mr Toebbe was offering, a statement said.

Mr Toebbe collated information on nuclear submarines and sneaked the documents out of his office a few pages at a time.