Couple face jail in sub secrets case

Federal prosecutors said Monday that they will seek continued detention for a Maryland husband and wife accused of trying to sell U.S. nuclear submarine secrets, out of concern the couple may try to flee rather than face a potential life prison sentence.

Jonathan and Diana Toebbe, who live in Annapolis and have two children, are scheduled to make a brief appearance Tuesday in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

They were arrested Saturday in Jefferson County, West Virginia, during what officials said was their latest “dead drop” of information to a person the couple thought was their foreign spy service handler.

During a nearly yearlong sting operation, the couple allegedly sent thousands of government documents about nuclear submarine propulsion systems to the purported handler — who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent gathering evidence against them, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Sunday.

The case is remarkable for the seemingly innocuous suburban life the couple lived, the complex and sometimes comical nature of the steps they took to disguise their clandestine work, and the unusual degree of assistance the still-unidentified foreign country appears to have given the FBI.

Several times this year, authorities said, the Toebbes hid small data cards in everyday items — a BandAid wrapper, a chewing gum package, half a peanut butter sandwich — to be picked up by the foreign spy operative they thought was paying for details about U.S. nuclear submarine technology.