Diana Toebbe Changes Plea To Guilty In Espionage Case
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The wife of a Navy nuclear engineer who tried to sell nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign government pleaded guilty to conspiracy on Friday for her role in helping her husband.
Diana Toebbe, who is from Annapolis, was in West Virginia to enter a guilty plea to a single charge of conspiracy to communicate restricted data. She admitted to acting as a lookout for her husband, helping him in his plot to sell secrets about sophisticated and expensive Virginia-class submarines.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Toebbe, who has two children, will serve no more than three years in prison and help recover $100,000 in cryptocurrency the government paid to her husband during their sting.
She answered "yes" to the judge Friday when he asked if she was pleading guilty because she was indeed guilty. The judge asked her repeatedly if she was certain about her plea.
From the outside, Toebbe seemed unlikely to become entangled in a scandal involving international nuclear espionage. She was a teacher at The Key School in Annapolis. Toebbe also posted videos of knitting on YouTube and of her family's vacations on Instagram.
She previously tried to be placed on home detention while awaiting trial, but the government uncovered text messages where she said she wanted to flee the country. Her lawyers said they simply referenced her distaste for then-President Donald Trump.
Toebbe remains in custody. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Earlier this week, her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.
His agreement with the government calls for him to be sentenced to 12 and a half to 17 and a half years in prison. The judge is not bound by the agreement, and the maximum sentence for the crime is life in prison.
The Toebbes previously pleaded not guilty in October 2021.
The government said Toebbe placed top secret information about nuclear submarines on small data storage devices then shopped them around to foreign governments. A country that remains unnamed contacted the FBI.
Agents set up a sting operation where Toebbe, believing he was dealing with foreign intelligence, dropped off thumb drives with classified information at locations in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He hid the drives in peanut butter sandwiches and gum wrappers.
Federal agents raided the couple's home in Annapolis last year and found $11,300 in cash, children's valid passports and a "go-bag" containing a USB flash drive and latex gloves.
