Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were sentenced for trying to sell the design of Navy nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign power this week. The Department of Justice refused to say what foreign power was trying to buy the secrets, but there is some evidence that it was China.
Diana Toebbe coordinated the sale and acted as a lookout, while Jonathan, a nuclear engineer with the Navy, stole the designs and attempted to pass them on to the foreign power. The couple used a dead-drop system to hand off the military secrets.
They put a SD card in a peanut butter sandwich and dropped it in a trash can.
Now, I just want to go on record here saying that a peanut butter sandwich is the wrong choice for passing on nuclear-powered submarine secrets. I mean why couldn't they have at least made it entertaining and put them in a submarine sandwich?
At any rate, some hungry FBI agent that had been trailing the couple found the peanut butter sandwich in the trash and retrieved it.
The couple pled guilty to espionage charges. Jonathan was sentenced to 19 years and 4 months and fined $47,500, and Diana was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months and ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.
