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US sailor sentenced to 27 months in prison for selling military secrets to China
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Jan 9, 2024, 6:50:46 PM1/9/24
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https://nypost.com/2024/01/08/news/us-navy-sailor-sentenced-to-27-months-
in-prison-for-selling-military-secrets-to-china/
A US Navy serviceman who admitted to accepting bribes from a Chinese
intelligence officer in exchange for sensitive US military information has
been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.
US District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday handed down the 27-month
prison sentence to Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park,
Calif.
The Justice Department had sought a sentence of 37 months, arguing that
Zhao had obstructed the government’s investigation.
In October, Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with a Chinese
intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe, both felonies.
The sailor admitted to receiving nearly $15,000 in bribes from the
intelligence officer between August 2021 and May 2023, when he worked at
Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, Calif.
Zhao, who held a security clearance, secretly collected and transmitted
information to China related to Navy operational security, military
trainings and critical infrastructure, according to the Justice
Department.
He specifically confessed to passing on plans for a large-scale maritime
training exercise in the Pacific theater, operational orders, and
electrical diagrams and blueprints for a Japanese radar system.
“Officer Zhao betrayed his country and the men and women of the US Navy by
accepting bribes from a foreign adversary,” US Attorney Martin Estrada
said at the time of Zhao’s guilty plea. “While he and the PRC officer he
served took great pains to conceal their corrupt scheme, investigators
were vigilant in uncovering this shameful plot.”
Zhao, a naturalized US citizen born in China, was arrested last July and
had been held in custody without bail.
“He’s ready to take responsibility for what he has done,” Tarek Shawky,
the sailor’s attorney, said at the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles,
according to Courthouse News Services. “He trusted somebody he shouldn’t
have trusted and made some poor decisions.”
Shawky had asked the judge for a 12-month sentence for his client.
Federal prosecutors announced Zhao’s arrest at the same time a second US
sailor, 22-year-old Jinchao Wei, was taken into custody for a separate
alleged plot to pass sensitive security information to Chinese officials.
Wei, who served aboard the San Diego-based USS Essex, was busted on
espionage charges after he allegedly provided China with detailed
information on the ship and its crew.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
in-prison-for-selling-military-secrets-to-china/
A US Navy serviceman who admitted to accepting bribes from a Chinese
intelligence officer in exchange for sensitive US military information has
been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.
US District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday handed down the 27-month
prison sentence to Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park,
Calif.
The Justice Department had sought a sentence of 37 months, arguing that
Zhao had obstructed the government’s investigation.
In October, Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with a Chinese
intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe, both felonies.
The sailor admitted to receiving nearly $15,000 in bribes from the
intelligence officer between August 2021 and May 2023, when he worked at
Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, Calif.
Zhao, who held a security clearance, secretly collected and transmitted
information to China related to Navy operational security, military
trainings and critical infrastructure, according to the Justice
Department.
He specifically confessed to passing on plans for a large-scale maritime
training exercise in the Pacific theater, operational orders, and
electrical diagrams and blueprints for a Japanese radar system.
“Officer Zhao betrayed his country and the men and women of the US Navy by
accepting bribes from a foreign adversary,” US Attorney Martin Estrada
said at the time of Zhao’s guilty plea. “While he and the PRC officer he
served took great pains to conceal their corrupt scheme, investigators
were vigilant in uncovering this shameful plot.”
Zhao, a naturalized US citizen born in China, was arrested last July and
had been held in custody without bail.
“He’s ready to take responsibility for what he has done,” Tarek Shawky,
the sailor’s attorney, said at the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles,
according to Courthouse News Services. “He trusted somebody he shouldn’t
have trusted and made some poor decisions.”
Shawky had asked the judge for a 12-month sentence for his client.
Federal prosecutors announced Zhao’s arrest at the same time a second US
sailor, 22-year-old Jinchao Wei, was taken into custody for a separate
alleged plot to pass sensitive security information to Chinese officials.
Wei, who served aboard the San Diego-based USS Essex, was busted on
espionage charges after he allegedly provided China with detailed
information on the ship and its crew.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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