A couple from Annapolis, Maryland, has been arrested for selling nuclear secrets to an undercover FBI agent, who they believed was a representative of a foreign government.

Jonathan Toebbe, 42, and his wife, Diana, 45, have been accused of violating the Atomic Energy Act for intentionally trying to profit off of information, which they knew was restricted data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships, to a foreign power.

“The complaint charges a plot to transmit information relating to the design of our nuclear submarines to a foreign nation,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

According to the Department of Justice, the couple was arrested on Saturday after almost a year of corresponding and receiving money from the undercover FBI agent.

At the time of his arrest, Jonathan Toebbe was a nuclear engineer for the Navy and had active national security clearance through the Department of Defense, which gave him access to restricted data.

Toebbe wanted to sell information about nuclear reactors on American submarines to another country and sent a sample of restricted information to establish a “covert relationship.” However, any additional information would require payment.

Toebbe was initially given $10,000 in cryptocurrency by the undercover agent on June 8 as a “good faith” payment.

On June 26, the couple traveled to West Virginia to drop off the first piece of information to what they believed was an agent under a foreign government.

“There, with Diana Toebbe acting as a lookout, Jonathan Toebbe placed an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged ‘dead drop’ location,” the Justice Department stated.

Jonathan Toebbe later received $20,000 in cryptocurrency, which resulted in him emailing a decryption key for the SD Card that contained restricted data about submarine nuclear reactors.

On Aug. 28, Jonathan Toebbe delivered a second SD card to a location in eastern Virginia by concealing the device in a chewing gum package.

After Toebbe was paid $70,000 in cryptocurrency, he sent the FBI agent the decryption key. The card also contained restricted data regarding submarine nuclear reactors.

The couple is scheduled to appear in a Martinsburg, West Virginia, court on Tuesday. Their case is being investigated by the FBI and NCIS.

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The USS Connecticut, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, "struck an object while submerged on the afternoon of Oct. 2, while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region," the US Navy says US NAVY / Lt. Mack Jamieson
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