May 18, 2013
Norfolk, VA (AP) -- A Navy Petty Officer is pleading guilty to stealing a military laptop and peddling its contents to a foreign government.
Ariel Weinmann of Oregon is pleading guilty to espionage, desertion and several more charges. He faces life without parole, among other punishments.
The military isn't saying which foreign government is believed to be involved. But officials say the former submarine crewman tried to transmit classified defense information while in or near Austria last year. They say he also gave top secret material to a foreign agent in Bahrain, and tried to deliver more in Mexico.
Weinmann was later arrested at the Dallas airport, where the Navy says he had $4,000 in cash, plus computer equipment.
Copyright 2006 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.
