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Sailor pleads guilty to espionage
AP via CoCoTimes ^ | 12/4/6 | SONJA BARISIC

Posted on 12/04/2006 10:30:42 AM PST by SmithL

NORFOLK, Va. - A sailor accused of stealing a Navy laptop and peddling its classified contents to an undisclosed foreign government pleaded guilty Monday to espionage, desertion and other charges.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann, 22, of Salem, Ore., faces a sentence of life in prison without parole, a dishonorable discharge from the Navy and forfeiture of all pay.

Under a plea agreement, Weinmann pleaded guilty to one count each of espionage, desertion, failing to properly safeguard and store classified information, copying classified information, communicating classified information to a person not entitled to receive it, and stealing and destroying a government computer.

Weinmann pleaded guilty to trying to transmit classified information related to national defense to a representative of a foreign government on Oct. 19, 2005 while he was in or near Vienna, Austria.

He pleaded not guilty to two additional espionage counts, one accusing him of giving classified information to an agent of a foreign government in March of 2005 in Bahrain and another accusing him of trying to deliver confidential information on March 19, 2006 in Mexico City.

Weinmann told the judge, who had yet to accept the plea, that he deserted the Navy in July 2005 because the service did not meet his expectations.

"I had a very idealized view, basically what amounted to a World War II Navy," Weinmann told the judge.

Weinmann, a fire control technician, had been stationed on the Connecticut-based submarine USS Albuquerque.

He said he did not report for duty aboard his submarine on July 3, 2005. He moved to Austria and never planned to come back to the United States, but changed his mind and was arrested in March at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Weinmann told the judge he believed his actions could hurt morale and security.

"I believe if it fell into the wrong hand, sir, the information could be detrimental to the United States," Weinmann said.

He said he made copies of classified material on a laptop computer, which he brought with him to Austria. He said he printed one document and copied other information onto CDs and said he had unclassified, classified and secret information sitting on a table in his apartment in Austria.

The military has not said what it believes Weinmann might have sought in exchange for the information.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: espionage; spy; traitor; treason
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1 posted on 12/04/2006 10:30:45 AM PST by SmithL
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To: Doohickey; judicial meanz; submarinerswife; PogySailor; chasio649; gobucks; Bottom_Gun; Dog Gone; ..

Keelhaul the traitor - from Test Depth!


2 posted on 12/04/2006 10:32:23 AM PST by SmithL (Where are we going? . . . . And why are we in this handbasket????)
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To: Alas Babylon!; American_Centurion; An.American.Expatriate; ASA.Ranger; ASA Vet; Atigun; ...

MI & SOCOM Ping


3 posted on 12/04/2006 10:33:33 AM PST by ASA Vet (The WOT should have been over on 9/12/01.)
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To: SmithL

4 posted on 12/04/2006 10:34:27 AM PST by ErnBatavia (recent nightmare: Googled up "Helen Thomas nude"....)
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To: SmithL

What was this guy thinking? Threw his life away for nothing, and endangers the rest of us for same. selfish....


5 posted on 12/04/2006 10:34:46 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: ASA Vet
If he was an FT3, he probably did not have access to anything above SECRET.

This is not a Walker family type case.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

6 posted on 12/04/2006 10:37:56 AM PST by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: LonePalm

Ok, in that case he should have only been hung, not shot and then hung.


7 posted on 12/04/2006 10:40:06 AM PST by ASA Vet (The WOT should have been over on 9/12/01.)
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To: LonePalm
First, isn't it FC3?

And second, if memory serves, these are the guys that operate the CIWS "Phalanx" system. In which case, information about the operation of these systems could potentially endanger every ship in the fleet.

8 posted on 12/04/2006 10:43:38 AM PST by Axeslinger (Where has my country gone?)
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To: SmithL

He should call Sandy Berger's attorney. I think the sentence for Burger was 3 years of wrist slapping followed by resumed authorization to access confidential records.


9 posted on 12/04/2006 10:43:49 AM PST by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: SmithL
Weinmann told the judge, who had yet to accept the plea, that he deserted the Navy in July 2005 because the service did not meet his expectations.

"I had a very idealized view, basically what amounted to a World War II Navy," Weinmann told the judge.

Guess what? It was treason back then too.

10 posted on 12/04/2006 10:46:24 AM PST by SquirrelKing
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To: Axeslinger
It might be anymore. When I was in it was FTM or FTG, Fire Control Missiles or Fire Control Guns) and they didin't control the Phalanx system but they did service them.

Former FTM1

11 posted on 12/04/2006 10:47:01 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: SmithL
After he dies can't they revive him and sentence him to the same thing again and again? He deserves it!
12 posted on 12/04/2006 10:47:03 AM PST by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: Axeslinger

No, it would actually be FTG3. Submarines don't have CWIS LOL!


13 posted on 12/04/2006 10:47:21 AM PST by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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To: SmithL
NOT IN MY NAVY!

This sucker deserves everything he gets - and more.

BCD after plenty of time away.

14 posted on 12/04/2006 10:48:10 AM PST by grobdriver (Let the embeds check the bodies!)
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To: ErnBatavia

Looks like a smug little prick. The best punishment for him would be to brief the crew on what he did, keep him on board for a Northern run and tell the Khaki Klad Klowns to look the other way.


15 posted on 12/04/2006 10:50:07 AM PST by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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To: Doohickey

Oh that...details, details...


16 posted on 12/04/2006 10:50:52 AM PST by Axeslinger (Where has my country gone?)
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To: theDentist
Threw his life away for nothing, and endangers the rest of us for same. selfish....

Well, he did say, "...[the Navy] didn't meet his expectations..."

17 posted on 12/04/2006 10:59:07 AM PST by Lou L
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To: SmithL

Bet he made a plea deal to avoid treason charges.


18 posted on 12/04/2006 11:01:52 AM PST by brothers4thID (Being lectured by Ted Kennedy on ethics is not unlike being lectured on dating protocol by Ted Bundy)
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To: SmithL

Too bad Capt Ronald Spiers is dead. He knew how to deal with slackers. Cigarette?


19 posted on 12/04/2006 11:05:51 AM PST by CholeraJoe (Spork weasels ain't afraid of nuthin' but running out of sardines.)
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To: Lou L

Yeah, I saw that too. I forced myself to refrain from commenting on the the mentality that the pinkos that infest the public school system instill in kids these days.


20 posted on 12/04/2006 11:06:18 AM PST by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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