US Navy Petty Officer Based in Japan Charged With Espionage

Last month, another U.S. sailor pleaded guilty to providing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with sensitive U.S. military information.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) is underway off the coast of Haiti on Jan. 15, 2010. Seaman Stephen G. Hale II/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

A U.S. Navy sailor based in Japan has been charged with espionage and communicating defense information to an employee of a foreign government on more than one occasion.

Bryce S. Pedicini, a chief petty officer (CPO) fire controlman aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins, is suspected of handing over documents to a foreign citizen at least seven times between 2022 and 2023 in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and one final time while in Japan, according to the charge sheet.