Plea Deal Rejected for Couple Accused of Selling Nuclear Submarine Secrets

These booking photos released Oct. 9, 2021, by the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority show Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe. West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority via AP

A federal judge on Aug. 16 rejected a plea deal for a U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and his wife who are accused of attempting to sell U.S. submarine secrets to a foreign government.

Jonathan, 42, and Diana Toebbe, 45, from Annapolis, Maryland were arrested by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in October 2021 during a string operation and charged with one count of “conspiracy to communicate restricted data” and two counts of the “communication of restricted data.”