Jan. 9 (UPI) — A U.S. Navy sailor who admitted to sending sensitive information about U.S. military exercises planned for the Indo-Pacific region to China in exchange for less than $15,000 has been sentenced to more than two years’ imprisonment, the Justice Department said.
Petty Office Wenheng Zhao, 26, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring with a Chinese intelligence officer and accepting bribes, for which he faced up to 20 years behind bars.
On Monday, the Monterey Park, Calif., resident was sentenced to 27 months and fined $5,500, according a release from the Justice Department.
“Mr. Zhao betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and endangered those who serve in the U.S. military,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement.
“Today, he is being held to account for those crimes. The Justice Department is committed to combatting the Chinese government’s efforts to undermine our nation’s security and holding accountable those who violate our laws as part of those efforts.”
Zhao, who held U.S. security clearance and worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, Calif., was charged in a grand jury indictment unsealed in August on accusations of trading sensitive Navy information to an unidentified Chinese intelligence officer.
Prosecutors said that from August 2021 to at least May, Zhao entered restricted military and naval installations where he collected information on U.S. Navy operational security, critical infrastructure and military trainings and exercises, that he then sent to his Chinese contact.
Among information he sent the Chinese officer via sophisticated encrypted communication methods included plans for a large maritime training exercise in the Pacific theatre as well as operational orders and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a Okinawa, Japan, radar system that he photographed.
In exchange for the information, Zhao received at least 14 separate bribe payments that equalled at least $14,866.
Prosecutors said he destroyed evidence and attempted to conceal his relationship with the Chinese intelligence officer.
The United States has long said it has been a target for Chinese spying.
The same month Zhao was arrest, a second Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, was arrested and charged with spying on the U.S. military for China.
Wie has pleaded not guilty.
“Make no mistake, the PRC is engaged in an aggressive effort to undermine the national security of the U.S. and its partners,” Executive Assistant Director Larissa Knapp of the FBI’s National Security Branch said in a statement Monday, referring to the Asian nation by the initials of its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“Today’s sentencing demonstrates, yet again, the inability of China’s intelligence services to prevent the FBI and our vital partners from apprehending and prosecuting the spies China recruits.”
