WASHINGTON — A federal Justice of the Peace decide ordered the continued detention of the spouse of a Navy nuclear engineer on fees she participated in a plot to promote American submarine secrets and techniques to a overseas nation.
In an order confining Diana Toebbe to the custody of U.S. Marshals, Justice of the Peace Decide Robert W. Trumble famous video proof introduced by prosecutors that she was a keen participant in dropping categorised paperwork in a lifeless drop arrange by undercover F.B.I. brokers and cited textual content messages between her and her husband in 2019 about leaving the nation.
“The burden of the proof in opposition to defendant Diana Toebbe is robust,” the decide wrote in his order, which he signed Thursday.
The Justice of the Peace decide additionally stated that the federal government had not discovered both the complete trove of paperwork the Toebbes have been accused of attempting to promote to a overseas authorities or the cash offered to them by undercover F.B.I. brokers.
The Toebbes pleaded not responsible this week to fees that they conspired to promote secrets and techniques of the Navy’s nuclear-powered Virginia-class assault submarines to a overseas nation. In a detention listening to that adopted, Mr. Toebbe didn’t contest the federal government’s efforts to restrict him, however Ms. Toebbe’s legal professionals mounted vigorous effort to have her freed earlier than her trial.
Within the court docket proceedings, prosecutors argued that the Toebbes had been contemplating fleeing the nation for years. Within the order, the decide highlighted encrypted textual content messages discovered on the couple’s telephones after the F.B.I. raid.
“We’ve bought passports, and a few financial savings. In an actual pinch we will flee rapidly,” Jonathan Toebbe wrote, on March 7, 2019. Responding on the identical day, Ms. Toebbe wrote: “Proper. Let’s go prior to later.”
In a listening to this week, Ms Toebbe’s lawyer, Edward B. MacMahon Jr., stated the concept Diana Toebbe was getting ready to flee the nation was rebutted by one clear reality: She and her husband had let their passports expire in February 2020.
Mr. MacMahon argued that with court docket monitoring, Ms. Toebbe was little menace to flee. Persevering with to detain Ms. Toebbe would threaten her well being, he stated, and her two kids wanted the care of a mother or father.
However prosecutors stated that they had not discovered the $100,000 in cryptocurrency that undercover F.B.I. brokers gave the Toebbes whereas they have been gathering proof in opposition to them. Till the cash was discovered, they argued, Ms. Toebbe would have the means to flee.
The decide sided with the prosecutors, saying he was unconvinced by the protection argument that monitoring may guarantee Ms. Toebbe would stay in america. Decide Trumble wrote in his order that Ms. Toebbe was a flight danger and needs to be detained for that alone.
He famous the 2019 textual content message from Ms. Toebbe to her husband, urging them to make plans to go away the nation.
“Though defendant has no prior legal historical past, the character and circumstances of the fees in opposition to her and her actions show that defendant is a hazard to each neighborhood and to our nationwide safety by clear and convincing proof,” the decide wrote.