Husband and wife would-be nuclear spy pair in US Marshals custody after first court appearance

A husband-and-wife pair of alleged would-be spies who attempted to sell restricted data on the design of nuclear-powered warships will receive court-appointed defense attorneys and have been sent to jail in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service following their first court appearance on Tuesday. 

Jonathan Toebbe, a nuclear engineer at the Department of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program, and his wife, Diana, have been accused of violating the Atomic Energy Act and have been hit with espionage-related charges following their alleged efforts to sell nuclear secrets to a yet-unnamed foreign government in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency in a plot that was intercepted by the FBI. The two appeared separately before a magistrate court in West Virginia on Tuesday, clad in short-sleeved orange jumpsuits and wearing masks.

Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble separately read each of their defendants their rights, including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney, and they each said they understood in back-to-back in-person appearances that streamed via Zoom on Tuesday morning. The judge then quickly remanded them to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The two face charges that could land them with life in prison, and the Justice Department is seeking to detain the two pending trial, with the magistrate setting a detention hearing for Friday and a preliminary examination hearing for next week.

The judge pressed Jonathan Toebbe on whether the financial affidavit he had submitted was accurate, and he replied that it was “to the best of my knowledge, yes.” Toebbe’s wife later said it was accurate “to the best of my knowledge, which is very limited.” Trumble determined that each of them “qualify for court-appointed counsel.”