A Navy petty officer was sentenced to 12 years in prison for stealing a military laptop and peddling its contents to Russia embassy in Vienna.

4Law  8/12/06 NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. -- A sailor from Salem who pleaded guilty this week to espionage was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.Fire Control Technician 3rd Class Ariel Weinmann pleaded guilty Monday to desertion, failure to obey a general orderor regulation, espionage, copying classified information, destruction of military property and  larceny.Weinmann told military judge Capt. Daniel O'Toole that he had given details of a submarine weapons system to a representative of Russia in the hopes of moving to that nation.
In addition to the prison sentence and discharge, Weinmann will have his rank reduced to E-1, and he forfeits all pay and allowances.Submariner sentenced to 12 years in prison for espionage.The Salem, Ore., native admitted that he downloaded classified data, including biographies of Austrian government employees and technical manuals on the Tomahawk cruise missile, while serving aboard the Albuquerque in 2005. Weinmann fled to Vienna, Austria, and hoped the Austrian government would be interested in the dossiers being collected by U.S. intelligence agencies. He contemplated trading the dossiers for asylum but abandoned that plan and instead turned over the Tomahawk manuals to Russian agent at Russia`s Vienna embassy.Weinmann said he had hoped to exchange the information for a new life in Russia. 
(oregonnews     &   vesti.ru1    &  vesti.ru2     &    navytimes    &    pilotonline)