LOS ANGELES (CN) — A former U.S. Navy sailor was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison Monday after he admitted selling sensitive military information to a Chinese spy.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner rejected the government's argument that Wenheng Zhao had obstructed the investigation into his activities and deserved a sentence of 37 months. The judge, however, agreed with the prosecution that the former petty officer held a sensitive position that gave him access to non-public information and should spent more time in prison than the 12 months his lawyer asked for.
Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty this past October to one count of conspiring with the Chinese intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe. He admitted he had passed sensitive military information, including plans for a 2021 large-scale training exercise in the Pacific, to the spy in exchange for about $15,000 in bribes.
"He's ready to take responsibility for what he has done," Zhao's attorney, Tarek Shawky, said at the sentencing hearing in downtown Los Angeles. "He trusted somebody he shouldn't have trusted and made some poor decisions."
The Southern California sailor worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme and held a U.S. security clearance. From August 2021 to at least May 2023, he received 14 separate bribe payments from the intelligence officer in China, in exchange for which he collected and transmitted non-public information.
The U.S. military information he transmitted included documents marked as controlled unclassified information, information concerning U.S. Navy operational security, and photographs and videos of restricted areas on Naval Base Ventura County and San Clemente Island, according to court filings.
Zhao, who was born in China and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested this past July and had been detained without bail.
In an Aug. 8 order denying him bail, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue said that even if Zhao didn't know that the individual in China with whom he was surreptitiously communicating was an intelligence officer, his actions over the course of more than 20 months, while having received training regarding the requirement to report suspicious incidents, including attempts by non-Navy personnel to elicit sensitive operational information, demonstrated a disregard for orders and rules.
In arguing that Zhao should also receive prison time for obstructing the investigation, prosecutors cited statements he made while he was questioned by the FBI after his arrest.
"I mean, I deleted the link he sent me and he's like 'Yeah, just make sure you don't show anybody this,'" Zhao told the FBI agent. "I was like — I asked him why it's a — like a secret study of, oh, shit. I was like OK."
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