LOS ANGELES (CN) — A U.S. Navy sailor pleaded guilty to passing sensitive military information, including plans for a 2021 large-scale training exercise in the Pacific, to a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for about $15,000 in bribes.
Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe, according to a statement Wednesday from the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.
Zhao faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years, though the actual time he'll serve in prison could be significantly less than that. Per his plea agreement, he waived his right to appeal his sentence as long as it is no more than 63 months, while the U.S. waived its right to appeal as long as the sentence is no less than 51 months in prison.
“Officer Zhao betrayed his country and the men and women of the U.S. Navy by accepting bribes from a foreign adversary,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the statement. “While he and the PRC officer he served took great pains to conceal their corrupt scheme, investigators were vigilant in uncovering this shameful plot."
Zhao's attorney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 late July and has been detained with bail since.
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.
"Defendant's admission to sending the information because it was 'easy money' is further evidence of his disregard for rules and supports the conclusion that he would not appear in Court as required," Donahue said.
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