A U.S. Navy serviceman who admitted to accepting bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for sensitive U.S. military information was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday handed down the 27-month prison sentence to Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California.
The Justice Department had requested a 37-month sentence, arguing that Zhao had obstructed the government’s investigation.
In October, Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy with a Chinese intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe, both felonies.
The sailor admitted to receiving nearly $15,000 in bribes from the intelligence officer between August 2021 and May 2023, when he worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California.
Wenheng Zhao was sentenced Monday to 27 months in federal prison. PO 2nd Class Michael Lopez/US Navy Photo Zhao admitted to receiving nearly $15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for military secrets. AP
Zhao, who had a security clearance, secretly collected and transmitted information to China related to Navy operational security, military training and critical infrastructure, according to the Justice Department.
He specifically confessed to transmitting plans for a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific theater, operational orders, and electrical diagrams and plans for a Japanese radar system.
“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 at the time of Zhao’s guilty plea. “While he and the PRC officer he served went to great lengths to conceal his corrupt scheme, investigators were vigilant in uncovering this disgraceful plot.”
Zhao, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, was arrested last July and held without bail.
The crimes occurred between August 2021 and May 2023, when Zhao was working at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California. AP
“He is willing to take responsibility for what he has done,” Tarek Shawky, the sailor’s attorney, said at the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles, according to Courthouse News Services. “He trusted someone he shouldn’t have trusted and made some bad decisions.”
Shawky had asked the judge for a 12-month sentence for his client.
Federal prosecutors announced Zhao’s arrest at the same time that a second American sailor, Jinchao Wei, 22, was detained for a separate alleged plot to pass sensitive security information to Chinese officials.
Wei, who served aboard the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on espionage charges after he allegedly provided China with detailed information about the ship and its crew.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn