Department of Justice Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Domestic Violence Prevention Programs Receive $4 Million

More than $4 million is coming from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women to three programs in West Virginia.

The funding will support programs aimed at preventing and addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, as well as enhancing victim safety and services.

“I am pleased to announce these critical investments from the DOJ that will assist victims and strengthen our justice system to enhance the safety of all West Virginians,” U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said. “Earlier this year, I was proud to cosponsor the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act, and as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue advocating for additional resources to support related public safety programs across the Mountain State.”

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, also a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also supported the funding.

“Addressing, and ending, domestic violence in West Virginia has long been a priority of mine. I have consistently supported the Violence Against Women Act, helped lead reauthorization efforts on the legislation this year, and was thrilled to see its inclusion in our final appropriations package,” Capito said. “It’s great to see our state receiving needed support to coordinate safety efforts, directly addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in our communities. I will always advocate for the support our local law enforcement agencies need to prevent these crimes in our state.”

Individual awards listed below:

The Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors (STOP) Formula Program provides funding to support partnerships between law enforcement, prosecution, courts and victim services organizations to enhance victim safety, hold offenders accountable and strengthen law enforcement.

$1,166,821 — West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety

The Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program provides funding to support organizations that identify and appropriately respond to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in rural communities; organizations that establish and expand victim services in rural communities for child, youth, and adult victims; and organizations that increase the safety and well-being of women and children in rural communities by dealing directly and immediately with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and implementing strategies to increase awareness and prevent these crimes.

$950,000 — Child Protect of Mercer County

$949,487 — West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services

$750,000 — West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety

The State and Territory Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition Program provides funding to support state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions as they continue to play a vital role in preventing and addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

$177,127 — West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services

$90,342 — West Virginia Coalition against Domestic Violence

Judge Rejects Plea Agreement In Submarine Secrets Sale Case

A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have withdrawn their guilty pleas in a case involving the sale of secrets about American nuclear submarines. The moves by Jonathan and Diana Toebbe came Tuesday in a federal court in West Virginia after a judge rejected plea agreements that had called for specific sentencing options.

A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife withdrew their guilty pleas Tuesday in a case involving an alleged plot to sell secrets about American nuclear-powered warships after a federal judge rejected plea agreements that had called for specific sentencing guidelines.

Jonathan and Diana Toebbe of Annapolis, Maryland, pleaded guilty in February in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to one count each of conspiracy to communicate restricted data.

The sentencing range agreed to by lawyers for Jonathan Toebbe had called for a potential punishment between roughly 12 years and 17 years in prison. Prosecutors said Tuesday that such a sentence would be one of the most significant imposed in modern times under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Prosecutors also sought three years for Diana Toebbe.

U.S. District Judge Gina Groh said that while she generally honors plea agreements, in this case she said the sentencing options were “strikingly deficient” considering the seriousness of the charges.

Groh said the act to which the couple pleaded guilty was done “for selfish and greedy reasons, but could have caused great harm” to the Navy and others.

“I don’t find any justifiable reasons for accepting either one of these plea agreements,” Groh said.

Wearing orange jail jumpsuits and seated at separate tables, the couple then separately withdrew their guilty pleas, leading Groh to set a trial date for Jan. 17.

Prosecutors said Jonathan Toebbe abused his access to top-secret government information and repeatedly sold details about the design elements and performance characteristics of Virginia-class submarines to someone he believed was a representative of a foreign government but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.

Diana Toebbe, who was teaching at a private school in Maryland at the time of the couple’s arrest last October, was accused of acting as a lookout at several prearranged “dead-drop” locations at which memory cards containing the secret information were left behind.

The memory cards were devices concealed in objects such as a chewing gum wrapper and a peanut butter sandwich. The couple was arrested after he placed a memory card at a dead drop location in Jefferson County, West Virginia.

None of the information was classified as top secret or secret, falling into a third category considered confidential, according to testimony Tuesday.

The FBI has said the scheme began in April 2020, when Jonathan Toebbe sent a package of Navy documents to a foreign government and wrote that he was interested in selling to that country operations manuals, performance reports and other sensitive information. He included in the package, which had a Pittsburgh return address, instructions to his supposed contact for how to establish a covert relationship with him, prosecutors said.

That package was obtained by the FBI in December 2020 through its legal attaché office in the unspecified foreign country. That set off a monthslong undercover operation in which an agent posing as a representative of a foreign country made contact with Toebbe, ultimately paying $100,000 in cryptocurrency in exchange for the information Toebbe was offering.

Jonathan Toebbe, who held a top-secret security clearance through the Defense Department, had agreed as part of the plea deal to help federal officials with locating and retrieving all classified information in his possession, as well as the cryptocurrency paid to him.

The country to which Jonathan Toebbe was looking to sell the information has not been identified in court documents and was not disclosed in court.

FBI agents who searched the couple’s home found a trash bag of shredded documents, thousands of dollars in cash, valid children’s passports and a “go-bag” containing a USB flash drive and latex gloves, according to court testimony last year.

During a December 2021 hearing, Diana Toebbe’s lawyers denied prosecution assertions that cited 2019 messages exchanged by the couple in which she had contemplated fleeing the United States to avoid arrest. Instead, the defense said it was contempt for then-President Donald Trump as the reason behind the couple’s emigration plans.

W.Va. Judge Orders Couple In Submarine Spy Case Held in Detention, Sets Friday Hearing

The Maryland couple charged in a plot to sell sensitive U.S. submarine secrets to a foreign government will remain behind bars for now, a judge said Tuesday in granting a detention request from prosecutors.

Jonathan and Diana Toebbe each made brief appearances in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble ordered them to remain detained pending a detention hearing on Friday at which more extensive arguments are expected to be made.

The couple answered perfunctory questions from a judge, but no substantive information about the case was revealed.

The Toebbes were arrested in West Virginia over the weekend. Jonathan Toebbe, a Navy nuclear engineer, is accused of passing information about American submarines to someone he thought was a representative of a foreign government but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.

The authorities say Diana Toebbe sometimes accompanied her husband to pre-arranged “dead drop” locations, including serving as a lookout.

The judge said Tuesday that each could face life in prison if convicted.

Mail Carrier Altered Eight Absentee Requests, Says U.S. Attorney

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia has charged a Pendleton County mail carrier, accusing him of tampering with eight absentee ballot applications.

According to a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, Thomas Cooper switched five of the applicants’ requests for a Democratic ballot to requests for a Republican ballot. He later told an investigator with the West Virginia attorney general’s office he did this “as a joke.”

In April, the Secretary of State’s office mailed every registered voter in the state an absentee ballot application, designed like a postcard.

The Pendleton County Clerk’s office noticed in April that eight of these applications “appeared to be altered by use of a black-ink pen,” according to court documents.

The clerk reached out to the ballot applicants, knowing they were registered Democrats. Four voters confirmed they had underlined the Democratic option in blue pen, allowing the mail carrier to allegedly circle the Republican option in a way that covered the blue line.

On two other ballots, the USPS mail carrier had scratched out a clearly circled request for Democrat ballots with blank ink, and re-circled “Republican.”

West Virginia Public Broadcasting was unable to reach the Pendleton County Clerk’s office Tuesday evening.

In a written statement to WVPB, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell said his office remains “vigilant for any illegal conduct and will be aggressive in our enforcement of the rule of law.”

Had the mail carrier’s conduct gone unnoticed, the affidavit states “it would have caused the Clerk to give Republican ballots to 5 Democrat voters—skewing the primary election by 5 votes and thereby defrauding all West Virginians of a fair election.”

In a statement on Thursday, Secretary of State Mac Warner said his office and law enforcement caught the fraud attempt early enough to avoid any damage.

The Department of Justice has temporarily halted all nonessential in-person grand jury hearings until July 1, meaning the U.S. attorney’s office is unable to prosecute the crime until at least a month after the state’s primary election.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and an increased access to absentee ballots for all West Virginians, 2020 is likely to be the most popular year for mail-in ballots in the Mountain State. On May 19, Warner’s office reported nearly a fifth of the state’s registered voters had requested an absentee ballot. There have been more than 115,000 absentee ballots cast so far.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.