U.S. District Judge Gina Groh Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Sentences Handed Down In Toebbe Espionage Case

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia handed down sentences Wednesday against Navy submarine engineer Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana as part of a federal treason case involving the alleged attempt to sell secrets about nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign government.

Prosecutors say Jonathan Toebbe used his position and access to top-secret government information to sell documents regarding the design and performance of Virginia-class submarines. Diana Toebbe acted as a lookout at “dead-drop” locations where memory cards with the info were left. These cards were hidden in items like chewing gum wrappers and peanut butter sandwiches, which were then exchanged for cryptocurrency as payment.

The U.S. government has since recovered $54,300 of the $100,000 paid to the Toebbes.

Jonathan was sentenced to 19 years and four months in prison, alongside a fine of $45,700, with the court recommending he be placed in a federal facility in Petersburg, Virginia.

Diana was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison, alongside a fine of $50,000. The court recommended she be placed in a federal facility near Annapolis, Maryland.

The sentences come after a plea agreement made by the Toebbes when they re-admitted guilt in September.

Diana’s final sentence is much higher than what was suggested by both her legal team and the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO), which was at the “low end” of recommended sentencing guidelines at only 36 months.

This is in part because of letters that regional jail staff and government officials intercepted from Diana to Jonathan while incarcerated, attempting to persuade him to admit total guilt while clearing her of any wrongdoing.

District Judge Gina M. Groh called the content of these letters “obstruction of justice” and an attempt to coerce Jonathan into perjury, while the USAO and Toebbe’s lawyers cited mental health issues, unique circumstances and the fact that the letters did not make it to Jonathan as reasons they should not have been taken into consideration during her sentencing.

Jonathan received a slightly lighter sentence, in part because of what Groh cited as his “conduct as opposed to Mrs. Toebbe” while incarcerated at the West Virginia Eastern Regional Jail, helping tutor his fellow inmates in math and grammar.

The couple previously pleaded guilty in February after being arrested in October of last year in Jefferson County. They withdrew their pleas after the initial agreement was rejected in August. At the time, Groh ruled that the sentencing options were “strikingly deficient.”

Under the previous agreement, Jonathan Toebbe would have seen 12 to 17 years in prison. Diana Toebbe would have seen three.

New Plea Agreement Reached In Toebbe Submarine Case

A federal treason case against Navy submarine engineer Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana continued Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in Martinsburg. The two have entered a new plea agreement.

The case involves the Toebbes allegedly trying to sell secrets about nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign government.

The couple previously pleaded guilty in February after being arrested in October of last year in Jefferson County. They withdrew their pleas after the initial agreement was rejected last month. At the time, District Judge Gina M. Groh ruled that the sentencing options were “strikingly deficient.”

The most recent plea hearing saw the Toebbes re-admit guilt for a new agreement that involves what the prosecution called a “sentence within the case’s applicable guidelines.” The maximum punishment could mean life in prison for the couple and a $100,000 fine, though prosecutors are seeking the “low end” of the punishment in Diana’s case.

The binding terms are less concrete than the previous plea agreement, but make the sentencing more in line with federal advisory guidelines. Under the previous agreement, Jonathan Toebbe would have seen 12 to 17 years in prison. Diana Toebbe would have seen 3.

An email sent to West Virginia Public Broadcasting from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of West Virginia says the exact guideline sentencing range for each defendant “will not be determined until the completion of the U.S. Probation Office pre-sentence investigation.”

The sentencing hearing for both defendants is also yet to be scheduled. A previous trial date was set for Jan. 17 after the initial plea agreement was rejected.

Trial Date Set After Judge Rejects Plea Agreement For Submarine Secrets Case

A trial date has been set after former Naval engineer Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, withdrew their guilty pleas in a case last week involving the selling of secrets about American nuclear submarines.

The couple withdrew their pleas after Judge Gina M. Groh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in Martinsburg rejected both of their previous plea agreements. The defendants pleaded guilty in February after being arrested in October of last year in Jefferson County.

The federal court said it could not accept the plea agreements both because of the nature of the crime and the fact that federal advisory guidelines suggest a sentence higher than what the court could impose.

A release said, “although the court generally honors plea agreements negotiated by the parties, the court found the sentencing options available strikingly deficient in this case.”

The document from the federal court also calls the act a “conspiracy to communicate restricted data” which was done for “selfish and greedy reasons … that could have easily caused harm to the Navy, the United States, and even the world.”

Trial dates for the two defendants have been set as a result. The pretrial hearing will be held Jan. 12, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.

The jury trial will be held five days later, on Jan. 17, at 9:00 a.m.

Court In West Virginia Police Excessive Force Suit: 'This Has To Stop'

A federal appeals court has vacated part of a finding that cleared five West Virginia police officers on qualified immunity grounds in an excessive force lawsuit, which was filed by the estate of a homeless black man shot 22 times.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled this week that shielding five Martinsburg police officers for their actions during the summary judgment stage of the lawsuit “would signal absolute immunity for fear-based use of deadly force, which we cannot accept.” The panel sent the case back to U.S. District Court for further proceedings.

Police had stopped Wayne Arnold Jones as he was walking on a Martinsburg street in March 2013. Jones was shot 22 times after police said the 50-year-old Stephens City, Virginia, resident shrugged off two jolts from a stun gun, fought with officers and stabbed one of them. The officers were white.

A Berkeley County grand jury declined to indict the officers in the fatal shooting. The U.S. Justice Department later said there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal civil rights charges against police. Civil rights leaders had pressed for the investigation.

U.S. District Judge Gina Groh dismissed a $200 million lawsuit filed by Jones’ family against the officers and the city. But the appeals panel said in reversing the granting of summary judgment to the officers on qualified immunity grounds that “a reasonable jury could find that Jones was both secured and incapacitated in the final moments before his death.”

“By shooting an incapacitated, injured person who was not moving, and who was laying on his knife, the police officers crossed a ‘bright line’ and can be held liable,” the panel wrote.

The panel noted that Jones’ death occurred about a year before the shooting by a white police officer of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.

“Seven years later, we are asked to decide whether it was clearly established that five officers could not shoot a man 22 times as he lay motionless on the ground,” the appeals court said. “Although we recognize that our police officers are often asked to make split-second decisions, we expect them to do so with respect for the dignity and worth of black lives.”

The court also referenced the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after white police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for several minutes. That death prompted protests by millions of people around the world.

“Although we recognize that our police officers are often asked to make split-second decisions, we expect them to do so with respect for the dignity and worth of black lives,” the panel said. “This has to stop.”