Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme Sailor Sentenced For Selling Sensitive Information To Chinese Agent
Monday January 08, 2024
Updated--The U-S Attorney's Office says a sailor at Naval Base Ventura County at Port Hueneme was sentenced Monday after admitting taking bribes in exchange for turning over sensitive U-S military information to an intelligence officer for the People's Republic of China.
26-year-old Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, also known as Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, was sentenced by a federal judge to 27 months in prison.
He could have faced up to 20 years.
He was also fined $5,500.
In October Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe.
Federal prosecutors say that he received almost $15,000 between August 2021 through at least May 2023 from an intelligence officer from the People's Republic of China posing as a maritime economic researcher in exchange for information, photos, and videos of such things as large-scale U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region.
The information regarded specific location and timing of Naval force movements, amphibious landings, maritime operations, and logistics support.
It's also included photos of electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.
The intelligence officer directed Zhao to conceal their relationship and to "destroy evidence of the unlawful and corrupt scheme."
“Zhao betrayed his country and disgraced himself when he accepted bribes from an intelligence officer with the People’s Republic of China,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “As a result, he has now been removed from the military and will serve time in federal prison. Today’s sentence shows that my office will swiftly act to root out and punish those who seek to undermine our nation’s security.”
“Mr. Zhao abdicated his oath to the United States and put American troops in harm's way when he accessed and handed over sensitive information to China for a payout,” said Donald Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. “Today's sentence should make it very clear that the FBI and our partners in the military and at the U.S. Attorney's Office will hold accountable anyone who succumbs to advances by the Chinese or any U.S. adversary, and in doing so, puts American secrets and American lives at risk.”
“Mr. Zhao betrayed his oath to the United States and deserves to be held fully accountable for accepting bribes in exchange for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Angel Cruz of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Office of Special Projects. “NCIS will continue to leverage its unique law enforcement and counterintelligence authorities to vigorously pursue those who attempt to compromise our national security information. We are grateful to the FBI and Department of Justice for their substantial assistance to this lengthy investigation and greatly appreciate our continued partnership.”
