A federal district court in California sentenced a former United States Navy sailor on Monday to 27 months in prison for taking thousands of US dollars in bribes and providing Chinese intelligence agencies with "controlled and classified" details of large-scale US military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, the US Department of Justice said.
In October, Wenheng Zhao, also known as Thomas Zhao, pleaded guilty to conspiring with a foreign adversary and accepting bribes. Prosecutors said he had been given nearly $15,000 in 14 separate payments.
"Zhao betrayed his country and disgraced himself when he accepted bribes from an intelligence officer" with China, United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a Justice Department release.
Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, who was arrested in August, worked as a petty officer at a US naval base in Ventura County, California. He was born in China, immigrated to the US in 2009, became a naturalised citizen in 2012 and enlisted in the US Navy in 2017.
According to court filings, Zhao "collected" and "transmitted" photographs and videos between August 2021 and May 2023 that included specific locations and timing of naval movements, along with information of logistics and operational support.
The indictment also said that the stolen material included diagrams and blueprints for a radar system installed on a US military base in Okinawa, Japan.
Wenheng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to espionage charges in October, was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Monday. (Photo: Handout)
Zhao was facing a maximum punishment of 20 years for the crimes. He has been in custody since August and his sentence will be calculated from the day of his arrest. He was also fined $5,500.
Donald Alway of the FBI's Los Angeles field office said that the sentencing of Zhao should make it "very clear" that anyone "who succumbs to advances by the Chinese or any US adversary" would be held accountable.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said on Monday that it was not aware of the details of this case. However, it added, in recent years the "US government and media" had "hyped up cases of 'espionage' related to China, many of which later proved to be unfounded".
"China firmly opposes the US side's groundless slander and smear of China," the embassy said in its emailed response.
Also in August, a San Diego-based US sailor Jinchao Wei, also known as Patrick Wei, was arrested on similar charges of pilfering US defence information for China. Prosecutors have not said if Wei, 22, was in touch with Zhao or if he was working for the same intelligence officer.
Jinchao Wei, also arrested in August on espionage charges, has pleaded not guilty; his next court hearing is scheduled for March 18. (Photo: Handout)
Wei, who was born in China and became a naturalised US citizen in 2022, pleaded not guilty. The court has scheduled a status hearing on further pre-trial motions on March 18.
US officials believe that the two cases are further proof of Beijing's espionage operations on American soil.
"The intelligence services of the People's Republic of China actively target clearance holders across the military, seeking to entice them with money to provide sensitive government information," Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, said after Zhao pleaded guilty in October.