2 Navy sailors charged with leaking info to Chinese spy

Two U.S. Navy service members are accused of taking bribes to leak sensitive military information to the Chinese, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, also known as Thomas Zhao of Monterey Park, Calif., was arrested Wednesday by FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) special agents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a statement. He was charged with conspiracy and receipt of a bribe by a public official.

Also arrested was sailor Jinchao Wei, 22, who was assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship known as a Landing Helicopter Dock, equipped to carry a variety of helicopters.

Wei allegedly gave the Chinese 30 of the ship’s technical and mechanical manuals, as well as other sensitive information, and forked over details about Marine training and numbers for an upcoming exercise. He was charged with conspiracy to send national defense information to Chinese officials.

The two men were charged separately, and authorities did not say whether they had been dealing with the same Chinese operative.

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Wei’s charges came under a statute that’s part of the Espionage Act but is rarely used, which makes it a crime to gather or deliver information in service of a foreign government. He worked with the Chinese intelligence officer to share sensitive information while destroying evidence of its existence, earning thousands of dollars in the process.

Zhao used his U.S. security clearance at the Ventura County Naval Base in Port Hueneme from August 2021 through at least May 2023 to secretly record U.S. military information and hand over photographs and videos, prosecutors said. He also leaked detailed information about an upcoming large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region.

Zhao also allegedly photographed electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system at a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan, and fed the Chinese photo and video information about Navy operational security at the Naval Base in Ventura County and San Clemente Island, feds said.

Zhao delivered all this for the price of $14,866, the indictment alleged.

“By accepting cash bribes from a hostile nation whose leaders are intent on stealing American secrets, Zhao betrayed his military oath and sold out his country while he brazenly put Americans and our servicemen at risk,” said Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

“Zhao’s alleged actions are a reminder that American citizens with access to state secrets or intellectual property are being targeted by the Chinese government,” he added.

With News Wire Services