SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A San Diego sailor accused of selling military secrets to a Chinese intelligence officer was in court Tuesday for a hearing to determine whether he will remain in custody.
Jinchao Wei, 22, also known as Patrick Wei, is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for information concerning "the defense and weapon capabilities of U.S. Navy ships, potential vulnerabilities of these ships, and information related to ship movement," according to a grand jury indictment.
Prosecutors allege he also provided the Chinese officer with photographs of military hardware and details about an upcoming maritime warfare exercise involving U.S. Marines.
Wei, who was assigned as a machinist's mate on the USS Essex, was arrested last Wednesday at Naval Base San Diego as he was arriving for work.
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U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said Wei's prosecution represents the first time an espionage-related charge has been filed against someone in the Southern District of California.
Grossman said that per the indictment, Wei was approached by a Chinese intelligence officer while his application to become a U.S. citizen was pending.
"Wei admitted to his handler that he knew this activity would be viewed as spying and could affect his pending citizenship application," Grossman said. "Whether it was greed or for some other reason, Wei allegedly chose to turn his back on his newly adopted country and enter a conspiracy with his Chinese handler."
The indictment alleges that beginning last year, Wei transmitted "documents, sketches, plans, notes, and other information" to the handler, who instructed Wei to destroy any evidence substantiating their relationship. Some of the information he allegedly sent included technical data for the USS Essex and other amphibious assault ships.
When Wei was first approached by the Chinese intelligence officer, he allegedly told a fellow sailor he was being recruited by an intelligence agency for "quite obviously (expletive) espionage," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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He pleaded not guilty last week and was ordered detained by a San Diego federal judge, but will appear in court Tuesday afternoon for further discussions on whether he could be released from custody.
Wei's arrest coincided with the arrest last week of another U.S. Navy sailor based out of Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme.
That sailor, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, faces similar accusations of sending sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer, including operational plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region.
Both men allegedly received thousands of dollars for the information they're accused of passing along, but officials declined to comment on whether both sailors were communicating with the same intelligence officer.
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