A U.S. Navy sailor based out of San Diego pleaded not guilty Thursday to espionage-related charges alleging that he sent sensitive military information to China.
Jinchao Wei, 22, also known as Patrick Wei, is accused of accepting thousands of dollars from a Chinese intelligence officer 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.
Wei is one of two Southern California sailors, the other working out of Ventura County, arrested for allegedly sending sensitive information to China.
Prosecutors allege Wei also provided the intelligence 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 Wednesday at Naval Base San Diego.
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 in February 2022, 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.
In San Diego federal court Thursday afternoon, Wei pleaded not guilty. In asking a judge to deny him bond, prosecutors alleged Wei passed information to the Chinese as recently as two days ago.
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.”
The other suspect, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, also known as Thomas Zhao, was arrested Wednesday and pleaded not guilty Thursday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles to charges of conspiracy and receipt of a bribe by a public official.
Zhao was working at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He allegedly sent operational plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region to a Chinese information officer. Zhao was also paid thousands of dollars for the information, prosecutors allege, after beginning work with the handler in August 2021.
Officials declined to comment on whether both sailors were communicating with the same intelligence officer.
In a statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said the two Southern California sailors “stand accused of violating the commitments they made to protect the United States and betraying the public trust, to the benefit of the (Chinese) government.”
FBI Assistant Director Suzanne Turner added, “These arrests are a reminder of the relentless, aggressive efforts of the People’s Republic of China to undermine our democracy and threaten those who defend it. The PRC compromised enlisted personnel to secure sensitive military information that could seriously jeopardize U.S. national security.”
– City News Service
Updated 5:55 p.m. Aug. 3, 2023