The U.S. Justice Department
released the below information:
Mohan L. Nirala, 52, of
Laurel, Maryland, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in prison for
willful retention of national defense information.
Acting Assistant Attorney
General for National Security Mary B. McCord, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for
the Eastern District of Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson
of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office made the announcement after sentencing by
U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.
Nirala pleaded guilty on
Sept. 16, 2016. According to the statement of facts filed with the plea
agreement, Nirala was a full-time government employee and imagery scientist at
the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from February 2009 to
2015. On Jan 10, 2014, eight days after his clearances were suspended, FBI
agents recovered over 20 classified documents at Nirala’s home during the
execution of a federal search warrant. A review of these documents determined
that they ranged in classification from Secret to Top Secret. During the
search, Nirala falsely stated that he did not bring home any classified
documents.
According to the statement of
facts, on March 8, 2016, agents arrived at Nirala’s home to execute an arrest
warrant. After Nirala failed to answer the door, agents made a forced entry and
found Nirala in the basement before taking him into custody. During a sweep of
the basement, agents discovered a white duct-taped box underneath the basement
stairs. Inside the box were over 500 pages of documents classified at Top
Secret and Secret levels.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Ronald L. Walutes of the Eastern District of Virginia and Special Assistant
U.S. Attorney Brandon L. Van Grack of the National Security Division’s
Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment