The U.S. Justice Department released the information below:
Michael Charles Schena, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, was
arrested on criminal charges related to his alleged participation in a
criminal conspiracy to gather, transmit, or lose national defense
information.
According to court documents, Schena is employed by the
U.S. Department of State (DOS) working out of DOS Headquarters in Washington,
D.C. Schena held a top secret security clearance and had access to information
up to the secret level within his DOS workspace. Beginning in or about April
2022, Schena allegedly communicated with people he met online through various
communication platforms and provided them with information they were not
authorized to receive. In return, Schena received payments. On Feb. 27, Schena
allegedly used a cellphone to take images of multiple documents, which were
displayed on the monitor of his classified computer and marked as “SECRET.”
Schena then allegedly left work and returned to his home in Alexandria, where
the cellphone was seized.
Schena is charged with conspiracy to gather, transmit, or lose
national defense information and faces a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. A
federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the
U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case with
assistance from the FBI Richmond Field Office, the Department of Justice’s
Office of Enforcement Operations, and the Department of State’s Diplomatic
Security Service Office of Counterintelligence.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Ben’Ary and Gavin R. Tisdale
for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Maria Fedor of the
National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are
prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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