Former NSA employee from Colorado pleads guilty to trying to send classified documents to Russia
A former National Security Agency employee, originally from Colorado Springs, pleaded guilty Monday in a federal case where he was accused of trying to send classified national security documents to Russia.
Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 31, was charged last year with attempting to transmit national defense information to an officer or agent of a foreign government.
Court documents show Dalke sent classified documents to an undercover FBI agent in exchange for $85,000. Dalke believed that the FBI employee worked with the Russian SVR -- its foreign intelligence service.
Federal prosecutors agreed to not ask for more than about 22 years in prison for Dalke. His sentencing is scheduled for April, but the judge will ultimately decide the punishment, which could include life in prison.
The undercover agent in contact with Dalke asked him to send the documents from an encrypted email.
"I am very happy to finally provide this information to you ... I look forward to our friendship and shared benefit. Please let me know if there are desired documents to find and I will try when I return to my main office," Dalke said in the email, according to the FBI, which arrested Dalke on Sept. 28, moments after he sent the files.
Dalke is being represented by a federal public defender, which doesn't comment on cases.