Sean M. Castellano US Navy via Getty Images
- A US Navy petty officer has been sentenced to more than 2 years in prison for spying for China.
- Wenheng Zhao, 26, snagged $15,000 in exchange for plans on a military exercise and radar blueprints.
- He was stationed at a naval base in Ventura County, California.
A US Navy sailor has been fined $5,500 and sentenced to 27 months in prison for leaking military secrets to Chinese intelligence, federal prosecutors said on Monday.
Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with an intelligence officer and one count of taking a bribe, per court documents seen by Business Insider.
Zhao, also known by the English name Thomas, was stationed at a naval base in Port Hueneme, a small beach city in Ventura County, California.
He took just under $15,000 in total bribes, which were paid over 14 separate instances between August 2021 and May 2023, per the Justice Department.
In return, he sent his Chinese contact confidential plans for a large military exercise in the Indo-Pacific, as well as blueprints and diagrams for a radar system deployed in Okinawa, Japan, officials said.
Prosecutors said Zhao would talk with the Chinese intelligence officer using encrypted messaging, and accused him of destroying evidence and trying to hide his communications with his handler.
Zhao is from Monterey Park, California, per prosecutors.
"Zhao chose to betray the oath he took to our country and put others at risk by providing sensitive US information to a PRC intelligence official," said Larissa Knapp, executive assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Security Branch.
Another US Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, also known as Patrick, was arrested at the same time as Zhao on similar charges.
Wei, 22, was working as a machinist's mate on board the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship based out of San Diego, per prosecutors.
He is accused of passing photos, videos, repair information, and documents about the Essex and other Navy vessels to a Chinese spy since February 2022.
Wei pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to the espionage charges against him.
Prosecutors have said that Wei was encouraged by his mother to continue his spying on the US Navy when he visited her in Wisconsin for Christmas in 2022.
She believed that the espionage would secure him a position in the Chinese Communist Party, federal prosecutors alleged.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.