US Navy sailor Jinchao Wei’s mother encouraged him to pass military details to China, prosecutor says
- China-born Jinchao Wei allegedly worked with a Chinese intelligence officer while in the process of becoming an American citizen
- Sailor’s mother allegedly encouraged him because it might get him a job someday with China’s Communist Party
The mother of a US Navy sailor charged with providing sensitive military information to China encouraged him to cooperate with a Chinese intelligence officer, telling her son it might help him get a job with the Chinese government someday, the prosecution said.
Assistant US Attorney Fred Sheppard made the accusation at a hearing in federal court in San Diego in urging the judge not to release Jinchao Wei, who was arrested last week on a rarely used espionage charge.
Prosecutors did not name the woman in court.
Prosecutors have not said whether the two were courted or paid by the same Chinese intelligence officer as part of a larger scheme.
The Justice Department charged Wei, 22, under a Espionage Act statute that makes it a crime to gather or deliver information to aid a foreign government.