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| Fifth Column |
| Ex-Army sergeant sentenced for trying to give state secrets to China after mental health spiral |
| 2025-10-29 |
| [FoxNews] A former Army sergeant who once held top secret clearance at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state was sentenced Tuesday to four years in federal prison for attempting to provide national defense information to China. Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, pleaded guilty in June to attempting to deliver and retain classified material, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour also ordered three years of supervised release. Schmidt's sentencing comes as U.S. authorities warn of growing efforts by China to recruit or exploit former military personnel with access to sensitive information. "As a retired Army officer, I find it unconscionable for a former soldier to put his colleagues and country at risk by peddling secret information and intelligence access to a hostile foreign power," Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said. Just a little bias Schmidt enlisted in 2015 and served in the Army’s 109th Military Intelligence Battalion until 2020. Prosecutors said he had access to both secret and top secret systems and later contacted Chinese consular officials after leaving the Army. Court records show Schmidt created multiple documents based on classified material and offered them to Chinese security services. He also kept a device capable of accessing secure Army networks, which prosecutors said he offered to Chinese officials. After leaving the Army, Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong in March 2020 and continued corresponding with Chinese contacts. He lived there for more than three years before flying to San Francisco in October 2023, where he was arrested. He pleaded guilty in June 2025 and was sentenced Tuesday in Seattle. Coughenour said he weighed "the seriousness of Schmidt’s crime and his mental health at the time." A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital the judge considered Schmidt’s mental health as a mitigating factor during sentencing. The agency said Schmidt’s separation from the Army followed a mental health episode, and officials added that no classified material was believed to have reached China. If not a known wolf then he had a ticket to leave the reservation. Unwanted and unwatched. Related: Joint Base Lewis-McChord: 2025-09-19 Four service members [160th] were aboard military helicopter that crashed near Joint Base Lewis-McChord: Army Joint Base Lewis-McChord: 2025-08-04 Golden rockets of the Pentagon Joint Base Lewis-McChord: 2025-06-05 US army vets arrested with Nazi paraphernalia, arsenal of guns and bombs |
| Posted by:Skidmark |