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Pentagon Leaker Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison


Former member of the Massachusetts National Guard Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing and sharing classified documents from the Pentagon.

In March, Teixeira pleaded guilty to “six counts of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information.”

Before sentencing, Teixeira stated, “All of the responsibility falls on my shoulders, And I accept what that may bring.”

The Judge noted during sentencing that despite receiving extensive training on how to handle classified documents but shared Teixeira decided to leak them anyway.

Here’s what NBC News reported:

Former Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years for stealing classified information from the Pentagon and sharing it online, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts announced.

Teixeira was sentenced before Judge Indira Talwani in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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Attorneys representing Teixeira didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In court, the airman apologized, according to coverage of the hearing by NBC affiliate WJAR of Providence, R.I.

“All of the responsibility falls on my shoulders,” Teixeira said. “And I accept what that may bring.”

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts argued for a 200-month sentence, or roughly 17 years, the maximum under an agreement between Teixeira and federal prosecutors.

Talwani noted the document leak happened after extensive training that covered the consequences for leaks and after Teixeira was warned about the way he handled classified material, according to WJAR.

“Despite that, you posted on the internet hundreds of documents over the period of a year,” the judge said.

Per ABC News:

Jack Teixeira, the former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who prosecutors said “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Judge Indira Talwani issued the sentence on Tuesday in Boston federal court.

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Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information.



 

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