A judge on Tuesday sentenced former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira to 15 years in prison after he admitted to posting classified military information online.
Teixeira, who was 21 when he was arrested in April 2023, pleaded guilty to six charges of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act in March. Prosecutors have argued the case is "one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history."
The former national guardsman reportedly uploaded hundreds of pages of sensitive military intelligence, including an assessment of the Russian and Ukrainian militaries, to the Discord group "Thug Shaker Central." The postings went unnoticed for months, but he was eventually warned by his superiors about his handling of classified documents.
"You posted on the internet on Discord hundreds of documents over a period of a year," Judge Indira Talwani told Teixeria on Tuesday, CBS News reported. "I don't find any ambiguity here as to what you were doing being wrong."
Federal prosecutors requested Talwani sentence Teixeira to nearly 17 years, but defense attorneys requested an 11-year sentence.
Teixeria is also facing a court martial in March over allegedly disobeying direct orders, and obstructing justice.
An Air Force Inspector General report also found that people in Teixeria's unit failed to take adequate action following at least four separate security incidents, and "enabled" the leaks by not monitoring his access to classified information.
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