A sailor assigned to a guided-missile destroyer based in Japan has been charged with espionage and communicating defense information to a foreign citizen, according to the charge sheet obtained by USNI News on Wednesday.
Chief Petty Officer Fire Controlman Bryce Pedicini (seen in the above photo),
assigned to the Japan-based destroyer USS Higgins (DDG-76),
was set to face a general court-martial this week, Navy officials said.
“A sailor assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) is suspected of mishandling classified documents and information. The incident remains under investigation and legal proceedings continue,” reads a statement from a U.S. Naval Surface Force spokesperson.
The Navy is accusing Pedicini of smuggling classified information from secure spaces and giving them to an employee of an unspecified foreign government between late November 2022 to February 2023 in Hampton Roads, Va. The type of information Pedicini is accused of sharing was unclear from the charging documents, which also allege that he attempted to pass on photos, including those of a computer screen designated to handle secret information, to a foreign national while in Yokosuka, Japan.
Based on the
charging documents, Pedicini was arrested shortly after the attempted espionage
incident in Japan. According to the charging documents, Pedicni has been in
pre-trial confinement since May 19, or for more than nine months.
The charges were
referred for a general court-martial on Jan. 18, with the U.S. Naval Surface
Force as the convening authority.
You can read
the rest of the piece via the below link:
Japan-Based Chief Petty Officer Charged with Espionage - USNI News
Note: Above is a U.S. Navy photo of the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins.
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