A former defense contractor was sentenced to 41 months in prison for unlawfully retaining classified material while serving in the Navy and while working for a defense contractor, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Weldon Marshall, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully retaining national defense information in March and was sentenced Wednesday. In addition to his prison sentence, he received one year of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.
Marshall served in the Navy from 1999 to 2004 and had access to classified information during that time, including material describing U.S. nuclear command, control, and communications.
The Texas man was accused of downloading classified documents and other information classified as Secret onto a CD labeled “My Secret TACAMO Stuff” and illegally storing the CD at a house he owned in Liverpool, Texas.
After leaving the Navy, Marshall worked for several defense contractors, providing IT services on military bases in Afghanistan. During his employment with the companies, he again had access to classified information, the Justice Department said.
While working overseas and in Afghanistan, Marshall shipped hard drives to his house in Liverpool that contained classified documents and writings. Those records, classified at the Secret level, contained information about flight and ground operations in Afghanistan.
Marshall has held a Secret security clearance since 2002 and a Top Secret security clearance since roughly 2003, the agency said.
According to the Justice Department, the court noted while sentencing Marshall that he “violated an important trust the military had placed in him.”
