Elizabeth Jo Shirley, of Hedgesville, West Virginia, has admitted to unlawfully retaining a document containing national defense information and committing international parental kidnapping, Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers and U.S. Attorney William J. Powell for the Northern District of West Virginia announced.
Shirley, 46, pled guilty to one count of “Willful Retention of National Defense Information” and one count of “International Parental Kidnapping.” Shirley admitted to unlawfully retaining a National Security Agency (NSA) document containing information classified at the TOP SECRET/SECRET COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (“TS/SCI”) level relating to the national defense that outlines intelligence information regarding a foreign government’s military and political issues. Shirley also admitted to removing her child, of whom she was the non-custodial parent, to Mexico with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of the custodial father’s parental rights.
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She doubled down on this betrayal when she sought to offer classified information to the Russian government. We are grateful for our law enforcement partners’ timely work to locate and arrest the defendant in Mexico.
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Justice.gov