Espionage Charges Levied Against MD Man For Sharing Top Secret Files

WASHINGTON, DC — A former federal employee from Silver Spring faces a possible sentence of death or of up to life in prison for taking top secret national defense information and giving it to an official with a foreign government, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday by the Justice Department.

Abraham Teklu Lemma, a 50-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent, was charged with two counts of espionage for "gathering or delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government; conspiracy to gather or deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government; and having unauthorized possession of national defense information and willfully retaining it," according to court documents.

As a former IT administrator for the State Department and a management analyst at the Justice Department, Lemma had a top secret clearance, which gave him access to classified systems. Between Dec. 19, 2022, and Aug. 7, 2023, Lemma copied classified information he gathered from intelligence reports and removed the classified markings from them, according to court documents. He then took the information, which was no longer marked "secret" or "top secret," from secure locations at the State Department.

The materials that Lemma took contained information about a specific country and/or geographic area, according to the charges. Acting counter to established protocol and without authorization, he copied, removed, and kept the information.

Lemma was also charged with using an encrypted application to send classified national defense information to an official in a foreign country regarding the specific country's intelligence service, according to court documents.

Authorities say Lemma was interested and willing to help provide the foreign official with the information. In one exchange, the foreign official said, “[i]t’s time to continue ur support.” Lemma replied, "Roger that!" The official praised Lemma's assistance, saying “[a]lways this beautiful country have [sic] some special people who scarify [sic] their life to protect our proud history. You always remembered. It doesn’t matter the results.”

On the two espionage charges, Lemma faces a possible death sentence or up to a life in prison, authorities say. For the retention charge, he may be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison. A federal judge will determine Lemma's punishment using U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, according to court documents.