Couple plead guilty to Cuba spying, will go to prison
By LESLEY CLARK
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- A retired State Department employee will spend life in
prison without parole after he and his wife pleaded guilty Friday to
serving as covert agents for Cuba for three decades.
Walter Kendall Myers, 72 - known to his Cuban handlers as "Agent 202" -
agreed to a life sentence without parole and to cooperate with the
federal government. His wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71 - known as
"Agent 123" and "Agent E-634" - agreed to a sentence of between six
years and 71/2 years in prison, and also will continue to cooperate with
the government.
Prosecutors said the tough sentences - which will be imposed in April
after the couple brief government investigators - should send a warning
to others looking to divulge state secrets.
"Today's guilty plea and impending sentence close the book on this
couple's contemptuous betrayal of our nation," said Acting U.S. Attorney
Channing Phillips. "Thanks to a well-planned and executed
counterintelligence investigation that included unprecedented
cooperation among multiple U.S. agencies, the Myerses' serious
transgressions of compromising our nation's classified secrets will now
be appropriately addressed with significant prison sentences."
The pair also agreed to pay the government $1.7 million - the salary
Walter Kendall Myers made while working at the State Department. They'll
forfeit their Washington apartment, a 37-foot sailboat and various bank
and investment accounts.
Clad in dark blue jail jumpsuits and long-sleeved shirts, they appeared
to be in good spirits, with Walter Kendall Myers smiling broadly to a
group of relatives sitting in the front row of the courtroom. Gwendolyn
Myers joked to U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton that she was
"only 71" to her husband's 72, and Walter Kendall Myers complimented
their legal representation as "thorough and balanced."
Then Walton asked if they were pleading guilty because they were guilty.
"Yes," they each answered.
Through their lawyer, Bradford Berenson, the Myerses said they pleaded
guilty to conduct they undertook "not out of selfish motive or hope of
personal gain, but out of conscience and personal commitment."
"They always understood that they might someday be called to account for
that conduct and always have been prepared to accept full responsibility
for it," the statement said. "They have done so today. They stand ready
to accept the punishment the court will impose with grace and dignity.
In the meantime, they have agreed to continue their efforts to cooperate
with the United States law enforcement and intelligence communities."
The case presented by prosecutors was something out of spy novel,
complete with code names, messages delivered via shortwave radio and
shopping carts in the local supermarket.
Prosecutors say the Myerses first agreed to serve as clandestine agents
for Cuba in 1979, with Walter Kendall Myers securing a job at the State
Department to pass along information he obtained on the job.
In a search of the Myerses' home, investigators say they found a
shortwave radio, sailing charts for Cuban waters, a travel guide to Cuba
and a book titled "On Becoming Cuban."
Prosecutors also say that in 2006 and 2007, Walter Kendall Myers used
his State Department computer to view more than 200 intelligence
documents relating to Cuba, though Myers' area of expertise at the
department was Western Europe.
The Myerses were charged in June with wire fraud, serving as illegal
agents for Cuba and conspiring to deliver classified information.
On Friday, Walter Kendall Myers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit
espionage and two counts of wire fraud. The espionage charge could carry
a death sentence, but prosecutors hadn't sought one.
Gwendolyn Myers pleaded guilty to conspiring to gather and transmit
national defense information. She'd faced more than 17 years in prison.
They asked Judge Walton to ask the federal Bureau of Prisons to
incarcerate them as close together as possible.
Couple plead guilty to Cuba spying, will go to prison - Politics AP -
MiamiHerald.com (20 November 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1344603.html
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