A former Navy leader has been given an 18 year sentence, for charges related to attempted espionage
A Naval Base San Diego courtroom sentenced a Navy chief convicted of selling military secrets to 18 years in prison with a dishonorable discharge Wednesday.
Former chief petty officer fire controlman Bryce Pedicini was convicted of attempted espionage, failure to obey a general order, and court martial attempted violation. When put into pre-trial custody last year, he was posted to the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins in Japan.
A foreign government official received secret and national defense information from Pedicini between November 2022 and May 2023, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He met the foreign official "under the guise of writing research papers." The Navy described this as a strategy U.S. adversaries increasingly use to access classified and unclassified documents.
Charges allege that Pedicini smuggled images of a secret computer screen to a foreign diplomat in Yokosuka, Japan, last May. The Navy says the sailor believed the exchange could hurt the U.S. but has not disclosed the documents.
Since joining the Navy in 2009, Pedicini has served on numerous ships and garnered medals.
The judge, Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart, ordered Pedicini to serve his sentences consecutively. Prosecutors requested on Tuesday that the chief be sentenced to 52 years by stacking the sentences consecutively.
On Tuesday, the defense requested for no more than 18 months in prison.