Former FBI Analyst Sentenced on Espionage Charges

Ex-Marine and FBI analyst worked under Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney.

ByABC News
July 18, 2007, 1:56 PM

July 18, 2007 — -- An ex-Marine who worked under Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage.

Leandro Aragoncillo, 48, pleaded guilty to charges of espionage and transferring classified information to top officials in the Philippine government in May 2006. Prosecutors said Aragoncillo sent information to his contacts in the Philippines as part of a bigger plot to subvert and ultimately cause the downfall of that country's government.

The former Marine, who had gone on to a career as an FBI intelligence analyst, admitted at his plea hearing last year that he had removed some of the classified information from the office of the vice president between approximately October 2000 and February 2002. Documents included some given "top secret" classification, which related to terrorist threats to targets of U.S. interest in the Philippines.

Aragoncillo admitted that he had transferred secret national security documents to his sources in the Philippines. He also admitted to a January 2001 trip to that country for a meeting with his co-conspirators and a visit to the official residence of the president of the Philippines.

"Those charged with protecting the nation have a special responsibility to maintain their oath of loyalty to the United States," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein said in a statement. "As a former U.S. Marine and FBI analyst, Aragoncillo betrayed that oath, violated our espionage laws and now must suffer the consequences of his actions."

Aragoncillo will also pay a $40,000 fine.

A naturalized U.S. citizen born in the Philippines, Aragoncillo was working as an FBI intelligence analyst at Fort Monmouth, N.J., at the time of his 2005 arrest.

Aragoncillo was arrested the same day as Michael Ray Aquino, a former Philippines national police official to whom Aragoncillo passed classified information.

A federal judge sentenced Aquino to 76 months in federal prison Tuesday for his admitted role in the scheme unlawfully possessing and retaining documents and information relating to the national defense.