A former government contractor who stole classified documents over the course of two decades now has to spend nearly 10 years in prison.
Harold Martin, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, who admitted to swiping national defense information since the late 1990s was sentenced to nine years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for willful retention of national defense information, the Justice Department announced July 19.
Martin, who had security clearances up to Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information, admitted to stealing and keeping sensitive and top secret documents starting in the late 1990s through August 2016. He then kept the information in his home and car.
“For nearly 20 years, Harold Martin betrayed the trust placed in him by stealing and retaining a vast quantity of highly classified national defense information entrusted to him,” U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur said in the release. “This sentence, which is one of the longest ever imposed in this type of case, should serve as a warning that we will find and prosecute government employees and contractors who flagrantly violate their duty to protect classified materials.”