Navy sailor formerly stationed in Norfolk found guilty of attempted espionage

Prosecutors alleged in a document filed April 9 with the court martial that Pedicini received money from the individual, paid through PayPal to his credit union account. Court documents provided by the Office of the Judge Advocate General do not say how much money Pedicini received.

Pedicini’s defense counsel filed a motion March 11 to suppress statements Pedicini made to NCIS investigators on May 19, 2023, when he was detained. The defense counsel’s motion argued Pedicini’s rights were violated because the investigators did not tell him what he was accused of at the start of the interrogation. Military law says failure to inform accused service members of the nature of the accusation renders a statement inadmissible against the accused, the defense lawyer said.

When asked if he knew why he was being questioned, Pedicini told investigators he believed it was about “classified material disclosure” and told them he had photographs of the front page of two classified documents on his phone, according to the defense’s motion. Investigators did not tell Pedicini he was suspected of espionage until more than an hour into the interrogation, his lawyer said.

Soon after, Pedicini told investigators he believed the individual he was communicating with may be from a Japanese research company and that he was sending information he found on Google, according to the court document.

But around 10 minutes after investigators told Pedicini about their espionage suspicions, the investigators’ recording device failed, according to the defense’s motion.

Afterward, an investigator provided a written summary of the unrecorded segment of the interrogation. An excerpt of the summary, included in the defense counsel’s motion, showed Pedicini said his contact had been requesting classified information for the past year and that he was instructed not to use the base Wi-Fi to send documents or photographs.

Court documents made available to The Virginian-Pilot do not include the judge’s ruling on the defense counsel’s motion to suppress statements made by Pedicini during the May 19 interrogation. An email sent to the defense counsel through the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps was not returned Wednesday.

Pedicini is a native of Tennessee who enlisted in January 2008, according to information provided by a Navy spokesman. The spokesman didn’t provide an age for him, but online records indicate he’s 34.

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