WASHINGTON — A Maryland man is facing two espionage charges for allegedly delivering defense information to foreign leaders.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, a 50-year-old naturalized citizen from Ethiopia, is being charged with gathering and delivering national defense information to help aid a foreign government.
According to the Department of Justice, Lemma has held various positions throughout several U.S. Government agencies since at least July 2019. He has been working the night shift as a government-contracted I.T. administrator for the Department of State, since 2021. During the day, he also worked at the Department of Justice as a contract management analyst; he began that role in May.
Lemma has held a top-secret security clearance since 2020. As an I.T. administrator at DOS, he has access to classified systems and documents. He is also authorized to move classified material between systems with approval.
According to court documents, Lemma accessed classified documents without authorization on numerous occasions. Between December 19, 2022, and August 7, 2023, Lemma copied and pasted information from at least 85 Intelligence Reports related to a specific country. Records show that he also downloaded and printed several secret and top secret documents related to the same country.
Court documents do not reveal which country Lemma is accused of stealing information for. However, it does state that on February 9, 2022, he traveled to the “relevant country” where he has family ties and returned back to work at the DOS and DOJ in July 2022. Since his return in July, Lemma downloaded over 100 documents containing classified information onto disks.
Throughout 2023, Lemma copied portions of Intelligence Reports access into Word documents and removed classified markings from the pasted text. Between August and September of 2022, Lemma transferred the classified information to the relevant country and neighboring countries via an encrypted messaging app.
In September 2022, using the same encrypted messaging app, Lemma and a Foreign Official reportedly sent photos of a “military compound.”
“It’s time to continue ur support,” said the Foreign Official.
Lemma responded, “Roger That!”
During the investigation, Lemma’s bank accounts were under review. It revealed that between January 1, 2022, and July 17, 2023, Lemma deposited large sums of money into several accounts totaling $55,000. To avoid the money being reported to the U.S. Treasury Department, he would deposit less than $10,000 during each trip.
According to a release from the DOJ, Lemma is now facing two espionage charges carrying a potential sentence of death. A sentencing date has not been set yet.