On January 12, 2026, a federal judge in San Diego sentenced former U.S. Navy sailor Jinchao “Patrick” Wei, 25, to 200 months in prison for spying for China one of the longest recent espionage sentences tied to U.S. naval information.
Wei served as a machinist’s mate assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at Naval Base San Diego, and prosecutors said he held a U.S. security clearance that gave him access to restricted systems and sensitive technical information. The government’s case was that he sold national defense information to Chinese intelligence personnel for more than $12,000, passing along a stream of technical manuals and operational material.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the recruitment began on February 14, 2022, when Wei was contacted through social media by someone posing as a “naval enthusiast” linked to a Chinese shipbuilding entity an approach prosecutors framed as a front for Chinese intelligence tasking.
What makes the case especially damaging, prosecutors argued, is how early Wei recognized what was happening. DOJ says that on February 22, 2022, Wei told a fellow sailor he believed he was being targeted by Chinese intelligence and that it was “quite obviously” espionage mentioning offers of money to report on which ships were in port. His friend urged him to delete the contact. Instead, Wei shifted communications to an encrypted messaging app and continued.
From March 2022 through August 2023, prosecutors said Wei provided a steady flow of sensitive material: photos and videos of the USS Essex, the locations of various U.S. Navy ships, descriptions of the Essex’s defensive capabilities, and “thousands of pages” of technical and operational information pulled from restricted Navy systems.
Earlier DOJ charging documents describe the transfers in concrete batches. Prosecutors alleged that in June 2022 Wei sent around 30 technical and mechanical manuals many marked with export-control warnings and was paid about $5,000 for that delivery. They said a further set of manuals followed in August 2022, and that additional material included a weapons control systems manual and documents detailing ship layout and internal departments. By the time of sentencing, DOJ said Wei had sold roughly 60 technical and operating manuals, along with additional photos and papers.
The government also detailed concealment methods that made the relationship look less like a one-off leak and more like a covert arrangement. DOJ said Wei used multiple encrypted apps, deleted accounts and messages, relied on disappearing “dead drop” file transfers, and even accepted a new phone and computer supplied through the handler.
Wei was arrested as he arrived for work at Naval Base San Diego in early August 2023, and the case proceeded through federal court to a jury trial.
DOJ reports that in August 2025, a federal jury convicted him of six offenses, including conspiracy to commit espionage, espionage, and violations related to the unlawful export of defense technical data under the Arms Export Control Act / ITAR. He was acquitted on one naturalization fraud count.
At sentencing, DOJ and investigators described the case as a betrayal of oath and shipmates. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wei “betrayed his country” and compromised national security. The FBI and NCIS emphasized deterrence and the operational danger of handing over technical details tied to warship systems.
In court reporting, prosecutors used harsher language, calling him a “traitor,” while AP noted Wei’s own written message to the judge apologizing and citing “introversion and loneliness” as part of what led him into the situation.
The case matters because what sounds like “manuals” can function as a roadmap of strengths and vulnerabilities how a ship moves, how it powers, how it fights, how it recovers from damage. Combined with ship-location tasking, prosecutors argued, this was not harmless paperwork but a package of operational advantage sold cheaply and knowingly. In DOJ’s telling, Wei admitted after arrest that he understood his actions were illegal and when asked to describe what he had done, he answered with a single word: “espionage.”
