A former FBI intelligence analyst who worked under two vice presidents could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison Wednesday for passing secret U.S. documents in a plot to topple the Philippine government.

Leandro Aragoncillo, 48, who worked as a military aide to vice presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney before joining the FBI as a civilian employee at Fort Monmouth, pleaded in 2006 to four charges.

The most serious charge, conspiracy to transmit national defense information, can carry the death penalty, but under his plea agreement, Aragoncillo instead faces 15 to 20 years in prison.

A co-conspirator, former Philippine National Police officer Michael Ray Aquino, was sentenced Tuesday to six years and four months in prison. He pleaded guilty last year in a deal that spared him the possibility of a life sentence. Both men were arrested in September 2005.

The plot involved the theft of classified national defense documents from the White House and the FBI.

Aquino, 41, admitted possessing secret documents containing information on the United States' confidential intelligence sources and methods, as well as information on terrorist threats to U.S. military personnel in the Philippines.

http://www.1010wins.com/pages/693964.php?contentType=4&contentId=699291
Sentencing Scheduled for Former FBI Analyst

NEWARK, N.J. — A former FBI intelligence analyst who worked under two vice presidents could be sentenced to two decades in prison on Wednesday for passing secret U.S. documents in an effort to topple the Philippine government.

Leandro Aragoncillo, 48, who worked as a military aide to vice presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney before joining the FBI as a civilian employee at Fort Monmouth, pleaded guilty to four charges in May 2006.

The most serious charge, conspiracy to transmit national defense information, can carry the death penalty. But under his plea agreement, Aragoncillo faces 15 to 20 years in prison.

A coconspirator, Michael Ray Aquino, was sentenced Tuesday to six years and four months in prison. Aquino, 41, was a former Philippine National Police officer who pleaded guilty in July 2006 in a deal that spared him a life term had he been convicted of espionage.

He admitted possessing secret documents containing information on the United States’ confidential intelligence sources and methods, as well as information on terrorist threats to U.S. military personnel in the Philippines.

Both cases were handled by U.S. District Judge William H. Walls.

Prosecutors said Aragoncillo, who entered the vice president’s office in 1999, was recruited in 2000 by opposition forces and began working with Aquino in early 2005.

Aragoncillo admitted passing information to Aquino and opposition politicians in his homeland who wanted to oust Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Aragoncillo is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the Philippines.

The plot involved the theft of classified national defense documents from the White House and the FBI.

Recipients included former President Joseph Estrada, who was ousted six years ago; Panilo Lacson, an opposition senator; and former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, according to court documents.

Estrada and Lacson have acknowledged receiving information from Aquino or Aragoncillo, but deny any wrongdoing.

Aquino was once a senior officer under Lacson in the Philippines National Police. He fled to the United States to escape murder charges in 2001 and lived with his wife and son in Queens, N.Y. After serving his prison term, he is likely to be deported.

Aquino and Aragoncillo were arrested in September 2005.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/pdffiles/aragcomplaint0912.pdf
Criminal Complaint - Leandro Aragoncillo and Michael Ray Aquino

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/arag0504_r.htm
The United States Attorney’s Office - District of New Jersey
—Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, admitted that he regularly transferred to his Philippine contacts national security documents classified as Secret-—

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/arag0912_r.htm
FBI Intelligence Analyst Arrested, Accused of Passing Classified ...

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/pdffiles/AragoncilloIndictmentFinal.pdf
LEANDRO ARAGONCILLO, : 18 USC §§ 794(a) and (c) a/k/a “Juan Miguel”

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/aqui0724_r.htm
Michael Ray Aquino, 40, admitted that beginning in January 2005, he received documents and information from former Marine Leandro Aragoncillo that contained ...

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/aqui1006_r.htm
Former Philippines National Police Official Indicted
... Also arrested that day was Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury in Gloucester County, New Jersey, an FBI analyst at Fort Monmouth Information Technology Center

10-06-05 — Aquino, Michael Ray — Indictment — News Release

Former Philippines National Police Official Indicted

NEWARK - Former Philippines National Police official Michael Ray Aquino was indicted today for conspiring with a former FBI intelligence analyst in the passing of classified information to current and former officials in the Philippines, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The Indictment charges Michael Ray Aquino, 39, with one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, and one count of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Aquino, a Filipino national in the United States on an expired visa, was arrested on a criminal complaint at his residence in Queens, N.Y. on Sept. 10. Aquino remains in federal custody at the Passaic County Jail. Also arrested that day was Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury in Gloucester County, New Jersey, an FBI analyst at Fort Monmouth Information Technology Center (FMITC) in Monmouth County since July 2004. Aragoncillo is being held at the Hudson County Jail.

Aquino will not be appearing in court today. An arraignment on the Indictment will likely take place sometime in the next two weeks before a U.S. District Judge.

The Indictment, which closely mirrors the accusations contained in the criminal complaint, accuses Aquino of conspiring to share information received from an FBI intelligence analyst with current and former high-ranking officials of the Philippines. Neither the complaint nor today’s Indictment specifically identify those officials.

The FBI analyst worked at the FMITC and used an FBI database to search, download and print more than 150 classified documents and other sensitive information concerning the Philippines, according to the Indictment. The analyst, identified in the Indictment only by his initials, transmitted the information to Aquino and other top former and current officials in the Philippines.

The classifified materials were allegedly transmitted by the FBI analyst to Aquino and others via his personal, non-government email accounts using computers at FMITC and his home. The FBI analyst, Aquino, the three unidentified Filipino public officials and others communicated with one another using e-mail, telephone and text messages, according to the Indictment.

Aquino served as the Deputy Director of the Philippines National Police - Intelligence Group, and a Senior Superintendent of the now-disbanded Philippines Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

Aquino was arrested in New York by Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying a tourist visa issued to Aquino on July 7, 2001. Following the arrest, the now-former FBI analyst appeared at ICE offices in New York and identified himself to agents as an FBI employee and friend of Aquino, according to the criminal complaint. He subsequently called an ICE agent to inquire on the status of the investigation, prompting an ICE agent to notify the FBI about the FBI analyst’s inquiries.

The FBI, among other things, then commenced an audit of the analyst’s use of the FBI database, revealing that he had conducted extensive unauthorized searches concerning the Philippines and either printed or downloaded classified documents.

Additional records obtained from Yahoo! and Hotmail revealed that as early as January 2005 and continuing into this September, the analyst used his Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts to transmit classified documents and information to individuals in the Philippines, including the current and former public officials in the Philippines referenced above.

Despite indictment, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wiser, Jr., in Newark, with the investigation leading to the indictment.

The case is being prosecuted by Stuart Rabner, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl H. Buch.

- end -

Defense Attorney:

for Aquino: Mark Berman, Esq. Newark

I think it is related.

https://www.jagcnet.army.mil/JAGCNETInternet/Homepages/AC/ArmyFraud.nsf/(JAGCNetDocID)/69F0C8C7A6A4129885257244004502F2/$FILE/PFA%20Newletter%20Issue%2063.pdf
United States Army Legal Services Agency
Procurement Fraud Branch
Contract & Fiscal Law Division
Army Procurement Fraud Advisor’s Newsletter

Conspiracy (Fort Monmouth).

On 11 September 2006, the Army SDO suspended Mr.
Michael Rzeplinski, Ms. Connie Davidson, Ms. Kirsten Davidson, and R-ZED Engineering Services (ZED). Mr. Rzeplinski worked at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, as a supervisory engineer for the Army. Ms. Connie Davidson worked for GSA as the lead customer relations manager with the Federal Technology Service (FTS), a division of GSA that
provides IT services to various federal agencies, including the Army. Ms. Kirsten Davidson is the daughter of Ms. Connie Davidson. Mr. Rzeplinski arranged for a project to be awarded to two Government contractors to provide IT-related services. He asked both contractors to hire Ms. Kirsten Davidson to perform computer-related services under his direction, and the contractors then billed the Army for her “services.” Mr. Rzeplinski approved approximately $838,710 in payments under this arrangement, although no work was actually performed by Ms. Kirsten Davidson under either of
the two contracts. In addition, Mr. Rzeplinski caused one of the contractors to hire a company called R-ZED Engineering Services (ZED), a sole proprietorship he controlled, as a subcontractor. From June 2002 until October 2005, the contractor mailed monthly checks in amounts of $4,000, and later $4,500, to ZED for work which was never performed. On 27 April 2006, Mr. Rzeplinski and Ms. Kirsten Davidson were indicted in the United States District Court of New Jersey. On 9 August 2006, a Superseding Information was filed against Connie Davidson, she having waived prosecution by
indictment. (Mr. Kim)

Former White House aide gets 10 years for spying

Leandro Aragoncillo, a former White House aide once praised by Vice President Al Gore for serving U.S. national security interests "with remarkable honor and distinction," was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for passing secrets to allies in the Philippines.

Leandro Aragoncillo, left, shakes hands with former Philippines president Joseph Estrada in 2001 with as President Bill Clinton looking on. The sentence, imposed by a federal judge in Newark, brought to a close a two-year investigation that exposed an uprecedented and embarassing security breach in the nation's highest offices. Officials have never disclosed the extent of the damage, but acknowledged that Aragoncillo, a military affairs adviser, was able to steal hundreds of classified and national security documents, sometimes faxing them from White House phone lines or carting them off in his gym bag as he walked from the grounds. The information included data on U.S. military and counter-terrorism operations, assessments on global politics, and at least the name of one secret government source. "There is no question the interests of this country were imperiled," said Senior U.S. District Judge William Walls. Officials called the case against Aragoncillo unprecedented not because of the damage but because never had a spy been actively moving through the nation's highest offices as he did.

Full video

A naturalized citizen and career U.S. Marine, Aragoncillo worked as a staff assistant to vice presidents Gore and Dick Cheney, preparing intelligence briefings and drafting official correspondence, then later took a post as an FBI analayst. Sporting the highest security clearance, he swiped more than 700 documents, including information on U.S. military operations, counter-terrorism activities and government sources in the Philippines. Aragoncillo, 48, who lived in Deptford Township, said he didn't mean to harm the United States, but that he passed the documents to allies in the Philippines because he hoped to stir change in his impoverished homeland.

"Their struggles being my struggles," he told the judge. Prosecutors disagreed, portraying Aragoncillo as a key figure in a political plot to topple the current Philippines president, Gloria Arroyo. Aragoncillo, they said, was feeding the information to allies of deposed President Joseph Estrada, who hoped to return to power. "This wasn't compassion; this was his ego," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl Buch said after the hearing. "Mr. Aragoncillo very much liked the access to the (former) president of his homeland, sitting senators in his homeland."

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