An employee of the U.S. State Department has been accused of unlawfully storing more than 1,000 classified documents at his Vienna home.
Federal prosecutors arrested and charged Ashley J. Tellis earlier this month with one felony count of unlawfully retaining national defense information.
A search warrant executed at Tellis’ home uncovered the documents, with some being labeled SECRET and/or TOP SECRET. All of the documents featured “classification markings,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan said. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
The 64-year-old Tellis, who also works as a Department of Defense contractor, held a top secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information at the time.
Prosecutors claim that, in one incident, Tellis was observed concealing classified materials in a notepad before placing it within his personal briefcase. He later left the secured government facility with the briefcase.
In another incident, Tellis is believed to have altered the filename of a classified document before printing it out.
Court documents don’t specify exactly what Tellis, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, did with the documents, other than storing them in “locked filing cabinets, in a basement home office and in trash bags stored in a basement utility area” of his residence.
In an affidavit, an FBI special agent details four instances of Tellis interacting with officials of the Chinese government at Fairfax-area restaurants, though prosecutors do not currently allege any dissemination of classified information.
“With the hard work and dedication of our prosecutors and agents, we will hold this defendant accountable for breaching that trust and exploiting his security clearance to unlawfully retain classified information detailing our military capabilities,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Sue J. Bai said.
Tellis, who was arrested Oct. 11, appeared in court yesterday (Tuesday) for a detention hearing. The date of Tellis’s next court date has not been scheduled.
If convicted, Tellis could face a maximum of penalty of 10 years in prison, as well as fines, according to federal law.
