A U.S. Army Special Forces veteran was sentenced to more than 80 months in prison this week after being convicted on multiple charges including possession of classified military intelligence.
Jeremy Brown, a veteran of the U.S. Army who served for 20 years before retiring in 2012 as a master sergeant, was sentenced on Thursday, April 6 to seven years and three months by U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew. The Tampa resident was convicted in December for six counts. One of the biggest charges included possession of a trip report from the search for Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who went missing in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban. He was found not guilty on charges tied to possession of other classified material that was contained on a CD.
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The Tampa Bay Times reported that during the trial Brown, 48, said the CD containing the classified files was not his, and that he did not consider what was in the trip report contained any classified information. An intelligence expert with U.S. Central Command testified during the trial that parts of the report did contain secret information.
The Department of Justice said that “the evidence established that the classified Trip Report contained highly sensitive information about U.S. Department of Defense intelligence – gathering tactics, techniques, and procedures, including information about a human source that, if released, could have caused the source to be arrested, tortured, or killed.”
Brown was also found to be illegally in possession of several weapons, including M-67 fragmentation grenades. Brown said during the trial that those were not his, but did claim ownership of other weapons, including an unregistered sawn-off shotgun and unregistered rifle, modified to a 10-inch barrel. Military records showed that the grenades were U.S. Army property The trip report was found near these weapons.
During the trial, Brown took the witness stand, saying he wanted to be liked by the jury. However at the sentencing, he was less energetic, the Tampa Bay Times reported, saying his time in office cannot be “tarnished by lesser men.”
“You’ve accepted no responsibility for what you’ve done in this case,” Bucklew told Brown at the sentencing. “And you are defiant to the end.”
Judge Bucklew also ordered Brown to spend three years in supervised release after his time in prison. In addition, he must also pay for child support.
The case stemmed from a probe into Brown for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington, D.C. Brown is facing additional legal challenges in a separate case for his role in that day, having been charged with breaching a secure area at the U.S. Capitol. Brown was photographed on Jan. 6 in full combat gear, including helmet. Judicial documents allege that Brown has ties to the extremist group the Oath Keepers. Brown is one of several active-duty or retired service members being investigated or tried in recent months for connections with militant extremist organizations.
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