Chief Petty Officer Bryce Pedicini Convicted to 18 Years for Attempted Espionage

Photo byFacebook/Bryce Pedicini

Chief Petty Officer Bryce Pedicini, who is originally from Tennessee, first enlisted in 2008. His awards include a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, three Good Conduct Medals, and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons. He has been sentenced to 18 year imprisonment.

Chief Petty Officer Bryce Pedicini, who was convicted of attempted espionage in April, has been sentenced to 18 years in military prison, the service confirmed in a statement.

In addition to his prison sentence, which comes after a conviction on charges of attempted espionage and failure to follow a lawful order, the statement from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service also said that Pedicini was given a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to E-1.

Bryce Pedicini, a chief petty officer fire controlman, was accused of passing documents to an employee of a foreign government at least seven times between Nov. 2022 and May 2023, according to a charge sheet obtained by NBC News.

Pedicini was assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and delivered multiple documents to an employee of a foreign government relating to “national defense,” according to the charge sheet filed by the Navy.

The exact nature of the documents is unknown but Pedicini is also accused of smuggling photos of a computer screen designed for classified information to a foreign official while he was in Yokosuka, Japan last May.

When Pedicini was first charged, the Navy released documents that showed he was accused of delivering two sets of classified national defense documents -- referred to as "Article 1112" and "Article 1223" in the legal paperwork -- to "a citizen and employee of a foreign government" between November 2022 and February 2023 in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

NBC News San Diego report, "this guilty verdict holds Mr. Pedicini to account for his betrayal of his country and fellow service members,” said NCIS Director Omar Lopez.

Pedicini was also found guilty of failing to obey a lawful order and attempted violation of a lawful general order. It is unclear which government Pedicini was accused of colluding with.