Dual citizen of U.S., Turkey accused of printing classified documents

Aug. 10 (UPI) -- An electrical engineer with dual U.S. and Turkish citizenship has been arrested and charged with mishandling classified documents while working for the U.S. Department of Defense.

FBI agents arrested Gokhan Gun on Friday and accused him of printing more than 250 documents while working at the Defense Department. Many of the documents are labeled "classified."

Federal prosecutors charged Gun with mishandling classified documents in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.

The FBI says Gun is an electrical engineer who has top-secret clearance at the Defense Department but doesn't have authorization to take classified documents home.

He started printing out documents in May and continued doing so until at least through Wednesday.

Gun became a U.S. citizen in 2021 but was born in Turkey and maintains dual citizenship.

An 11-page FBI complaint says Gun was scheduled to travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Thursday morning.

Federal investigators obtained a search warrant for his home in Falls Church, Va., and found him as he tried to leave early before his scheduled flight Thursday.

Federal agents searched a backpack Gun was carrying and found a document labeled "top secret."

Gun allegedly had printed at least 155 pages of documents from the Defense Department's network for classified documents and took home thousands of printed pages of unclassified documents since May.

Gun told FBI investigators his supervisor allowed him to print and take home unclassified documents, and said any documents bearing the "Top Secret" designation had expired as classified documents.

Federal investigators said at least one document printed Wednesday still contained its top-secret markings.

Federal prosecutors said Gun is a flight risk due to his planned travel to Mexico and the seriousness of the charges against him.

His public defender said there's no evidence that he attempted to flee the United States and instead only intended to go fishing in Mexico.