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FILE - This undated file photo provided by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Elizabeth Jo Shirley. Shirley was sentenced Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, to more than eight years in federal prison for unlawfully retaining a document containing national defense information and three years for committing international parental kidnapping. Prosecutors said that Shirley, who previously served in the Air Force, planned to offer top-secret information from the National Security Agency to the Russian government.
FILE – This undated file photo provided by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Elizabeth Jo Shirley. [West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP, File]

W. Va. Woman Sentenced In Scheme To Offer Information To Russia

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia woman has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for planning to offer top-secret information from the National Security Agency to the Russian government.

Elizabeth Jo Shirley pleaded guilty last year to one count each of willful retention of national defense information and international parental kidnapping.

Prosecutors say Shirley once served in the Air Force and took her daughter to Mexico with the intent of contacting Russian government representatives.

They say she planned to request resettlement in a country that would not extradite her back to the U.S.

She was arrested in 2019 in Mexico City.