A former National Security Agency contractor accused of stealing a cache of classified documents pleaded innocent Tuesday to spying charges in federal court in Baltimore.
Harold Martin III was indicted last week by a federal grand jury, accused of violating the Espionage Act by carrying out what officials say is the largest theft of classified information in U.S. history.
Martin, 52, was arrested in August at his home in Anne Arundel County, Md., where law enforcement officials recovered dozens of computers, digital storage devices and thousands of hard-copy documents that filled six bankers boxes. Prosecutors say Martin hid classified and top-secret information in the trunk of his car, his home office and an unlocked outdoor shed.
In a brief court appearance Tuesday, Martin told Magistrate Judge A. David Copperthite that he understood the significance of the indictment that gives him charges of taking and retaining a huge amount of classified material. The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for each of 20 criminal counts.
If the case goes to trial, prosecutors said they expect it will last three to four weeks.
Martin, who has been jailed since his arrest and was dressed Tuesday in a blackand-white striped uniform, is not accused of trying to disseminate or publish the information he is accused of stealing.
“He’s not someone who, due to political ideas or philosophical ideas or moral principles, thinks he knows better than everybody else and, hence, is compelled to release government secrets,” said Martin’s attorney, James Wyda.
Martin’s attorneys have said he has a compulsive hoarding habit and was taking medication for attention-deficit disorder that was a “trigger” for hoarding.
At the time of his arrest, Martin was enrolled in a doctorate program in information security management and doing research for his dissertation.