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A National Guardsman has been charged with attempting to send photos of sensitive U.S. military technology to Russia.
Canyon Anthony Amarys, 28, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, was arrested Tuesday and is accused of photographing a U.S. Army installation at Fort Riley, Kansas, and trying to share the images with someone he believed was a Russian intelligence officer, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Amarys also agreed to obtain and send a helicopter radio for use by the Russian military. He was indicted for attempting to violate the Export Control Reform Act and made his initial court appearance on Thursday in the District of Kansas.
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According to the indictment, Amarys met with an undercover employee (UCE) he believed was a Russian intelligence agent in February at a hotel in Overland Park in Kansas and signed a one-page agreement confirming a “covert relationship” with a Russian intelligence service.
The UCE gave him thousands of dollars in cash to purchase a Garmin GTR-205 helicopter radio and to photograph a Fort Riley installation.
Soon after the meeting, Amarys allegedly went to Fort Riley and took photographs of what he believed was sensitive U.S. equipment. The FBI said the photography was recorded and observed as part of its undercover operation.
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In March, Amarys allegedly bought the radio, packaged it and took it to a USPS facility in Junction City, Kansas, with the intention of mailing it to Romania, which investigators say would have served as a cover destination for illegal diversion to Russia.
Before shipping, Amarys confirmed in a recorded conversation that he understood the radio would be illegally diverted to Russia and acknowledged he had researched export regulations prior to his February meeting, prosecutors said.
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Investigators later intercepted the parcel and seized the radio before it left the United States.
Amarys faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million if convicted.
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