KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former intelligence analyst for the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be sentenced by a federal court judge next week on two counts of violating the Espionage Act.
Kendra Kingsbury worked at the FBI’s Kansas City division. Federal prosecutors say she kept about 386 classified documents in her home.
The case details how seriously federal investigators and prosecutors treat cases of mishandling national defense information and other classified documents.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to mishandling classified intelligence documents.
In the government’s sentencing memorandum, which was filed Monday, Assistant. U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Edwards requested Kingsbury be sentenced 57 months of prison time. That’s almost 5 years.
In his overview of the case, Edwards said that the defendant “knowingly and willfully retained” the documents, and that 20 of the documents included national defense information in an unsecured space.
In a section in the memo entitled "seriousness of the offense," Edwards wrote that Kingsury exposed the FBI "to the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of information classified at the SECRET level."
Edwards continued that the disclosure of the documents could have "terrible consequences for both agencies and their ability to operate effectively to protect the national security of the United States."
In the defendant’s sentencing memo, Assistant Federal Public Defender Marc Ermine wrote that Kingsbury self-reported in 2017 that she had the classified materials in her home.
Ermine highlighting Kingsbury medical history and family events that happened in the about 12 years in which she had access to classified documents.
In the public defender’s request for probation, Ermine highlights Kingsbury does not have a criminal record.
The sentencing is scheduled for June 21 at 1:30 p.m.
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