Countywide
A man accused of taking part in a plot to steal Navy secrets and blackmail the Secret Service into buying them has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The conspiracy was cracked when someone tried to sell Navy cryptographic cards to a Secret Service agent for $1,000 and the promise of immunity.
Frank Xavier Pizzo II, 19, pleaded guilty to five federal charges in the case. Defense attorney Frank Murphy on Monday asked U.S. District Judge Earl Gilliam for a two-year sentence for Pizzo, who has already served 13 months in prison.
U.S. Atty. Joan Weber argued for a harsher sentence, saying Pizzo had reneged on a promise to cooperate with the government in its investigation.
In exchange for his cooperation, Pizzo would have been sentenced to no more than five years in prison. When he flunked lie detector tests, however, the deal was called off.
U.S. District Judge Earl Gilliam could have sentenced Pizzo to 35 years in prison.
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