Sailor Accused of Spying Faces Court-Martial

A Pacific Missile Test Center enlisted man faces a court-martial on espionage charges after he allegedly sold a weapons-loading manual to an undercover Oxnard policeman he thought was a foreign agent, a Navy spokesman said Friday.

Robert Dean Haguewood, 24, an aviation ordnanceman third class, is being held in the brig at Long Beach and will face a hearing there Monday. His court-martial on espionage and other charges, which were filed this week, is tentatively scheduled May 19 at Port Hueneme, Lt. Cmdr. Don Lewis said.

Haguewood had passed only about half of the manual to the undercover officer in Oxnard when he was followed back to the cruise missile test base at Point Mugu Naval Air Station and arrested March 4, Lewis said.

The Springfield, Mo., man was an aircraft ordnance loader and had been in the Navy for six years, Lewis said.

Lewis said the manual was classified “confidential,” rather than the higher-level “secret” or “top secret,” and its loss would not jeopardize national security. The public affairs officer declined to say whether the document pertained to the loading of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Lewis would not say how the undercover officer came to meet with Haguewood and that he had “no idea” to what country the enlisted man thought he was selling the manual.

If convicted, Haguewood could be sentenced to up to 17 years in prison, Lewis said.