The Nation - News from Dec. 15, 1986
Prosecutors hoped that Ronald W. Pelton, a former National Security Agency employee who tried to sell U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union, will get a life sentence Tuesday in Baltimore. The spying, which led the communications expert to secret meetings in Vienna and phone calls from a Virginia pizza parlor to Soviet operatives between 1980 and 1985, caused “extraordinary damage” to the United States, the prosecutors said. Pelton’s lawyer, Fred W. Bennett, recommended a 30-year sentence because, he said, his client has cooperated with prosecutors since his conviction in June, and is repentant.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.