The State - News from Jan. 7, 1988

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the 1984 theft convictions of a former Navy radioman from San Diego who tried to sell stolen top secret cryptographic code cards to federal agents. Michael Tobias is serving a 20-year prison term for seven counts of stealing federal property. Tobias tried to sell the cards to a federal agent because his sense of “patriotism” kept him from going through with a sale of the cards to a foreign government, he claimed. In upholding his conviction, the appeals court rejected Tobias’ contentions that grand jury records and results of electronic surveillance were not properly disclosed to his defense attorneys before trial.