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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A 72-year-old former State Department employee and his 71-year-old wife have been arrested and charged with illegally aiding the government of Cuba for nearly 30 years, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Myers, were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government, providing classified information to that government, and wire fraud, according to court documents unsealed in Washington.
The couple appeared briefly Friday before a federal magistrate in Washington, who ordered them held without bail pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Judge John Facciolo agreed with prosecutors that the couple might try to flee the country if not held.
They were arrested late Thursday, the Justice Department said.
The indictment, made public Friday, says Kendall Myers, known to Cuban intelligence as as Agent 202, and Gwendolyn Myers, known as Agent 123 and Agent E-634, engaged in activities "which spanned nearly three decades."
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Conviction on the wire fraud charge would carry a sentence of up to 20 years, illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government would carry a sentence of up to 10 years, and the conspiracy charge would carry a sentence of up to five years.
A Justice Department official said counterespionage agents had gathered information on the Myerses and set up an April 15 meeting at which an FBI undercover agent convinced the couple that he had been contacted by Cuban intelligence and was to ascertain the scope of their activities. They fell for the ruse, the department said.
The court documents say the couple disclosed that they had received coded messages via shortwave radio, had met with Cuban agents in Mexico and had been carefully watching for any sign of U.S. surveillance.
An affidavit released by the court said Kendall Myers had first traveled to Cuba in 1978, and Cuban intelligence then began to develop him as a Cuban agent. Six months later, Myers and his wife agreed to work for the Cuban service.
After the April 15 meeting, the Myerses are said to have agreed to provide the undercover agent with information on the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, which President Obama attended.
Kendall Myers confided to the undercover agent that he had received a "lot of medals" from the Cuban government for his work and that he and his wife spent an evening with Fidel Castro in 1995.
U.S. officials did not discuss the Myerses' motives for their alleged work for the Cuban government on Friday. At the court hearing, the government noted that the couple had ample financial resources, including a half-million dollars in a brokerage account, but did not discuss the source of the funds.
The affidavit quotes Kendall Myers as telling the undercover agent that he typically removed information from the State Department by memory or by taking notes -- although he did occasionally take some documents home -- and had delivered information that was classified "secret."
Myers retired from the State Department on October 31, 2007. He had viewed more than 200 classified reports on Cuba in his final months, even though he was at the time an analyst working on European issues, the court document said.
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Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Myers, were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government, providing classified information to that government, and wire fraud, according to court documents unsealed in Washington.
The couple appeared briefly Friday before a federal magistrate in Washington, who ordered them held without bail pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Judge John Facciolo agreed with prosecutors that the couple might try to flee the country if not held.
They were arrested late Thursday, the Justice Department said.
The indictment, made public Friday, says Kendall Myers, known to Cuban intelligence as as Agent 202, and Gwendolyn Myers, known as Agent 123 and Agent E-634, engaged in activities "which spanned nearly three decades."
Don't Miss
Read the indictment (PDF)
Conviction on the wire fraud charge would carry a sentence of up to 20 years, illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government would carry a sentence of up to 10 years, and the conspiracy charge would carry a sentence of up to five years.
A Justice Department official said counterespionage agents had gathered information on the Myerses and set up an April 15 meeting at which an FBI undercover agent convinced the couple that he had been contacted by Cuban intelligence and was to ascertain the scope of their activities. They fell for the ruse, the department said.
The court documents say the couple disclosed that they had received coded messages via shortwave radio, had met with Cuban agents in Mexico and had been carefully watching for any sign of U.S. surveillance.
An affidavit released by the court said Kendall Myers had first traveled to Cuba in 1978, and Cuban intelligence then began to develop him as a Cuban agent. Six months later, Myers and his wife agreed to work for the Cuban service.
After the April 15 meeting, the Myerses are said to have agreed to provide the undercover agent with information on the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, which President Obama attended.
Kendall Myers confided to the undercover agent that he had received a "lot of medals" from the Cuban government for his work and that he and his wife spent an evening with Fidel Castro in 1995.
U.S. officials did not discuss the Myerses' motives for their alleged work for the Cuban government on Friday. At the court hearing, the government noted that the couple had ample financial resources, including a half-million dollars in a brokerage account, but did not discuss the source of the funds.
The affidavit quotes Kendall Myers as telling the undercover agent that he typically removed information from the State Department by memory or by taking notes -- although he did occasionally take some documents home -- and had delivered information that was classified "secret."
Myers retired from the State Department on October 31, 2007. He had viewed more than 200 classified reports on Cuba in his final months, even though he was at the time an analyst working on European issues, the court document said.
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