A civilian employee stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska has been apprehended and accused by federal prosecutors of sharing classified information via an online dating application with an individual claiming to be a woman in Ukraine.

David Franklin Slater, a 63-year-old Air Force employee and retired Army lieutenant colonel assigned to U.S. Strategic Command, was taken into custody on Saturday.

He now faces one count of conspiracy to transmit and two counts of transmitting classified information pertaining to national defense.

Federal officials disclosed that the information exchange occurred “on a foreign online dating platform” from around February 2022 to April 2022, as stated in a press release issued on Monday, Military.com reported.

Although Slater’s interactions were outlined in the federal indictment, the co-conspirator receiving the information was not named.

The federal indictment revealed that Slater, who signed a top-secret nondisclosure agreement on August 23, 2021, had received extensive training on handling classified materials.

If convicted, Slater could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of conspiracy to transmit and the transmission of national defense information, according to federal prosecutors as stated in the press release.

Written by B.C. Begley