Jack Teixeira was arrested in the town of North Dighton, Massachusetts, 70km south of Boston. Photo / Supplied
Jack Teixeira was arrested in the town of North Dighton, Massachusetts, 70km south of Boston. Photo / Supplied
Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old suspect accused of leaking classified US intelligence documents, has been hit with two charges that could see him spend decades in prison if found guilty.
Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National guardsman, was arrested by heavily armed federal agents clad in armour at his mother’s home in North Dighton, about 70km south of Boston.
Details have also emerged of a claimed frantic final call to his gaming community as the net closed in on him.
Teixeira briefly appeared in court the following day facing two charges: unauthorised retention and transmission of national defence information and unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents or material, according to court documents.
The alleged crimes come under the 1917 Espionage Act and are each punishable by 10 years in prison.
Teixeira spoke quietly during the hearing, whispering “yes” as the judge informed him of his rights as a criminal defendant, CNN reported. He did not enter a formal plea.
As the hearing ended, a man in the courtroom shouted, “love you, Jack”.
Teixeira did not look back, but responded, “you too, Dad”.
He will remain detained until he returns to court for a detention hearing.
This image made from a video provided by WCVB-TV, shows Jack Teixeira, in a t-shirt and shorts, being taken into custody by armed tactical agents. Photo / WCVB-TV, AP
Teixeira allegedly began posting classified documents online around December 2022, according to an affidavit submitted by investigators.
The suspect has held a top-secret clearance through his IT role with the Air National Guard since 2021, according to the court document.
At least one of the documents shared online was accessible to him by virtue of his employment as a guard member, the affidavit says.
He also “maintained sensitive compartmented access (SCI) to other highly classified programmes,” the affidavit said.
Less than two hours before he was taken into custody, the New York Times outed Teixeira as the administrator of the 20- to 30-member channel “Thug Shaker Center,” hosted on the Discord gaming platform, where a tranche of intelligence reports — some marked “Secret” and “Top Secret” — first appeared.
The leaked documents contained information about Ukraine’s fighting capabilities and potential weaknesses, as well as sensitive details about the country’s allies and US intelligence gathering.
Accused’s frantic final call
Investigators also alleged that a US government agency with the ability to monitor “certain searches conducted on its classified networks” found that Teixeira searched for the word “leak” on his government-issued computer.
One week before his arrest, Teixeira “used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word ‘leak’,” the affidavit stated.
That search led investigators to believe that Teixeira was looking for the intelligence community’s assessment of who had leaked the classified documents online.
As the FBI closed in on him, Teixeira reportedly made a frantic final call to his gamer friends — professing he “never wanted it to get like this”.
“Guys, it’s been good — I love you all,” he was quoted as saying on the call, according to a member of an online group who goes by the screen name Vahki.
“I never wanted it to get like this. I prayed to God that this would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. Only God can decide what happens from now on.”
Speaking to the New York Times, Vahki said it sounded like Teixeira was in a speeding vehicle when he joined the call.
