Former Federal Employee Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Materials

Margaret Anne Ashby, 26, of Henderson, Nevada, pleaded guilty today for mishandling sensitive documents as a former employee of a Department of Defense component agency.

As described in the plea agreement, starting in March 2020, Ashby was a civilian employee of a Department of Defense component agency located in the Southern District of Georgia, and during this time held a top secret security clearance as required for her employment.

From February 2022 to May 2022, Ashby, without authority, knowingly removed documents and materials containing classified information “concerning the national defense or foreign relations of the United States . . . with the intent to retain them at unauthorized locations, including her residence in the Southern District of Georgia and in digital files saved via a personal computing device located in the Southern District of Georgia.”

Read more: Department of Justice