TUCSON, Ariz. - A former engineer for Raytheon Missile Systems has pleaded guilty to illegally moving secret weapons plans out of the U.S.
Now 48 year old Wei Sun is waiting to learn what his punishment will be.
A laptop is a key witness against Wei Sun. He had a laptop issued by Raytheon. He took it to China and brought it back. The hard drive held secret files about Raytheon weapons---and just taking them out of the country is a federal crime.
Files on the laptop included a user guide to the AMRAAM an anti aircraft missile critical to the defense of America, and it's allies.
As an electrical engineer at Raytheon, AMRAAM was just one of the projects Wei Sun worked on.
In December 2018 Wei Sun, who is a naturalized U-S Citizen, took the laptop to China. The secret nature of the case means some court documents are sealed but we have seen nothing that suggests Sun shared any of the secrets. Under U-S law just the act of taking sensitive technology out of the country is a Federal crime.
Authorities arrested Sun when he returned in January 2019. He's been held ever since.
Unsealed documents have referred to the files by names designed to retain some secrecy about what they contained but a list of witnesses the government said it could call included experts on the Stinger missile system---an anti aircraft missile often fired from the shoulder.
Other witnesses were prepared to cover what Raytheon taught employees about restrictions on taking sensitive technology out of the country and in court Wei Sun conceded he had received training on what would lead to breaking that law.
Wei Sun faced five charges. The plea agreement calls for dropping four. He will learn his sentence April 28th. The agreement calls holding to sentencing guidelines that would probably lead to about four years in prison.
