On Thursday, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Jack Teixeira, an airman in the Massachusetts Air National Guard in Massachusetts in connection with the leak of classified documents shared in a group he managed on a website popular with gamers, per multiple reports.
Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the arrest in a brief public statement, indicating that Teixeira, 21, could face charges under the Espionage Act.
“Today the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” Garland said, according to CNN.
“FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident. He will have an initial appearance at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.”
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Teixeira oversaw Thug Shaker Central, a group on Discord where more than 100 classified documents on topics ranging from Ukraine to intelligence gleaned from spying on allies first appeared.
The 21-year-old was expected to go to work Thursday where the FBI intended to take him into custody under more controlled circumstances, according to a law enforcement source.
When the suspect did not go to work, agents who were already positioned outside his mother’s house, waited for the suspect to come out, the source said. This search and arrest effort accelerated when reporters for The New York Times knocked on the house door and spoke to people inside.
Teixeira’s arrest comes after The Times reported last week that documents dealing with intelligence on Ukraine’s battle with Russia from as far back as February had been percolating on the site before spreading to other social media platforms.
