Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents. war in Ukraine He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a gaming site on Tuesday.

He was brought to court wearing an orange jumpsuit and showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani. He apologized to the judge before the hearing.

Additionally, Teixeria was sentenced to three years of probation. He also faces a court-martial filing that is scheduled to be completed in March 2025.

Prosecutors requested that Teixeria be sentenced to approximately 17 years in prison, stating that he “committed one of the most significant and significant violations of the Espionage Act in American history.”

“As both a member of the United States Armed Forces and a warrant holder, the defendant swore an oath to defend the United States and protect its secrets – secrets vital to the national security of the United States and the physical safety of Americans serving abroad.” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Teixeira broke his oath almost every day for more than a year.”

JACK TEIXEIRA PLEADS GUILTY IN LEAKING SECRET PENTAGON DOCUMENTS

This artist’s rendering shows Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira (right) appearing in U.S. District Court in Boston on April 14, 2023. (AP)

Teixeira’s lawyers requested an 11-year prison sentence, stating in court documents that their client was “autistic and isolated” when he began sharing confidential information with online friends on a Discord server.

“His intention was never to harm the United States,” the lawyers wrote. “Instead, his goal was to educate his friends about world events to ensure they were not misled by misinformation.”

Still, they acknowledged that Teixeira “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months.”

“This is a crime that deserves serious consequences,” the lawyer wrote. “Jack has fully accepted responsibility for the injustice of his actions and is now prepared to accept whatever punishment is due.”

Prosecutors pushing for the maximum sentence said Teixeira did not suffer from a mental disability that prevented him from knowing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira’s post-arrest diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning” autism “is of questionable relevance to these proceedings.”

Teixeira, 22, accepted the maximum possible sentence of 16 years in prison after appearing at a Boston federal courthouse in March. I plead guilty to all six offences. Storage and transmission of classified national defense information. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with further violations of the Espionage Act.

WHO IS JACK TEIXEIRA, THE AIR NATIONAL PROTECTOR BEHIND THE LEAKED SECRET DOCUMENTS?

Selfie of 22-year-old National Guard Airman Jack Teixeira, accused of leaking classified information. (Facebook)

Teixeira also agreed to sit for a briefing with members of the intelligence community, the Department of Defense or the Department of Justice and to turn over any classified material he might still have.

Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been behind bars since his arrest on April 13, 2023, when he was accused of leaking military secrets online.

He was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, where he worked as a “cyber transportation systems specialist.” He had the highest security clearance issued by the federal government for top-secret information.

Authorities said Teixeira began sharing confidential documents with a private group called “Thug Shaker Central” of about 20 to 30 young men on the online social platform Discord.

PENTAGON DOCUMENT LEAK HAS IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON NATIONAL SECURITY: ‘IT SUCKS A LOT OF OXYGEN’

This image, created from video provided by WCVB-TV, shows Jack Teixeira in a T-shirt and shorts in Dighton, Mass., on Thursday, April 13, 2023. It shows him being detained by armed tactical agents in Teixeira. The leak of highly classified military documents played out in court Friday as prosecutors laid out the charges and revealed how billing records and interviews with social media comrades helped locate the suspect. (WCVB-TV via AP)

The leaked documents mainly relate to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also include intelligence on China. Middle East, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and world leaders.

A member of the group told The New York Times in a conversation that Teixeira seemed resigned to his fate. Teixeira recounted: “I never wanted it to happen this way. I prayed to God that it would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. Only God can decide what happens next.”

Teixeira previously pleaded not guilty to six counts of intentional retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act.

The security breach raised alarm about America’s ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. Leaks embarrassed the Pentagon tightened controls to protect confidential information and disciplined members It was determined that Teixeira deliberately did not take the necessary precautions regarding his suspicious behavior.

Officials said Teixeira wrote the confidential documents, which he first accessed via Discord. He began sharing photos of files bearing SECRET and TOP SECRET markings after worrying he would get in trouble for “transcribing texts at work,” an online user known to have interacted with Teixeira told the FBI. court documents.

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Prosecutors said the person who leaked the information tried to destroy evidence before being arrested, and authorities found a smashed tablet, laptop and an Xbox game console in the trash at that home.

The leak allowed bare classified assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine to be revealed to the world, including information on troop movements in Ukraine and the supply of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops. Teixeira also admitted to publishing information about a U.S. adversary’s plans to harm U.S. forces serving abroad.

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.