OAN Sophia Flores
UPDATED 6:42 PM – Thursday, April 13, 2023
Merrick Federal law enforcement officials have arrested a man who they believe leaked secret defense intelligence documents online for weeks. Jack Teixeira of the Massachusetts Air National Guard was detained on Thursday in North Dighton, Massachusetts.
The 21-year-old shared the classified information with a group of young gamers that he oversaw called “Thug Shaker Central.” The group was a part of the gaming chat platform, Discord. The invite-only server on Discord, which was created in 2020, consisted of around two dozen young males. They all shared a passion for God, guns, and military gear.
Teixeira, known to the group as OG, told group members that he worked on a military base and claimed that he had access to high-level government information that was withheld from the public. On the platform, he shared over 100 classified documents to the group.
During a press briefing on Thursday after the arrest, Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated that Teixeira will be facing charges known as the Espionage Act. Each document that was shared would be considered its own charge. Each count faces up to 10 years in prison.
The arrest came while Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder was giving a briefing regarding the classified documents leak.
“This was a deliberate criminal act,” Ryder said.
Hours before the arrest, President Biden said that the leaked documents focused on the Ukraine War, including assessments of Ukrainian and Russian battlefield strategies, and other sensitive U.S. intelligence. He stated that he was “not concerned” about the information that was leaked as he doesn’t believe that the documents contained anything “that is of great consequence.”
The 21-year-old is set to be arraigned in federal court in Boston on Friday.
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By: OAN
