BALTIMORE — A Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist and her Army major spouse are accused of trying to provide medical information of U.S. military members to the Russian government.
Beginning in August prosecutors say Anna Gabrielian, 36, and Jamie Lee Henry,39, began talking to a person they believed to be working for the Russian government.
Turns out the person they were speaking with, was an undercover FBI agent.
While meeting with the undercover agent at a Baltimore hotel, Gabrielian, who works at Hopkins, allegedly claimed to be "motivated by patriotism toward Russia," and pledged to provide any assistance she could, even if it meant being fired or going to jail.
According to court documents, Gabrielian stressed the need for “plausible deniability,” in the event she was confronted by American authorities.
She also reportedly said that her spouse worked at Fort Bragg and possessed information on how the United States Military runs its army hospitals during war along with other details on training the U.S. provided Ukraine.
Later that same night, Gabrielian met with the undercover agent a second time. This time she brought Henry.
During that meeting, Henry expressed a want to volunteer with the Russian Army, but had no “combat experience.
“The way I am viewing what is going on in Ukraine now, is that the United States is using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia.” Henry is quoted as saying in charging documents.
Gabrielian asked that the agent set her kids up with a vacation flight to Turkey, in case she and Henry were arrested.
“I don’t want to end in jail here with my kids being hostages over my head,” said Gabrielian, according to prosecutors.
The undercover agent went on to meet twice more with the couple, with the final time being on August 31 in Gaithersburg.
That's when Gabrielian allegedly provided the agent with health records of two people, including the spouse of a Naval Intelligence employee.
Gabrielian is accused of pointing out a medical condition of the individual, hoping the Russians could “exploit” it.
At first Henry raised concerns of potential HIPAA violations, but ended up releasing medical records of five military veterans or their relatives.
Johns Hopkins Medicine issued a statement on the allegations saying, "We were shocked to learn about this news this morning and intend to fully cooperate with investigators."
The couple had their initial court appearances on Thursday. Both have been released on home detention with 24/7 location monitoring. Gabrielian also has a 500K unsecured bond.
If convicted, each faces decades behind bars.
