Chinese spy in San Diego sentenced to prison

A San Diego woman was sentenced to 50 months in prison today (Friday, August 19) for conspiring to export fighter jet engines and military drones to China, the Department of Justice is reporting.

Wenxia "Wency" Men was convicted in a Florida court last June on a count of conspiring to export and cause the export of defense articles without the required license, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.

Per evidence presented at Men's trial, she conspired with the China-based Xinsheng Zhang, who she described to undercover agents as a "technology spy" working for the Chinese military, for a two-year period between 2011 and 2013. During this period, she attempted to arrange the export of jet engines powering the F-16, F-22, and F-35 fighters. Men also unsuccessfully sought a locally-produced General Atomics Reaper drone.

Had any of the items made it out of the country, Zhang's objective was to duplicate the technology for use by the Chinese.