ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal magistrate judge in Virginia has refused to free a former Army Green Beret who was arrested last week on a charge that he divulged U.S. military secrets to Russian intelligence agents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson agreed Thursday with federal prosecutors that 45-year-old Peter Debbins poses a risk to flee if he is released from custody before trial.
Anderson said Justice Department prosecutor Thomas Traxler adequately explained why more than a year elapsed between the start of the investigation and Debbins' arrest last Friday.
Traxler says investigators had to corroborate details of a confession that he said Debbins gave when FBI agents questioned him last year.
