A Rockville couple has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to help Russia in its war with Ukraine by disclosing confidential health information, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced Thursday.
Anna Gabrielian, 36, and her spouse Jamie Lee Henry, 39, both of Rockville, were indicted on the conspiracy and disclosure charges Wednesday, according to a press release.
Gabrielian, an anesthesiologist at a Baltimore facility labeled as “Medical Institution 1,” conspired with Henry to give Russia the confidential health information of Americans associated with the federal government and military, according to the indictment.
Gabrielian’s LinkedIn page states that she is an anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Additionally, an archived webpage from Johns Hopkins states that she is an instructor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine.
Henry, a U.S. Army major, held a secret-level security clearance and was working as a staff internist at Fort Bragg in North Carolina at the time of the alleged conspiracy, according to the indictment.
Henry was the first openly transgender officer in the Army, NBC reported Thursday. However, Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, told Bethesda Beat on Friday that Henry used male pronouns in court and during the investigation.
The indictment alleges that Gabrielian and Henry conspired to give confidential information about patients at the Baltimore medical institution and Fort Bragg to “an individual they believed to be working for the Russian government,” according to the press release. Authorities believe this was meant to show Russia that the couple was willing to provide the country’s government the health information, and help Russia “gain insights” into the medical conditions of people in the U.S. government and military.
The couple met with someone whom they thought was associated with the Russian government, but was actually an undercover FBI agent, according to the press release. The couple allegedly told the undercover agent Gabrielian had previously contacted the Russian Embassy to offer their help.
On Aug. 17, Gabrielian allegedly told the agent that she was “motivated by patriotism toward Russia” during a meeting at a hotel in Baltimore. Authorities say she told the agent that her spouse was “a more important source for Russia” because they knew more about how the U.S. military sets up an army hospital during war, and other information about previous training that the military had provided to the Ukrainian military.
Later that evening, the couple met again with the agent in the agent’s hotel room and Henry said they were “committed to assisting Russia” and considered volunteering to join the Russian army to help in the war with Ukraine, according to the indictment. Henry told the agent that Russia wanted people with combat experience and they didn’t have any, and ultimately did not volunteer.
Henry said they thought the U.S. was “using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia” in the war, and the couple offered to give the agent private medical records from the Army and the Baltimore medical institution, according to the indictment.
During the meeting, Henry said they were worried about passing a background check for his security clearance, and allegedly told the agent posing as a Russian they didn’t want to know the person’s name “because I want plausible deniability too.”
Gabrielian met with the agent a few days later at the hotel to discuss giving the agent medical records, according to the indictment. The day after that meeting, she allegedly sent a text message to the agent using “coded language” that she would provide the agent with Army medical records.
The couple met again with the agent on Aug. 31 at a hotel in Gaithersburg, and Gabrielian allegedly gave the agent medical information about two people, including the spouse of an employee in the Office of Naval Intelligence because the person had a “medical condition Russia could exploit,” according to the indictment. Henry allegedly gave medical information to the agent about five people who were either veterans or related to veterans.
It was not immediately clear if the couple had an attorney.
If convicted, Gabrielian and Henry could each face up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy, and up to 10 years in federal prison for disclosing private medical information, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@bethesdamagazine.com