(CN) — A grand jury returned a six-count indictment against the Massachusetts Air National Guard staffer accused of leaking classified military documents online, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
Jack Teixeira, 21, was previously charged in a criminal complaint and has been in custody since his mid-April arrest.
The guardsman from North Dighton, Massachusetts, allegedly used his top secret security clearance to photograph or remove sensitive information from a classified workstation at Otis U.S. Air National Guard Base, then relayed the information onto the internet chat platform Discord.
“Teixeira knew that unauthorized removal of classified materials and transportation and storage of those materials in unauthorized locations risked disclosure and transmission of those materials, and therefore could endanger the national security of the United States and the safety of its citizens,” the 10-page indictment states, charging six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to the national defense.
Prosecutors say Teixeira began collecting the top secret information around January 2022. He has held the top-level clearance since 2021.
Pentagon officials discovered the trove of records on Discord reportedly shared in a forum where members debated the war in Ukraine. Within the leaked material were U.S. intelligence reviews of Ukranian military capabilities created for Pentagon officials, including on weaknesses in Kyiv’s defense strategy.
The leak also contained documents detailing intelligence-gathering methods and operations on Russia, as well as U.S. partners states like Israel and South Korea.
Sources told The New York Times that Teixeira had used a pseudonym to post the documents to the server. Discord has said it was cooperating with federal investigators.
“As laid out in the indictment, Jack Teixeira was entrusted by the United States government with access to classified national defense information — including information that reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “Teixeira is charged with sharing information with users on a social media platform he knew were not entitled to receive it. In doing so, he is alleged to have violated U.S. law and endangered our national security.”
In social media posts Teixeira said he would like to kill a “ton of people,” according to an April court filing by prosecutors arguing for the guardsman’s continued detention. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy granted the motion in May.
If convicted Teixeira faces up to 25 years in prison. His attorney Brendan Kelly did not immediately return a request for comment.
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