Classified document leak suspect Jack Teixeira due back in court

(BOSTON) — The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking national defense information online is due back in Boston federal court Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether he should remain in federal custody.

Jack Teixeira, 21, “improperly and unlawfully retained and transmitted national defense information to people not authorized to receive it,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed last week after his arrest at home in North Dighton, Massachusetts.

He has been held in custody since his arrest after the FBI said he caused “serious damage to the national security of the United States.” At his initial appearance, Teixeira’s court-appointed attorney from the Federal Defenders of Boston did not object to his detention pending the outcome of Wednesday’s hearing.

Teixeira began posting classified information on Discord in December, according to the complaint.

At first the material appeared as paragraphs of text. Then, when Teixeira allegedly became concerned he could be discovered copying material at work, “he began taking the documents to his residence and photographing them,” the complaint said.

In addition to a detention hearing, Wednesday is also billed as a preliminary hearing, an indication the judge could lay out a progression for the case, including whether it moves from the District of Massachusetts to the Eastern District of Virginia, where it may ultimately be prosecuted since much of what was leaked originated at the Pentagon.

Teixeira has yet to enter a plea to the charges.

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