A former Army Colonel from Florida was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for trying to woo a woman he met online by sending her secret classified battle plans.
Retired combat vet Kevin Charles Luke, 62, was working as a high-level civilian contractor with “top secret” clearance at US military headquarters in Tampa in October 2024, when he texted a photo of plans for a Middle East attack to his new fling, according to court documents.
“Sent to my boss earlier,” he wrote in the text, which included a photo of an email on his work computer at Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base. “Gives you a peek at what I do for a living.”
The image showed a classified email message with details about the date of the operation, the number of targets and battle plans, court papers state.
The confidential email was labeled “SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY” — meaning it was only meant to be seen by authorized personnel in the so-called “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, which includes the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Roughly two months later, Luke — a decorated officer who spent 37 years in the Army before retiring 2018 — broke up with the unidentified woman.
She then reported him to authorities, prompting federal agents to search his home, according to his defense attorney Mark O’Brien.
Luke later pleaded guilty to unauthorized communication of classified military strike plans, but insisted he sent the text simply to impress the woman, not as an act of treason or for financial gain.
It wasn’t clear which attack his email referenced — but it was sent days before the Central Command headquarters launched airstrikes in Yemen, directed at Houthis, an Islamic fundamentalist military force.
“[His] betrayal of the nation’s secrets—which disclosed a then-future military operation and put service members at risk—is deeply troubling,” US District Judge James Moody said in his sentencing memo.
On Tuesday, Luke wept in court as he addressed the judge.
“I stand before you accepting full responsibility for my actions,” he said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “What I did was wrong. I violated the trust placed in me and, sir, I am ashamed of that.”
Prosecutors had requested he get four years behind bars, but Moody ultimately sentenced him to two, noting he balanced the seriousness of his crime with his years of military service.
“This is a difficult sentencing,” Moody said.
With good behavior, Luke could end up serving 15 months or less, O’Brien told The Post.
“In a moment of bad judgment, he sent a text photo of his work to a woman he was seeing. There is no excuse for this. It was a split-second decision designed to impress a woman that only came to light months later, after he ended his relationship with the woman,” O’Brien said. “He regrets his actions deeply.”
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