[3] On October 9, 2019, Frese was arrested and charged with two violations of the Espionage Act under 18 USC 793(d) by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia for willful transmission of National Defense Information.
[12] On February 20, 2020, Frese pleaded guilty to the willful transmission of Top Secret national defense information.
[13][14] The Washington Post, News of Australia, and The Spectator all compared Frese's case to that of Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe, who allegedly passed on secrets to Ali Watkins during a romantic relationship.
[15][16][17] On June 18, 2020, Frese was sentenced to 30 months in prison for "leaking information to two journalists, including one he was dating";[18] prosecutors had asked for nine years, but his defense argued, among others, that his girlfriend, “a reporter whose 'career was stalling',” had pressured and influenced him at a susceptible time.
[19][20] While he at first rebuffed her cajoling,[21] his “judgment was clouded by 'a misguided effort to salvage a relationship that was not worth saving'.”[22] Frese was released from prison on October 14, 2022.