Cloudy

Resin-embedded fabric paint on discarded service porcelain

Top Gone

Prosecutors: Navy pilot offered Chinese secrets for help with jailbreak

By Scott Daugherty 

The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot (TNS)

Published: July 8, 2015

NORFOLK, Va. — A Navy pilot and Top Gun graduate found guilty earlier this year of numerous sex crimes offered to tell the Chinese government everything he knows about being a fighter pilot in exchange for its help in breaking out of the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Virginia, according to federal prosecutors.

Lt. Daniel Chase Harris  31, of Virginia Beach, is set to be sentenced tomorrow on charges he coerced nine girls between the ages of 12 and 17 into making explicit videos of themselves. He faces the possibility of life in prison.

"Attached is a list (partial) of information I possess that I believe you would be very interested in having. All I ask in return is that you break me out," reads the letter, which concluded with a threat to contact the Russian Embassy if the Chinese did not act fast. "Once out and under your protection, all my knowledge is yours."

In a signed letter to the Chinese Embassy seized by correctional officers, Lt. Daniel Chase Harris indicated he had been wrongly convicted of 31 felonies in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., and no longer believed in his country.