Aragoncillo, Michael Ray sentenced next month for spying

Former police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, who pleaded guilty to passing classified information about the administration to opposition politicians, is set to be sentenced on March 13.

He faces between 70 and 87 months in prison, and a $250,000 fine, the Asian Journal reported.

Aquino’s lawyer will be seeking a reduction of his sentence from 37 to 46 months.

By pleading guilty, he avoided a possible life sentence and a trial that could have exposed the intelligence gathering techniques of the US government.

Aquino admitted receiving documents and information from Filipino-American Leandro Aragoncillo, who worked as an analyst for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The classified documents contained details of threats to US military personnel in the Philippines.

Aquino started receiving these documents from January 2005 until his arrest at his residence in Queens, New York on an expired visa on March 7, 2005.

Aragoncillo, who described the documents he transmitted to Aquino as a "blueprint" on how to launch a coup, has been rescheduled for sentencing on March 15, 2007.

Aragoncillo, a 47-year-old former US Marine, was arrested by the FBI at his home in Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey.

He could also face additional maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each count after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful retention of national defense information and unlawful use of a government computer.

He will likely be asked to pay a fine of $250,000 for each count.

By pleading guilty last May 4 to one count of conspiracy to transmit national defense information and another count of transmitting national defense information, Aragoncillo could face a maximum term of life in prison.

Aragoncillo worked at various times for former Vice President Al Gore and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Aquino was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 and Aragoncillo on Dec. 14, but the dates were moved to January and were later re-scheduled to March.