The Federal Bureau of Prisons website indicates that Leandro Aragoncillo was released on 28 May 2014.

I knew Leonardo in the Marine Corps for roughly a month due to replacing him at Folsom PA.  He always came across as a hot-shot know-it-all and arrogance was his most pronounced characteristic.  Hence, he may have BS'd his way through the polygraph because he was SO slick.  As you can imagine when I saw his face on CNN I wasn't surprised.  Being the smartest person in the room caught up with him.  Definitely a poor reflection on the Marine Corps.  Does anyone know if he's still in prison?

Aragoncillo was given a polygraph examination on April 26,2004. Aragoncillo was asked, among other questions, whether he had ever disclosed classified information to an unauthorized person. Aragoncillo answered "no" to this and the other questions. According to FBI records, the examination found no indications of deception.

05-04-06 -- Aragoncillo, Leandro -- Guilty Plea -- News Release
     

Former Marine and FBI Analyst Pleads Guilty to Espionage; Admits Transferring Classified Information to Assist in Overthrow of Philippines Government

NEWARK, N.J. – A former Marine who worked at times under two administrations in the Office of the Vice President of the United States pleaded guilty today to espionage and other charges, admitting that he took and transferred classified information, including national defense documents, to senior political and government officials of the Republic of the Philippines in an attempt to destabilize and overthrow that country’s government, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, admitted that he regularly transferred to his Philippine contacts national security documents classified as Secret, and that the information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation. He also admitted traveling to the Philippines in January 2001 to meet his co-conspirators, including during a visit to the Malacanang Palace, the official residence of the president of the Philippines.

Aragoncillo also admitted that some of the classified information he removed from of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) between approximately October 2000 and February 2002 included information marked Top Secret that related to terrorist threats to United States government interests in the Republic of the Philippines (ROP).

Aragoncillo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the Philippines and most recently of Woodbury, N.J., was an FBI intelligence analyst at Fort Monmouth, N.J. at the time of his arrest on Sept. 10, 2005. He admitted today that his espionage activity continued during his time as an FBI analyst.

“Aragoncillo took the most solemn of oaths as a U.S. Marine and FBI analyst to protect his country and its security,” said Christie. “His betrayal is profound and a disservice to his country and all the men and women in military and security positions around the globe who take the oath and serve with honor and integrity.”

Also arrested last September was Michael Ray Aquino, a former Philippines National Police official, who was among those who Aragoncillo is alleged to have passed classified information. Aragoncillo specifically identified Aquino today as a co-conspirator in the transfer of classified documents and information.

Aquino, who remains in federal custody, was indicted on Oct. 6, 2005 and charged with conspiring in the passing of classified information to current and former officials in the Philippines.

Aquino awaits trial. No date has been scheduled for Aquino’s trial due to extensive pretrial discovery.

Aragoncillo pleaded guilty to four counts of an Indictment returned this morning by a federal grand jury. Count One charged him with Conspiracy to Transmit National Defense Information; Count Two charged him with Transmission of National Defense Information. The maximum penalty for both of those crimes is death under certain circumstances – including the transfer of secrets that result in the death of an intelligence source – that are not present in the case of Aragoncillo. Consequently, the maximum statutory penalty on those counts for Aragoncillo is any term of years up to life in prison.

Count Three charges Aragoncillo with Unlawful Retention of National Defense Information, and Count Four charges him with Unlawful Use of a Government Computer, both of which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

In the Indictment and during his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls, Aragoncillo’s co-conspirators were identified as Executive Branch Official #1, a senior member of the executive branch of the ROP from June 1998 through January 2001; Senator #1, who has served in the Philippine Senate since June 2001 and was formerly the head of the Philippines National Police; Representative #1, who served in the Philippines House of Representatives between about 1998 and 2001 and again in 2004; Representative #2, who served in the Philippines House of Representatives between 1992 and 2001, and again in 2004; Mayor #1, who is a mayor of one of the municipalities located near Metro Manila; and Aquino.

Aragoncillo admitted his contacts began on July 27, 2000, when a delegation of public officials from the Philippines – including Executive Branch Official #1 and Representative #1 – met with the President of the United States at the White House. Aragoncillo was then a staff assistant to the Vice President’s Military Advisors and possessed a Top Secret security clearance.

Aragoncillo said that Representative #1 contacted him in or about October 2000, and requested information about the U.S. government’s views about the Philippines. Aragoncillo stated that Representative #1 appealed to his sense of loyalty to the Philippines and its people in requesting the information. As a result of Representative #1's appeals, Aragoncillo agreed to begin supplying Representative #1 with national security-classified documents and information.

From that time forward, and continuing through his service with the OVP and the FBI, Aragoncillo admitted to gathering and providing classified documents and information to Executive Official #1, Senator #1, and the other co-conspirators.

Aragoncillo also admitted that in telephone, e-mail and text message exchanges with Senator #1, he advised that the information he was transferring would be useful in assisting Senator #1 and his associates in their attempts to destabilize and overthrow the president and government of the Philippines. In one telephone conversation, for example, Aragoncillo admitted that he told Senator #1 that the documents were like a “blueprint” on how to engineer a coup. In response, Aragoncillo said that Senator #1 told him that the document was “a good reference” and that Senator #1 “would print it because we are preparing something like this.”

Among other specific admissions by Aragoncillo:

• That on Jan. 12, 2001, he met Executive Branch Official #1 at the Malacanang Palace.

• That on June 1, 2001, he gathered classified “Situation Reports” from the OVP, and transmitted them to Representative #1.

• That on April 17, 2001, and Jan. 29 and Feb. 6, 2002, he gathered documents classified “Top Secret” and “Secret,” respectively, containing national defense information relating to terrorist threats to U.S. government interests in the ROP and exercises involving the U.S. military in the Philippines.

• That he sought positions with the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, to gain access to classified documents and information that would be useful to his co-conspirators.

• That beginning in September 2004, he began gathering classified documents from FBI computers located at Fort Monmouth relating to the ROP, and thereafter he transmitted classified documents and information to his co-conspirators until his arrest on September 10, 2005.

• That from approximately January to April 2005, he transmitted by e-mail approximately 30 documents classified “Secret” and “Confidential” to Senator #1 and Aquino, including documents containing national defense information.

• That on Feb. 28 and Aug. 4, 2005, and on other occasions, he transmitted documents to his contacts containing classified information about confidential intelligence sources of the U.S. government.

• That approximately two weeks before his arrest, on Aug. 25, 2005, he sought to return to his position as a Staff Assistant in the OVP.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wiser, Jr., in Newark, for their investigation of the espionage case.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karl H. Buch and Michael Buchanan, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division, and Clifford I. Rones, Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.

-end-

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/04/spy.case/index.html

Ex-VP aide, FBI analyst admits spying
Former Marine pleads guilty to taking part in Philippine coup plot

From Julian Cummings
CNN

NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- A former vice presidential military aide and FBI analyst pleaded guilty Thursday to supplying documents to unnamed individuals in the Philippines on how to orchestrate a coup attempt against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In a federal court hearing in Newark, New Jersey, Leandro Aragoncillo entered into a plea agreement that would keep the death penalty off the table for him.

Aragoncillo, a former U.S. Marine, acknowledged to prosecutors that he supplied top secret U.S. defense information -- which he wasn't authorized to obtain -- to officials in the Philippines. The officials were not named.

However, he implicated Michael Aquino, a former official with the Philippines National Police. The two were arrested together in September 2005.

Aquino was charged with taking classified documents obtained from Aragoncillo and passing them on to unnamed Philippine officials.

Aquino's lawyer, Marc Berman, has said that his client was unaware that the documents received were classified and that no markings on them indicated so. He has entered a plea of not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Aragoncillo, 47, pleaded guilty to all four counts brought against him. The first two counts, conspiracy to transmit defense information and transmission of defense information, carry a maximum penalty of death.

As a part of the plea agreement, both parties agreed that the crimes committed do not meet the criteria to seek the death penalty.

"We're fortunate that no physical harm was brought to anyone because of this, and that's part of the reason we did not seek the death penalty on counts one and two," said U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie outside a New Jersey courthouse.

The other two counts against Aragoncillo -- unlawful retention of defense information and unlawful use of a government computer -- carry a maximum sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Prosecutors said the guidelines set by U.S. District Judge William H. Walls would call for a sentence of 15-24 years in prison. Sentencing for Aragoncillo is scheduled for August 14.

"Mr. Aragoncillo faces significant time in federal prison, and rightfully so," Christie said.

Aragoncillo worked as a military aide to two vice presidents -- Al Gore and Dick Cheney.

Prosecutors said Aragoncillo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the Philippines, admitted removing classified information from the vice president's office between about October 2000 and February 2002.

Aragoncillo also acknowledged his espionage activity continued while he was an FBI analyst in New Jersey, where he worked at the time of his arrest, prosecutors said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050912/ap_on_re_us/espionage_arrests

FBI Intel Analyst Charged With Spying

By JEFFREY GOLD, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 12, 7:55 PM ET

NEWARK, N.J. - An
FBI intelligence analyst with top secret clearance was charged Monday with passing classified information about Filipino leaders to current and former officials of that nation.

The analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, sent some of the material to Michael Ray Aquino, a former deputy director of the Philippines National Police who lives in New York City, according to an FBI complaint made public Monday.

Both men were arrested Saturday at their homes.

Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, was hired to work at the Army's Fort Monmouth in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to the complaint.

From May to Aug. 15, Aragoncillo printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret," the complaint said. Details of the documents' contents were not disclosed in court papers or in court.

U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said there was no evidence that the administration of Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was involved, but he would not say if the suspects were in contact with opposition factions. The Asian nation has been beset by persistent coup rumors since Arroyo was accused of rigging last year's elections.

Aquino is not related to former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.

Aragoncillo, a Marine for 21 years, and Aquino were ordered held without bail following an appearance before a federal magistrate.

After his arrest, Aragoncillo "essentially admitted that he took classified information," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl H. Buch told the magistrate.

Aragoncillo, a Filipino who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was suspended by the FBI on Monday. Leslie Wiser Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI's New Jersey operations, said it was "disheartening" that one of the agency's workers faces such charges.

Christie would not say what motivated the suspects. In court, Buch said that Aragoncillo had $500,000 in debts and that Aquino had been investigated in the Philippines in connection with a conspiracy to murder two people.

The investigation began after Aquino, 39, was arrested in March, accused of overstaying the tourist visa he used to enter the country in July 2001.

The defendants face a charge of conspiracy and a charge of acting as unregistered foreign agents, the latter of which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine. Aragoncillo also was charged with unauthorized use of a government computer, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

Both men were represented Monday by federal public defenders.