Ex-US State Department employee, wife held on spying charges

Washington, June 6 (ANI): The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a former US State Department employee, along with his wife, on alleged charges of spying for Cuba for nearly three decades.

Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and his wife Gwendolyn Myers, 71, were accused of being dedicated and ideologically-motivated agents on behalf of Cuba.

According to an affidavit that prosecutors filed in federal court, the pair met directly with Fidel Castro at least once, around New Year's Day in 1995, Politico reports.

"Kendall Myers stated that he and Gwendolyn Myers met Fidel Castro in a small house where they were staying and he spent a whole evening, lasting approximately four hours, talking with them," the court filing said.

According to an FBI affidavit, the Myers admitted to their 30-year spying careers during meetings in April with an undercover informant who convinced the couple he was also a Cuban intelligence agent.

The FBI affidavit alleged that the pair said they sent secure Internet messages through Internet cafes and communicated with Cuban agents via shortwave radios-a technique used by other convicted Cuban spies.

However, the couple entered not guilty pleas Friday to initial charges of conspiracy and acting as unregistered foreign agents. A bail hearing was set for Wednesday.

The couple allegedly made trips to Cuba via Mexico, using fake travel documents they were provided. Kendall Myers never reported these trips to the State Department, the FBI document said.

Most of the couple's meetings with Cuban agents allegedly took place in third countries in Europe or Latin America.

The pair was apparently arrested Monday at a Washington, D.C. hotel as they arrived for what they thought was another meeting with the undercover agent they had met with in April. (ANI)