Woman gets 3 months for taking secret info from U.S. Embassy in Manila

Asia Janay Lavarello was temporarily assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Manila. She pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information. USIPC

HONOLULU – Asia Janay Lavarello on Feb. 10, 2022 was sentenced to three in prison and a $5,500 fine for knowingly removing classified national defense or foreign relations information from the U.S. Embassy in Manila and keeping it at an unauthorized location.

Lavarello, 32, had pleaded guilty to the charge in July 2021 and was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for Hawaii by Chief U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright.

Lavarello, a Department of Defense employee, removed and kept numerous classified documents, writings, and notes relating to the national defense or foreign relations of the United States without authority.

While working as an Executive Assistant at the United States Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, Lavarello accepted a temporary assignment working at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines where she Lavarello had access to classified computers and documents, and attended classified meetings as part of her official duties.

Court documents list several specific instances in which Lavarello mishandled classified material of the United States.

On March 20, 2020, Lavarello removed classified documents from the U.S. Embassy Manila. She took the classified documents to her hotel room where she hosted a dinner party later that evening. Among the guests were two foreign nationals.

During the party, a co-worker at the U.S. Embassy Manila discovered the documents, which included documents classified at the SECRET level. Lavarello’s temporary assignment in the Philippines was ultimately terminated due to her mishandling of SECRET classified documents.

Around March 28, 2020, Lavarello returned to Hawaii. In June of that year, investigators executed a search warrant at her workplace at the United States Indo-Pacific Command. In her desk, investigators found a notebook containing Lavarello’s handwritten notes of meetings she attended while working at the U.S. Embassy Manila.

The notes contained information classified at the CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET levels. Investigators determined that Lavarello did not send the classified notebook via secure diplomatic pouch from the U.S. Embassy Manila to Hawaii, as required.

Instead, she personally transported the documents to Hawaii, unsecured, and kept the classified notebook at an unsecure location until at least April 13, 2020. Lavarello also made false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in response to questioning about her handling of the classified material.

“Today’s sentencing of Ms. Lavarello is a reminder that Department of Defense employees have the responsibility to ensure classified information is properly secured. Mishandling classified information places lives and the U.S. National Security at risk,” said NCIS Special Agent in Charge Dominesey. “