Chinese indictments mimic Chicago Motorola spy case from 2007

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Seven years after the I-Team exposed a Chinese espionage case targeting suburban Motorola, the U.S. Justice Department announced Monday the other shoe is dropping. For the first time, federal prosecutors are going after the government of China.

In February 2007, Schaumburg resident Hanjuan Jin was caught red-handed by the FBI trying to smuggle military communication secrets to Beijing. Her attorneys tried to downplay the spy and espionage aspects of the case by framing it as a more common theft of corporate secrets. But in the light of Monday's charges against five Chinese military officials for allegedly doing the same thing, it now seems that the Chicago case of Hanjuan Jin was indeed the underpinning of a much larger foreign threat.

When the I-Team first encountered Jin in a Schaumburg parking lot, she didn't look like a spy and denied being one. However, the software engineer is in federal prison after being convicted of stealing more than 1,000 top secret military communication documents from her employer, Schaumburg-based Motorola.

Jin was nabbed by federal agents at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. She was just a few steps away from a flight to her native China where the information was believed destined for military use.

Seven years ago prosecutors in Chicago described Jin as an intelligence operative for the Chinese government intent on stealing information from Motorola for use by China.

Now, Attorney General Eric Holder said the espionage charges against actual Chinese military officials are unprecedented because it's first time the U.S. government has ever accused another nation of Internet hacking.

"Conducted for no other reason than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China at the expense of businesses here," Holder said.

The U.S. government says the alleged hackers used unauthorized access and emails to steal secret and sensitive information from six American companies.

"I'm not confident of anything in this business. You can't be," Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said.

The five Chinese military officials are now considered international fugitives but it's unclear if they will ever be taken into custody.