Less than one year ago, the FBI accepted a “guilty” plea from a person accused of illegally removing and retaining classified documents.

No, the settlement was not with Hillary Clinton. Bryan H. Nishimura, 50, of Folsom, California, pleaded guilty to the charge.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman immediately sentenced Nishimura to two years of probation, a $7,500 fine, and forfeiture of personal media containing classified materials. Nishimura was further ordered to surrender any currently held security clearance and to never again seek such a clearance.

According to the FBI press release, Nishimura was a Naval Reservist deployed in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. Nishimura had access to classified briefings and digital records that could only be retained and viewed on authorized government computers. Nishimura, however, caused the materials to be downloaded and stored on his personal, unclassified electronic devices and storage media. He carried such classified materials on his unauthorized media when he traveled off-base in Afghanistan and, ultimately, carried those materials back to the United States at the end of his deployment. The investigation did not reveal evidence that Nishimura intended to distribute classified information to unauthorized personnel.

The parallels to Mrs. Clinton’s case are obvious. You can’t make this stuff up, folks.

Here is the link to the FBI press release.

https://www.fbi.gov/sacramento/press-releases/2015/folsom-naval-reservist-is-sentenced-after-pleading-guilty-to-unauthorized-removal-and-retention-of-classified-materials