Aldrich and Rosario Ames pleaded guilty to spying on April 28, 1994

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - On April 28, 1994 Aldrich Ames and his wife Rosario pleaded guilty to espionage charges. They were accused of earning more than $2.5 million for selling information to the Soviet Union for more than nine years.

Aldrich Ames was the highest ranking military officer and the first serving CIA agent to be charged with spying for the Soviets. He continued to spy for Russia even after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1992.

Both Ames and his wife worked for the C.I.A. Aldrich Ames began working for the agency in 1962. He was made branch chief for U.S. counterintelligence against the Soviet Union. Rosario Ames was a former diplomat from Columbia. She was also working for the C.I.A at the time of her arrest.

Federal investigators claimed the couple’s spying resulted in the deaths of at least 10 agents for the United States.

Rosario Ames claimed she had no knowledge of her husband’s spying until 1992. She says he convinced her the Russians would harm her and their son if he was exposed.

Aldrich Ames agreed to cooperate with the government in exchange for serving life in prison and a guarantee that Rosario would get a reduced penalty. She was sentenced to five years in prison.