The FBI has offered a $200,000 reward for information leading to the capture and prosecution of a former U.S. service member and counterintelligence agent accused of spying for Iran.
Monia Elfriede Witt, 47, shared sensitive information that endangered American personnel and their families abroad, while helping the Iranian regime target her former colleagues in the U.S. government, according to the FBI.
The Texas native served in the military between 1997 and 2008 before working as a U.S. government contractor until 2010. Witt defected in 2013 to Iran and then allegedly provided national defense information to the Iranian government.
In February 2019, Witt was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of espionage but remains at large.
The FBI’s reward comes as the United States and Iran have been at war since Feb. 28.
“The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts,” the agency said.
According to the FBI, Witt’s defection to Iran has benefited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Before her defection, Witt had been warned by the FBI about her activities, but assured agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, according to prosecutors.
The former counterintelligence agent was born in El Paso, Texas, but resides in Iran and is known to speak Farsi. Her aliases have been listed as Fatemah Zahra and Narges Witt. Witt has brown hair and brown eyes, and her height is listed as five feet and five inches.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact the local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate.