A federal judge Tuesday denied bail to a former National Security Agency employee and Colorado Springs resident accused of trying to sell secrets to Russian agents, who were actually undercover FBI agents.

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 30, faces charges of violating the Espionage Act. He pleaded not-guilty to all charges Tuesday in U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews’ federal courtroom in Denver.

Dalke believed he was talking to a Russian operative, but he was actually talking to an undercover FBI agent, according to his arrest affidavit and testimony in court Tuesday. After initially using encrypted email to send excerpts of classified documents and one full document this summer, Dalke was arrested Sept. 28. He allegedly agreed to transmit more information using a secure connection investigators had set up at Denver’s train station.

Dalke served as an NSA Information Systems Security Designer from June 6, 2022, to July 1, 2022. He requested $85,000 for additional information, according to his arrest affidavit.

Dalke told the undercover agent that he planned to take and share other documents and re-applied to the NSA in August.

Prosecutors asked Crews to keep Dalke in custody pending trial. Dalke’s U.S. public defender argued that he should be released on bail.

Dalke’s lawyers had proposed that his wife, who was in court for the hearing, could supervise the Army veteran and report any violations of his bond. However, Crews was concerned whether she would be able to do that, describing Dalke as her “caretaker.”

One of Dalke’s federal public defenders, David Kraut, said Dalke supported the household with Veterans Administration benefits and had been “supportive” of his wife in difficulties in her life. He said Dalke would not want to put her at risk by not complying with bond conditions. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Martinez said he already had by taking her with him when he went to scout out a public location to transmit the documents.

Kraut downplayed Dalke’s access to classified information since he only worked at the NSA for less than a month. He also argued Dalke could do home detention enforced with a GPS monitor, forced internet restrictions and that he surrender his passport.

But Martinez countered Dalke’s extensive technological and trade craft knowledge and skills in identity fraud make him a threat to national security. Martinez said Dalke had multiple fake identifications and the means to make more.

Dalke’s defense team noted his lack of means for information distribution, no criminal history and lack of financial means to flea.

Crews ordered Dalke remain in custody pending trial, noting his plan for future acts, significant financial need, sympathy to the Russian government and prior lack of regard for federal law.

Dalke, an Army veteran who lived in Colorado Springs, worked for the NSA — the U.S. intelligence agency that collects and analyzes signals from foreign and domestic sources for the purpose of intelligence and counterintelligence — as an information systems security designer for less than a month this summer, according to the affidavit.

Dalke, who has degrees related to cybersecurity, began communicating by encrypted email with the undercover agent in late July after the agent wrote to him saying the agent had been informed that they should talk about “items of mutual benefit.”

At one point, Dalke allegedly told the agent that his heritage “ties back to your country (Russia),” which is why he said he has “come to you as opposed to others”, it said.

The documents he shared before his arrest included a threat assessment of Russia, a plan to update a cryptographic program for a federal agency, a threat assessment of sensitive U.S. defense capabilities, and a document related to a “foreign government leader,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Dalke told the undercover agent that he had $237,000 in debts. In 2017, he filed for bankruptcy because of student loan and credit card debts, according to the affidavit. He allegedly told the undercover agent that providing the classified information for payment was “an opportunity to help balance scales of the world while also tending to my own needs.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.