 Finding him guilty on espionage charges, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison after a secretive trial. More from ABC's Tom Rivers at the Foreign Desk. The 32-year-old, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently denied the charges. He was detained in March last year while on a reporting trip in the Ural Mountains region and accused of spying. There's some speculation the trial came to an unusually swift conclusion to perhaps clear the way for a swap between Moscow and Washington.