VIRGINIA -- Even as a judge sentenced former Georgetown Township resident Glenn Shriver to four years in prison for trying to spy for the Chinese, his family and friends say the espionage claims are still unbelievable to them.

“This entire ordeal has been a complete shock to me,” Shriver’s fiancee, Yumi Kim, wrote in a December letter to the Virginia federal judge handling Shriver’s case. “The entire time I have known him, he has never spoken bad of his country.”

Shriver met Kim while he taught English in Korea about two years ago and they decided to marry.

“We used to play-fight about what country was better, Korea or America. I even nicknamed him ‘Mr. Patriot,’” she wrote.

But federal prosecutors say Shriver, who spent considerable time in China several years ago, was anything but a patriot.

They say he took $70,000 from Chinese intelligence officials in three payments over years as he attempted to secure jobs with the CIA and U.S. Foreign Service.

“Mr. Shriver sold out his country and repeatedly sought a position in our intelligence community so that he could provide classified information to the (Peoples Republic of China),” said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride. “Attempts to gain access to sensitive information are a serious threat to our national security. We are doing everything in our power to find and punish those who seek to betray our country.”

The 28-year-old Shriver told Judge Liam O’Grady that he made “a terrible decision” and that “somewhere along the way I got into bed with the wrong people.”

He also said he almost felt relieved to be caught.

“I cannot tell you what it’s like to carry a dark secret like this for so many years,” Shriver told the judge.

He pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to provide national defense information to Chinese intelligence officers.

Shriver studied abroad in Shanghai through Grand Valley State University and eventually met Chinese intelligence officials. His Chinese handlers urged him to seek jobs in the U.S. that would give him access to classified information.

In 2005 and 2006, Shriver took the Foreign Service exam. He failed both times, but his Chinese handlers gave him $10,000 for his first attempt and $20,000 for his second, documents show.

Then in 2007, Shriver applied for a job with the CIA. He then traveled to China and requested $40,000 from the Chinese agents for that and was paid in cash he smuggled through U.S. Customs on his return, authorities said.

In recently-filed letters in support of Shriver, family and friends said it was hard to imagine him doing anything to harm America.

“I would not speculate on what Glenn is or is not guilty of,” wrote his brother, Jon Shriver Jr., “but in no way can I believe that he would harm or would allow harm to occur to the country that his mother and his niece live in, to the country which both his grandfathers fought for ... . I know him and I feel with complete certainty that Glenn is not a threat to the U.S.”

Shriver’s mother, Karen Chavez, said her son is remorseful.

“I talk to him every day and he has told me of his regrets for what he has done. He expressed that he was relieved to have this out and will one day be able to put it behind him.

Court records show Shriver began developing a relationship with China officials during his junior year at Grand Valley when he attended a study abroad program at East China Normal University.

Taking an interest in the culture and having proficiency in the language, he returned to China in 2004 and responded to an advertisement that offered to pay people with a background in East Asian studies to write a political paper.

That led to further meetings with his contact, “Amanda,” and eventually the link to other Chinese intelligence officers.

Attorneys for Shriver said he has support from family and friends and submitted 15 letter from friends and family to the judge.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@grpress.com