There is much more to the story than meets the idea and it is worthy of a first rate investigative reporter’s attention from a major national newspaper. The basic story line is that a government agency got involved in this case sensing a “big fish” in an attempt to find national security issues in the feeding frenzy for such matters following 9/11. When that situation did not materialize, and when the government realized that this was not a national security matter, rather than admit a mistake, the government agency dug its heals in deeper, and decided to continue to prosecute, despite the lack of seriousness of the situation. The answer to your blog question as to “why would someone plea guilty” is easy to understand. (1) To get the government prosecutors off one’s back from pursuing these frivolous charges, and (2) to permit these government agencies, who have wasted MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars on this matter, to “save face” so that the matter can be ended.