HONOLULU -- A Maui man charged with espionage has apparently confessed, saying he sold secrets for profit.

Noshir S. Gowadia was an engineer with the company that built the B-2 stealth bomber. He apparently admitted selling some of its secrets to eight countries.

"This is a very sensitive and ongoing investigation," FBI Agent-in-Charge Charles Goodwin said.

In recent years, Gowadia (pictured, right), 61, worked as an independent engineer in defense research. He built a luxury home on the slopes of Mount Haleakala. Agents arrested Gowadia Wednesday, two weeks after federal agents raided his home.

Officials said they found proof he's had a lucrative side business, selling stealth secrets to foreign countries.

Agents found classified documents Gowadia obtained as an engineer for Northrop Grumman, officials said. Gowadia worked on the super-secret propulsion system for B-2 bombers 20 years ago.

The government charged Gowadia with sending a fax to a foreign country that explained how to make the B-2s engine heat harder to detect.

"This document, which was a proposal for infrared suppression, was determined to be classified at the top secret level," Goodwin said.

Gowadia at first denied doing anything wrong, but then, when confronted with classified documents found in his home, he wrote out a statement, according to an FBI statement.

He wrote in his limited English that he "disclosed classified information. I wanted to help this countries to further their self aircraft protection systems. I knew it was wrong and I did it for the money."

How much money he made isn't clear. Agents said in addition to his large home, Gowadia had other property and local and foreign bank accounts.

Authorities refused to say with which countries Gowadia did business. So far, he's been charged only with sending secrets to people who aren't entitled to them. That's a 10-year felony. Cases in which secrets are sold to a potential enemy, such as China, have usually led to more serious charges.

Gowadia was with Northrop from 1968-1986. He also worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He has two companies: N.S. Gowadia, Inc. and NSG, Inc., which the government said reported about $750,000 in income between 1999-2003.