Jun 30, 2007

Former LANL worker sentenced for embezzlement

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - A former Los Alamos National Laboratory worker who admitted using bogus purchase orders to embezzle tens of thousand of dollars from the lab has been sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home detention.

Dolores Mae Arreola worked as a purchasing officer at the lab before she was fired in July 2005. She pleaded guilty in March to one count of making false statements or entries, one count of theft or embezzlement of public money and one count of making a false, fictitious or fraudulent claim.

As part of the punishment handed down this week, Arreola was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit two vehicles she acquired through the scam. She must also pay restitution to the federal government.

8 comments:

  1. Hmmmm sentenance to do some time.... is this going to be a precedence sertting procedure , or a mere climate response due to our current circumstances?.....Watch out John Mitchel....(one of your buddies turned you in) can't wait for full disclouser.....

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  2. 1 down, 9999 to go!

    JD & BS

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  3. Hey 4.10pm

    I take it you are just some loser troll.
    What a sad and worthless person you must be.

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  4. I don't know Tony Heaton, but this is a very brave letter to the LANL Reader's Forum. I wish more LANL employees would be as brave by posting to the forum rather than anonymously to the blog.

    Besides his letters, there have been some very thoughtful ones about polygraphs and drug testing.

    June 28, 2007

    Recent email incident

    Jessica Quintana took classified documents from this Lab, on the premise of catching up on work. Our director told us that if he could, he would fire Jessica. Our new random drug testing was implemented in response to this incident. We have supposedly had our first incident since. A Los Alamos National Security, LLC consultant sent classified information to LANS board members through open email.

    In my opinion, this is a more severe incident. Beside the violation of sending classified data through open email, how many of the LANS board members don't have a clearance? How did the classified data come to be on an unclassified laptop? Did the consultant receive a drug test after the incident. What about a lie detector test? You would think that the consequences for the consultant would have been equal to what the director had said he would have done to Jessica. However, as far as we know, the consultant only received a written reprimand. The consultant also was defended by Secretary Bodman with an “human error” excuse. When a Lab employee removes classified data, it's chalked up to “culture."

    The most disconcerting part is that, yet again, we are left to find out through the media, five months after the fact. Communication with employees can't be that difficult. In fact, we've had an all employee meeting since this incident and nothing was said. As an employee, it bothers me that management rarely communicates with us. As a taxpayer it bothers me that management doesn't communicate with Congress.

    --Tony Heaton

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  5. Tony Heaton is a person who has always spoken truth to power. Whether power wanted to hear it or not...

    Go Tony Go

    [Ex-LANL'er who used to get the truth treatment quite a lot.. and deserved it too.]

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  6. This incident proves there was a MUSTANG. Dr. Nanos are you listening.

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  7. Yea...go Tony go. Put your neck out for the rest of us who are too gutless to speak out for ourselves. Do as the whistleblowers before you have done. Go out on a limb for us and when the dogs come to rip your throat out don't look to us for support. That's when we run and hide. What ever happen to those who spearheaded the salary disparity case we read about recently? What ever happen to those who uncovered procurement fraud in our midst? Exactly...they became sacraficial lamps to enable the rest of us to go on bleeting like the sheep that we are. You Tony will just be one more sacrafice when all is said and done. Believe me, we don't deserve you. If we aren't willing to speak up for ouselves, why should we depend on people like you? Thanks anyway.

    --One of the many gutless wonders working at Los Alamos

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  8. How does Tony qualify as a whistleblower? Outspoken perhaps, but whistleblower?

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