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Plague scare professor sentenced
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- A former Texas Tech University professor who started a bioterrorism scare when he reported plague bacteria missing last year was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison. Dr. Thomas C. Butler, 62, also was fined $15,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $38,000. He earlier had agreed to retire from the school and surrender his medical license.

Butler gave no reaction when the sentence was read. He remains free on bond, but must report to federal authorities on April 14.
Idjit. Threw it all away for what?
The father of four had faced up to 240 years in prison and millions in fines for convictions that stemmed from an investigation after his report that 30 vials of the bacteria were missing from his lab in January 2003. He later said he accidentally destroyed the samples, but during his trial he testified he had no clear memory of destroying the vials and that they could have been destroyed during his cleanup of an accident.
I clean-up after myself in the cell culture lab too. I have yet to throw out vials of anything important, let alone controlled materials like this. Perhaps I'm just a neat-nik.
Butler's attorneys had sought to unload this case on the public defender's office probation.

In January, after his conviction, Butler agreed to pay $250,000 to the school and retire. Last month, Butler voluntarily surrendered his medical license to the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.

In December, a jury found Butler guilty of mislabeling a Fed Ex package that contained plague samples he sent to Tanzania and their unauthorized export to the African country. The jury also found Butler guilty of theft, embezzlement, fraud, and mail and wire fraud charges pertaining to shadow contracts prosecutors claimed he had illegally negotiated while at Tech. The settlement with Tech pertained to these charges. He was acquitted of the most serious charges of smuggling and illegally transporting the potentially deadly germ and charges of lying to federal agents about the missing vials.
Now he can do rectal exams in the federal slammer. Good riddance.

Posted by: Steve White 2004-03-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=27850