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Texas Tech University Professor Found Guilty of Fraud
Texas Tech University professor Robert Butler was found guilty yesterday of embezzlement and fraud charges that he faced after an incident early this year involving plague samples at Butler’s laboratory, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Nov. 26). In January, Butler reported that 30 vials of plague samples were missing and presumed stolen from his university laboratory. Butler later signed a statement, however, saying that he had destroyed the vials and had misled FBI agents. Yesterday, Butler was convicted on 47 out of 69 counts, most relating to illegal exports of plague samples and multiple counts of fraud related to university research contracts, the Post reported. The jury acquitted Butler, however, of lying to the FBI, of illegally importing and transporting plague samples and of filing false tax returns. Butler is expected to remain under house arrest until a sentencing hearing next month (Lee Hockstader, Washington Post, Dec. 2). Butler’s attorney Jonathan Turley has said that Butler will file an appeal. “The entire controversy that led to this case was thrown out by the jury,” Turley said. “The Justice Department justified this massive investigation and massive prosecution based on plague charges and false statements that the jury rejected,” he said (Charles Piller, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 2).
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