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Home Front: WoT

Plague scare professor sentenced

2004-03-11

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

#6 Now he can do rectal exams in the federal slammer

Uh, I don't think he'll be performing them, more like an unwilling participant.

Posted by: Raj 2004-3-11 12:58:52 PM

#5 You guys don't seem to know any doctors.
Steve White, do you know any doctors? :)

Posted by: GK 2004-3-11 8:48:49 AM

#4 I happen to know Butler, though not well. Phil may be closer to the truth, can't say much more.

Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-3-11 8:21:31 AM

#3 You guys don't seem to know any doctors. A significant number tend to be paranoid flakes. Its probably a combination of the 'god complex' and pharmaceuticals abuse.

Posted by: Phil B 2004-3-11 8:13:56 AM

#2 I wonder if he was considering or caught in a scheme to blackmail the feds.... or if he was tried on legitimate charges which were unrelated to the real crime.

How's ALCOA doing this a.m. in Europe?

Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-11 8:06:47 AM

#1 Weirdness. This story makes no sense to me.

So, uh, he had a secret contract to sell plague bacteria to someone in Tanzania. He first reported the vials missing - later says they were destroyed? WTF?

For now I'd have to guess, from the given info, that FedEx / bank records and such paper trails were discovered during the "missing vials" investigation. I'm not sure that anything else makes any sense!

Most of the remaining tidbits of it (e.g. embezzlement!) don't fit, though.

There's definitely some missing linkages here. He really did throw his life away - so I doubt that we know the full extent of this bizarre tale.

Weirdness, Dr Steve! Head-scratcher of the day!

Posted by: .com 2004-3-11 5:44:54 AM

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