U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas, and San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks announced today that a joint investigation has led to the arrest of S...
July 28, 2009
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U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman, Federal
Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas, and San
Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks announced today that a joint investigation has
led to the arrest of Silvya Oommachen, age 32, of Palo Alto, CA, in connection
with vandalism at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Early last week,
approximately 4,000 to 5,000 separate protein crystal samples were destroyed.
The damage occurred in the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG)
Laboratory at SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. A JCSG
administrator estimates the value of the loss to be approximately $500,000. On
Monday, July 27, 2009, Ms. Oommachen, a former employee, was taken into
custody on suspicion of violating United States Code, Title 18, Section 1361,
“Committing Damage to Government Property or Contracts.” The IG is working
closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s
Office, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
California. Department of En