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Couple Charged in Nuclear Secrets Case

   VOA News 17 September 2010
   Former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear physicist P. Leonardo

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   This  Oct.  22, 2009 photo shows former Los Alamos National Laboratory
   nuclear  physicist P. Leonardo Mascheroni, who is accused of trying to
   sell nuclear secrets.

   A  scientist  and his wife, who both worked at a U.S. nuclear research
   facility,  have  been arrested and charged with trying to sell nuclear
   weapons secrets to a person they thought was a Venezuelan official.
   The Justice Department says Argentine-born U.S. citizen Pedro Leonardo
   Mascheroni,  and  his  wife,  Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, were arrested
   Friday  and  appeared  in  federal  court in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Â
   Both  were  formerly  contract  employees  at  the Los Alamos National
   Laboratory.
   The  indictment does not allege that Venezuela or anyone acting on its
   behalf sought or was passed any classified information.
   Prosecutors  charged  in a 22-count indictment that Mascheroni told an
   undercover  FBI  agent  he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb
   within 10 years.
   Mascheroni  allegedly said that under his program, Venezuela would use
   a secret, underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium,
   and an open, above-ground reactor to produce nuclear energy.
   If  convicted,  the  Mascheronis  face a potential sentence of life in
   prison.
   Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. 

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