Researcher not guilty of stealing lab secrets

[achtungbaby]

Rone Tempest, Los Angeles Times

Woodland, Yolo County -- In what was originally presented by prosecutors as a high-profile trade secrets case, a jury Monday found a Chinese American researcher at UC Davis not guilty of charges that he embezzled laboratory materials with the intent of starting a business overseas.

full story (http://yellowworld.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=117&mode=nocomments&order=1&thold=-1)

[SunWuKong]

But the trade secret case soon evaporated after it was shown that the protein gels and the machines used to produce them are readily available in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong as well as other locations. Last month, the remaining two charges against Han were reduced from felonies to a single charge of petty theft by embezzlement.


so i'm wondering, what kind of investigative work do they do to actually accuse people of a felony?

[artsfartsyjanet]

In his defense, Han, married with two school-age children, insisted that he had no plans to keep the university materials -- protein gels used in cornea repairs and transplants -- that police had found in his home freezer.

Is it common to bring protein gels in one's home freezer? I'm not being suspicious... just curious.

[angel nympho]

Even so... Ummm... The guy DID take the protein gels... Did he ever explain why he had them? That's kinda.... umm... I wouldn't do that.

[SunWuKong]

maybe he took them home to work with them. although i'm not sure what exactly you can do with protein gels at home...

[sandra]

what would make this case similar to that of wen ho lee's is if the other researchers also took home the protein gels or that it was common practice to do so. even if it was against the rules of the lab or the university, then, han would still have been singled out as a result of his being chinese.

[SunWuKong]

i'm assuming that he has american citizenship right?
otherwise, what bewilders me is how they equate round-trip plane tickets and stolen protein gels to a felony.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 10:30 PM
i'm assuming that he has american citizenship right?
otherwise, what bewilders me is how they equate round-trip plane tickets and stolen protein gels to a felony.
it IS rather incriminating... would you think differently if it was round trip tickets to a nation in which those proteins are NOT readily available?

I mean, if somebody has stolen property, and when patting them down, you also find tickets out of the country... can't you just assume that the guy intended to go there in connection with the theft?

Either way, I find it suspicious that the guy had these things in his possession anyway.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 23 2002, 06:10 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 10:30 PM
i'm assuming that he has american citizenship right?
otherwise, what bewilders me is how they equate round-trip plane tickets and stolen protein gels to a felony.
it IS rather incriminating... would you think differently if it was round trip tickets to a nation in which those proteins are NOT readily available?

I mean, if somebody has stolen property, and when patting them down, you also find tickets out of the country... can't you just assume that the guy intended to go there in connection with the theft?

Either way, I find it suspicious that the guy had these things in his possession anyway.
well it's like this, if the guy was white, do you think he would be charged with a felony instead of just petty theft?

his chinese ethnicity somehow became part of the reason that he would commit a felony even though he has american citizenship. does the citizenship not mean anything?

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 11:40 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 23 2002, 06:10 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 10:30 PM
i'm assuming that he has american citizenship right?
otherwise, what bewilders me is how they equate round-trip plane tickets and stolen protein gels to a felony.
it IS rather incriminating... would you think differently if it was round trip tickets to a nation in which those proteins are NOT readily available?

I mean, if somebody has stolen property, and when patting them down, you also find tickets out of the country... can't you just assume that the guy intended to go there in connection with the theft?

Either way, I find it suspicious that the guy had these things in his possession anyway.
well it's like this, if the guy was white, do you think he would be charged with a felony instead of just petty theft?

his chinese ethnicity somehow became part of the reason that he would commit a felony even though he has american citizenship. does the citizenship not mean anything?
its not about the citizenship really though. more that the guy stole something from the lab, and had a flight out of the country scheduled immediately after the fact...

if the guy was white, would you guys even care that he got charged with a felony?

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 23 2002, 08:02 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 11:40 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 23 2002, 06:10 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 10:30 PM
i'm assuming that he has american citizenship right?
otherwise, what bewilders me is how they equate round-trip plane tickets and stolen protein gels to a felony.
it IS rather incriminating... would you think differently if it was round trip tickets to a nation in which those proteins are NOT readily available?

I mean, if somebody has stolen property, and when patting them down, you also find tickets out of the country... can't you just assume that the guy intended to go there in connection with the theft?

Either way, I find it suspicious that the guy had these things in his possession anyway.
well it's like this, if the guy was white, do you think he would be charged with a felony instead of just petty theft?

his chinese ethnicity somehow became part of the reason that he would commit a felony even though he has american citizenship. does the citizenship not mean anything?
its not about the citizenship really though. more that the guy stole something from the lab, and had a flight out of the country scheduled immediately after the fact...

if the guy was white, would you guys even care that he got charged with a felony?
if he was white, he probably wouldn't be charged in the first place.

but if you're asking whether or not i care more about the asian american community then the general american public, then yeah i admit i do. not that i don't concern myself with the issues around the general american public, but what happens in the asian american community is more important to me.

and as a working professional, i can even take these wen ho lee cases to a personal level too. i happen to be applying to a job right now that requires security clearance. plainly said, what happened with wen ho lee and bin han can actually happen to me if i choose to work in a highly secretive environment.

am i being paranoid? i don't know you tell me. when was the last time a non-Asian American was falsely charged with trying to sneak sensitive materials out of the country?

http://www.wenholee.org/news4_protest.jpg



<!--EDIT|SunWuKung|Aug 23 2002, 08:20 PM-->

[angel nympho]

if the guy was white... he stole something from a lab... and had a flight out of the country... u really think nothing would have happened?

look, maybe u guys are right to feel the way you do. i really dont know that much about these kinds of situations... i realize that sometimes things are like a witch hunt... and i agree that people are more likely to suspect non-whites of this kind of thing. but i mean... think about it. in an asian country... couldnt whites be suspected of the same kind of thing? its not right at all, and while i understand that its hard to put things like that out of your mind... in this case, i think some of the evidence had potential to be incriminating. im glad, though, that after further investigation, the feds realized they were wrong. i mean.. if you look at the situation blindly... no names, or anything... assume this guy was white... doesn't the situation look kinda bad?

but i really think that the fact that this guy jacked shit from the lab and was on his way out of the country... could have been something really bad. in this case, it wasnt. but i dont blame ppl for suspecting it could have been.

[achtungbaby]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 23 2002, 01:37 PM
maybe he took them home to work with them. &nbsp;although i'm not sure what exactly you can do with protein gels at home...
Oh, I'm sure you can think of something.

Originally posted by kasia@Aug23 2002, 02:41 PM
even if it was against the rules of the lab or the university, then, han would still have been singled out as a result of his being chinese.

Werd.

[achtungbaby]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 23 2002, 06:32 PM
in this case, i think some of the evidence had potential to be incriminating.
Shouldn't prosecutors first distinguish between "potential" and "truth" before bringing criminal charges?

But the trade secret case soon evaporated after it was shown that the protein gels and the machines used to produce them are readily available in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong as well as other locations. &nbsp;Last month, the remaining two charges against Han were reduced from felonies to a single charge of petty theft by embezzlement.


They probably waited so long to reduce the charges because they didn't want to look like morons, which they are.

[deez nuts]

Heh all this over protein gels?

I didn't know it was felony to bring home items from hospital research, because if it is I am in deep shit.

I can see it being grounds for job termination, but a felony?!?! What crock.





<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Aug 24 2002, 02:59 PM-->

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Chasiubao_Boy@Aug 24 2002, 02:56 PM
Heh all this over protein gels?

I didn't know it was felony to bring home items from hospital research, because if it is I am in deep shit.

I can see it being grounds for job termination, but a felony?!?! What crock.
just make sure you don't also happen to have a round trip ticket to china and you're fine!

[deez nuts]

I read the article carefully this time since I beeped when I was in the middle of it.

This protein gel is a some type of super secret gel that has super duper regenerative, restorative and/or preserving type of super gel? I mean I participated in cornea transplant before and the use of protein gels is pretty standard.

If it was some secret gel, it couldn't have been that top secret because most if not all hospital and/or university medical research is funded through the NIH. They would have to go through the proper channels and approvals from the university/hospital submit a grant to give to the NIH for approval in order to receive funding. Most researchers and MD's in the field of Opthomology research know what their collegues are researching or a general idea. Privately subsidized research is a different matter, however. But I don't think they would be using the UC Davis research facility.

Unless Han signed a contract specifically stating no materials pertaining to the research cannot be removed from the lab and any offense would be a felony, I don't understand why he was charged in the first place with a felony. I can totally understand job dismissal, since hospital and university medical research is super anal about these things. You can get dismissed from your position if you are overheard using a patient's full name or removing medical records off site. JHACO kinda oversees to this and that hospitals are up to par in thier regulations and procedures.

And so what if he had round trip tickets to China? The brother needed a vacation.



<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Aug 24 2002, 07:22 PM-->

[achtungbaby]

Originally posted by Chasiubao_Boy@Aug 24 2002, 04:42 PM
...I don't understand why he was charged in the first place with a felony.
Simple: an overzealous prosecutor trying to capitalize on the possibility of getting some spotlight..."D.A. Saves UC Davis from Evil Chinese"...

[ChinaLama]

gee such a big deal over a few cases of protein. glad he was acquitted. I mean even calling it EMBEZZLEMENT or theft seems a bit overboard...

anyway thx for the article. gives me a way to suck up by sending boss Asian American-related articles. :)