Ex-Utah chemist cleared of trade secret theft charges at Frontier Scientific Inc.

LOGAN, Utah — A federal judge has cleared a former chemist of charges of stealing trade secrets from the Utah-based Frontier Scientific Inc.

A grand jury indicted 44-year-old Prabhum Mohapatra in 2011 of two counts of theft of trade secrets and two counts of fraudulent activity.

Mohapatra pleaded guilty last year to one charge of unlawful access to a protected computer in a plea deal. Several other charges were dropped.

Prosecutors said Tuesday Mohapatra admitted illegally accessing data on the company computer and sending an email with the data to a family member outside the country. But The (Logan) Herald Journal (http://tinyurl.com/d2cqdm7) reports that Judge Clark Waddoups ruled the information was publicly available and therefore no theft occurred.

He still faces a second-degree felony tied to the theft charge in 1st District Court.

Information from: The Herald Journal, http://www.hjnews.com

Think your friends should see this? Share it with them!

Follow Us

^{Content enhanced with OpenCalais.}