and Jarrett Carroll

GUILDERLAND — Jun Wang lost his job this week and may soon lose his Guilderland home.

A microbiologist who grew up in China and has been in the United States on a work visa for 13 years, Wang, 36, was arrested on Friday, charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States.
"I just want my husband home," said Wang’s wife, Yu Zhao, on the steps of the federal courthouse in Albany yesterday afternoon.

After three days of hearings, to determine if Wang was a flight risk or a danger to the community, Magistrate Randolph F. Treece decided, if Wang can post $250,000 in real property, he can be released.

The conspiracy charge comes from violating the 1974 Arms Export Control Act, which is a felony offense.

While Wang’s lawyer, Kevin Luibrand, claims the case has no standing, the federal indictment says that Wang sent two devices to China without the required license.
The indictment describes the device, the Crossbow Attitude & Heading Reference System — AHRS400CC as a "high-performance solid-state attitude and heading reference system intended for airborne applications such as UAV control, Avionics, and Platform Stabilization." It goes on, "The defense weapon uses also include missiles and torpedoes."

The devices are prohibited from export to China without a license from the Department of State, the indictment says. Luibrand told The Enterprise yesterday however, that the Crossbow company also has a branch in China that sells the same type of equipment, and that no crime was committed.

Luibrand further contends that the devices in question were internally labeled with a code by the manufacturer, which marks the equipment as bound for China.
The indictment quotes from an e-mail it says Wang received on or about Dec. 17, 2004, from a person in China requesting Wang purchase a magnetometer and stating, "I have sent you $20,000 today. Careful [and] quickly"I will pay you more later. Give me the result."
"The law does not forbid the company, Mr. Wang, or anyone else from transporting these items. That is the law," Luibrand told The Enterprise.

On Sept. 7, 2005, the indictment says, Wang shipped through the United States Mail, a heading reference system without obtaining the requisite licenses and declaration form.
The indictment goes on to say that Wang shall forfeit "any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the violation, or conspiracy""

It then names his property at 28 Westmere Terrace as being subject to forfeiture.

Carol Wysomski, the Guilderland town assessor told The Enterprise that the Wangs bought their house on May 16, 2005, for $275,000. Wysomski said the property is assessed at $193,000.
"We don’t believe the allegations against [Wang] constitute a crime," said Luibrand.

The hearing

Magistrate Treece gave his decision in Wang’s bond hearing yesterday. Beginning the judgment by saying, "You do pose a danger to the community and you do pose a risk of flight," Treece concluded the decision by granting Wang bond with a long list of conditions. Bond is set at $250,000 to be secured only by real property in the United States.
"At the heart of the government’s argument is the compelling nature of the charges which you face," said Treece, who conceded that initially he overwhelmingly favored the prosecution.

The lawyer for the prosecution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Capezza, began yesterday’s bond hearing by arguing that neither Wang nor his wife, Yu Zhao, had significant ties to the area – therefore making them a serious flight risk.

Capezza stressed that Zhao is also under investigation, related to the charges against Wang, and, as a result, she is locked out of her computer at the accounting firm where she works. With the loss of Wang’s research job, contracted under Health Research Incorporated, which came on Tuesday, Capezza said that there was incentive for the couple to take their six-month-old baby and leave.
"He has no place to go, no career to pursue, unless he clears himself," said Luibrand, Wang’s lawyer, as he argued for the release of the Guilderland resident. He noted that Wang has been living in the United States since 1993, spending seven years at the University of Illinois to complete his Ph.D., and his permanent resident status has been pending for four years. "He’s got nine years invested in this career. He has every reason to come to court to clear his name," said Luibrand.

Some argument Wednesday went beyond flight risk to address some of the allegations against Wang, who is accused of sending the Crossbow Attitude & Heading Reference System to China without the requisite paperwork.

Luibrand downplayed the charges, citing the fact that Crossbow maintains a website in China that sells the same items to Chinese consumers. He also said that the items Wang shipped are not restricted by Category XII of the United States Munitions List, which is claimed in the indictment.
"In order to be sold illegally," said Luibrand, "It must be specifically designed or modified for military use." The AHRS that Wang shipped to China was not, according to Luibrand.
Capezza maintained that the items shipped to China did in fact violate Category XII because they could have been munitions grade rather than dual use. "What’s really at issue here is the sale of technology," said Capezza.

Assuming that Wang can post the $250,000 bond, he will go home to await the beginning of his trial. He will be subject to electronic monitoring, restricted use of computers, and random searches among other things.

Losing his job

Wang was in federal court on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as hearings were held on his custody. Wang’s employment status became a central issue to whether or not he would be considered a flight risk, therefore establishing his right to be released pending bond.
Magistrate Treece said in court on Tuesday, "Mr. Wang was a superb employee," summarizing testimony from Monday’s hearing. Michael Nazarko, Wang’s supervisor, testified on Tuesday, that, "Mr. Wang’s employment will be terminated," despite Wang’s good track record. His employers at Health Research Incorporated cited excessive personal use of his computer at work as reason to fire him.

One of the most visited websites on Wang’s computer was ESPN.com, a website with sports news.
"The reasons they fired him had nothing to do with the reasons they said"They were afraid of the publicity and they walked away," Luibrand told The Enterprise.
Luibrand says that the ESPN website was open on Wang’s computer during the NCAA basketball tournament, where it was viewed by numerous other employees who were betting on which team would win. Luibrand continued, saying, Wang is a long-standing and well-respected microbiologist in the science community and he also called the reasons for Wang’s firing, "ridiculous."
The website that sells the Attitude & Heading Reference System is from a California-based company called Crossbow Technology Inc. The palm-sized device, which weighs just under two pounds, is intended for airborne applications and described by the company as a "high reliability, strap-down inertial subsystem that provides attitude and heading measurements with static and dynamic accuracy."

There is no mention of the device’s military or weapons-grade capabilities from the company on-line.

The quiet neighbor

Jun Wang kept a low profile at work as well as in his suburban Guilderland neighborhood where he lives with his wife and baby.

The house is at the quiet end of a dead-end street, Westmere terrace, just off busy route 20 near Crossgates Mall.
"I didn’t even know their last names until I saw it in the paper," said one neighbor. This was echoed by a half-dozen residents who spoke to The Enterprise on Tuesday.
One neighbor was also a co-worker of Wang’s, although he didn’t realize that he lived next door to Wang until the arrest. Working just one floor from Wang, he said of office workers looking at the newspaper, "Nobody even recognized him in the picture."
"They seemed like a nice couple," said Wang’s neighbor, Leam Breslin, who noted the meticulous care they took of their lawn. "They picked every weed out one at a time," he said.
Berry Howe, another resident of the neighborhood, also noticed the Wangs’ lawn. "There was no one living there for a while so their grass was up to two or three feet and he was out there scything it," he said.

The cultural barrier between the Wangs and suburban Guilderland was apparent.
"Nobody on this street ever had anything to do with them," said fifty-five year resident Don Cusick. He spoke fondly of long-time neighbors next door and the area as a whole. "The school bus comes by once in the morning and once in the afternoon and that’s it," he said, explaining that the area hadn’t changed in the time he had lived there.
"They kept themselves to themselves," said Howe of the Wangs. He also speculated that, "He must have a few bucks because that’s the most expensive house in the neighborhood."
Although the Wangs haven’t become part of the neighborhood community — "They were a strange outfit," said Cusick — they were quiet neighbors and, according to Breslin, "They kept a pretty neat lawn."