Further charges pending
Wang is home after government admits mistake


GUILDERLAND — Last month, Jun Wang was accused of "conspiring to defraud the United States" by selling military munitions to China. The government considered him a danger to the community.

This month, Wang is home, after a government mistake was acknowledged, and a federal judge eased the bond restrictions that were originally placed on him.

A microbiologist who grew up in China, Wang was indicted in March for shipping palm-sized reference systems made by Crossbow Technology Inc. to China. The technology was described by the government during the first detention hearings as a weapons-grade system.

On April 13, federal Magistrate Randolph F. Treece released Wang, allowing him to live in his Guilderland home, with conditions that he surrender his passport, report his whereabouts, and continue to post $250,000 for bond. He lives at 28 Westmere Terrace, with his wife, Yu Zhao, and their baby.
An April 12 letter to Treece from Thomas Capezza, the assistant United States attorney handling the prosecution, acknowledged "a significant change in circumstances" since the initial detention hearing.
While the government had initially contended that the Crossbow device, labeled AHRS400CC, was on the United States Munitions List, Capezza wrote to the judge, "On March 31, 2006, the government learned that the State Department reversed its prior determination and reclassified the AHRS400CC as dual use technology regulated by the Department of Commerce."

Capezza, who declined commenting to The Enterprise on the case, concedes in his letter that Wang can no longer be detained as a danger to the community but he asserts that Wang still poses a "serious risk of flight."

Capezza did tell The Enterprise that he will remain on the case and is working on new indictment charges.

Wang’s lawyer, Kevin Luibrand, said new charges could come at anytime, and most likely will happen on a Thursday.
"The government is going to do a new indictment where they will remove the more significant charges. They may decide to add other charges," which are less severe, said Luibrand. He also said, the government may try to say Wang made false statements to authorities, but that he will fight any such charges "every step of the way." Possible tax related charges may also arise, said Luibrand.

Luibrand told The Enterprise that the "overstated charges" were nothing more than an alleged failure to complete proper shipping forms.
"The week after the hearing, we pressed the government further," said Luidbrand, "They were not military-grade materials, they were commercial materials."

Luibrand says his client was wrongly portrayed as a weapons smuggler and that the case boils down to not filing the proper paperwork, which usually results in an administrative fine, not imprisonment.

Lost job
As a result of the arrest, Luibrand contends, Wang unfairly lost his job, which in turn affected his working-visa, and will, in all likelihood, affect his citizenship application. Wang has been in the United States since 1993, working on a visa as an "exceptional scientist," and applied for citizenship in 2001.
"It boils down to one thing: He lost his job," said Luibrand.

Wang worked as a research scientist for a not-for-profit firm, Health Research Incorporated, contracted through the New York State Department of Health. In the federal hearings last month, Wang’s employment status became a central issue to whether or not he would be considered a flight risk.
"Mr. Wang was a superb employee," said Magistrate Treece, summarizing testimony.
Michael Nazarko, Wang’s supervisor, testified, "Mr. Wang’s employment will be terminated," despite Wangs’s good track record. His employers 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.

Wang was not the only employee to use the website, Luibrand told The Enterprise earlier; several other employees were using the website and making bets on basketball teams, he said.
However, Capezza, in his April 12 letter to Treece, asserts in a footnote that Wang "was properly terminated because he used his work computer to search websites relating to the violations in this case"to transmit an End User Certification to a technology comapany, and he used his company name for billing and shipping technology to his home address."
"If someone is accused of something bad, it is what it is, an accusation," Luibrand told The Enterprise on Monday. "They fired him without suspending him."

Luibrand said Wang should have been suspended until the allegations were cleared up in court before they went ahead with a termination.

He also told The Enterprise that a representative from Wang’s work revealed that Wang was fired, not for looking at a sports website on his work computer at Health Research Incorporated, but because the allegations might affect their department’s grant money.
"He was an exploratory employee"He was one of the top microbiologists in his respected field, which is DNA," Luibrand said, adding that Wang’s research was reported in national and international publications.

On Wang’s behalf, the Civil Service Employee Association filed a grievance against his former employee on April 4.

At home

Wang made bail on the original charges one day after they came to light, according to his lawyer. But, once he learned he lost his job, he was taken into the custody of Immigration and Naturalizations Services. Wang was then held in Buffalo after Treece had deemed him a flight risk and a danger to the community.
According to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s detention standards, a single-occupant hold room must contain a minimum of 37 square feet, be well ventilated and well lit, have no moveable furniture, provide clean clothing, bedding, linens and towels, and be escape- and tamperproof. The United States detention standards also state all detainees must be provided with "nutritious, attractively presented meals, prepared in a sanitary manner."

Wang was held at the Buffalo detention camp nearly a month before his wife could drive to Buffalo and bring him home. She had to wait until Treece reversed his first ruling, deeming Wang not to be a danger to the community, and allowed him to go home with an electronic monitoring device.
Capezza has maintained throughout that Wang is a "serious flight risk" after losing his job and facing federal charges.
"His whereabouts do have to be accounted for," said Luibrand. He has maintained that Wang has a newborn child, is still trying to become a United States citizen, wants his job back, and has no plans on leaving the country.

Wang’s monitoring device is connected to a telephone, according to Luibrand, and Wang is allowed to move around his property normally and run errands as long as he continually checks in with authorities.

Wang politely declined comment to The Enterprise earlier this week, referring questions to his attorney.