December 16, 2008 - 1:30PM
Iranian gets 15 months in nuke plant case
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The Associated Press
An Iranian-born engineer who worked at the nation's largest nuclear power plant was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in federal prison for taking computer software that he obtained at the plant to Iran.

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake sentenced Mohammad Reza Alavi to two 15-month terms but ordered that they be served at the same time.

Alavi apologized in court before Wake handed down the sentence.

"I have only myself to blame for these actions and I accept full responsibility," said Alavi, a naturalized U.S. citizen. "I love America and would never do anything to hurt this country."

Alavi was convicted at trial earlier this year of illegally accessing a protected computer, but jurors were unable to agree on two other counts. A plea deal in June resolved the case.

Wake's sentence was below what prosecutors sought but more than defense attorneys asked for.

Alavi worked for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix for 17 years.

Prosecutors say Alavi, 51, quit in 2006 and brought a computer to Iran containing training software with design schematics and other details of the plant.

Palo Verde officials have said the software did not contain enough information to pose a security threat.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pimsner said the government couldn't ignore Alavi's crimes in bringing the nuclear-related software to Iran.

"It's a country that everyone is well aware is developing its own nuclear industry," he said.

Wake said he believed Alavi was aware that what he was doing was wrong and that other people need to be deterred from doing similar acts.

"It has not been shown that the transporting of stolen software and its presence in Iran actually resulted in any security harm, but it is impossible to know," Wake said.

Alavi's lawyer, David Laufman, said in court documents that Alavi only quit his job to return to Iran because his wife found living in the U.S. difficult.

Laufman wrote that Alavi was unaware of the trade restrictions between the U.S. and Iran, and took the software with him because he helped design it and was proud of his work.

Court documents also painted Alavi as a good family man, a hard worker with no criminal history and a strong opponent of the current Iranian government.

Alavi access to the plant's computer network was terminated 11 days after he quit in August 2006. But when he was in Iran two months later, investigators said Alavi downloaded a registration key from the software maker.

Earlier this year, prosecutors said Alavi likely wanted to use the software to boost his chances for a job in the Iranian nuclear industry. Access to protected American software would have made him especially valuable, they said.

Laufman said in court documents that Alavi only showed the software to his family and accessed it for less than 10 minutes.

Alavi pleaded guilty in June to transportation of stolen goods under the plea deal. A month before that, a jury convicted him of illegally accessing a protected computer, but deadlocked on one count of stealing protected software from the plant and one count of illegally exporting it in violation of the U.S. trade embargo with Iran.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the charge of violating a U.S. trade embargo. Alavi also agreed not to appeal his conviction of illegally accessing a computer.

The Palo Verde nuclear plant, located about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix, supplies electricity to some 4 million customers in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California.


http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/132592