The men who helped start the current wave of scandals at Los Alamos pled guilty yesterday to charges of conspiracy and mail fraud, the AP reports.
Peter Bussolini, 66, and Scott Alexander, 42, are both facing 12 to 18 months in jail for making fishy purchases with taxpayer money. I mean, really fishy -- gas grills, CB radios, picnic tables, all for a "government emergency command center," supposedly.
Ex-police chiefs Glenn Walp and Steve Doran were brought in to investigate Bussolini, Alexander, and other slippery lab characters. But Walp and Doran were fired, once they started uncovering widespread fraud.
That got the attention of Congress, and the press. Hearings were held of Capitol Hill. And, eventually, all of the lab's top managers were forced out.
But the renewed scrutiny didn't end there. Security lapses and safety breaches kept coming to light over and over again. Eventually, the lab had to be largely shut down a reboot, of sorts, to get employees to start taking regulations seriously. That restart, begun in July, still isn't completely done.
Anyway, here's a partial list of some of the things Bussolini and Alexander bought on your dime:
5 Genesis Gold barbeque gas grills
1 19" Panasonic television/VCR combination set
4 Cobra 75 WV CB radios
3 30 Watt solar panels
3 automatic double gate openers w/ remotes
2 Wyoming saws
8 picnic tables
4 sage-colored Cabela Deluxe Arm Chair
38 chamois shirts
15 pairs of thinsulate gloves
152 assorted knives, including 8 "SOG M37 Seal Pup Knives"
13 motorcycle helmets
12 headlamps
5 ULT Command Center monitors
24 camping lanterns
4 olive drab ATV covers
1 Carhart XXXL coat
3 pair New Balance hiking boots
15 sleeping bags
4 sleeping pads
4 reclining loungers
4 "Portable Buddy Heaters"
6 parkas
5 "Portable Catalytic Heaters"
4 "Pocket Chain Saws"
4 "Deluxe Ratchet Pruners"
6 knife-sharpeners
6 Magellan Map 330M GPS units
8 pocket & micro torches
3 goretex jackets
4 stand-up heaters
3 pairs of "Polarized Lenses"
4 Rangesafe Ear Muffs
4 "Ultimate 10 Hearing Protectors"
