Maryland man convicted of providing defective bomb-sniffing dogs

Sacramento Bee ^ | June 20, 2003 | AP

[FairOpinion]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A dog trainer was convicted Friday of contracting defective bomb-sniffing dogs to the federal government. Russell Lee Ebersole, 43, of Hagerstown, Md., is the owner of a Virginia business that trains dogs to detect drugs and explosives. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he charged various government agencies more than $700,000 for the use of his dogs.

[FairOpinion]

More detailed article about this in the Washington Post at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17493-2003Jun20.html?nav=hptoc_m

[Fred Mertz]

Did he own Tinkerbell?

[FairOpinion]

I wonder if the dogs which "indicated" the presence of anthrax in Hatfill's apartment were trained by this guy...

"After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Ebersole began marketing his services to federal security officials scrambling to safeguard their buildings.

The most dramatic testimony at the eight-day trial concerned a "covert operational test" at Federal Reserve buildings in Washington. Ebersole's dogs did not respond when vehicles loaded with 50 pounds of dynamite, 50 pounds of TNT and 15 pounds of plastic explosives were driven into Federal Reserve parking lots. His dogs also failed tests at the State Department and an Internal Revenue Service facility in Fresno, Calif."

[Shermy]

No, but how I wish Tinkerbelle and Lucy were. We haven't had an anthrax story in a week. No pond pics even!

Tinkerbelle's story...

FBI'S use of bloodhounds in anthrax probe disputed

[Oztrich Boy]

No he got convicted because he supplied dogs which delvered "false negatives".

His contract stipulated that "false positives" were required.

[cgk]

He's charged with shipping explosives through air freight,

Did I miss something? When did he ship explosives and why?

[FairOpinion]

I think those are additional charges.


This is what WP says, they don't mention the explosive charges:

"Russell Lee Ebersole, 43, had been on trial since June 9 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, charged with providing the U.S. government with bomb-sniffing dogs that could not reliably detect explosives. He was found guilty of 25 counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false claims to the government."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17493-2003Jun20.html?nav=hptoc_m

[FairOpinion]

Apparently he was tried and convicted on the charges of providing useless bomb sniffing dogs, and has ANOTHER set of charges pending and another trial coming up on the charges you focused in on. Sounds like this guy is some shady character.

"Ebersole is facing a perjury trial in Richmond on July 14, and another trial in federal court in Charlottesville. He's charged with shipping explosives through air freight, tampering with witnesses, lying to federal authorities and wire fraud."

[Boot Hill]

"Maryland man convicted of providing defective bomb-sniffing dogs"

Someone found a way to train dogs to detect defective bombs? Wow, talk about specializing in a narrow niche market, I'm really impressed, but why would they make that a crime? Go figure.

--Boot

[babygene]

Wow! I guess they are really going to be pissed when they find out the ouija boards I sold them arn't reliable...

They were really stupid to take delivery of German Shepards and French Poodles.

[FreePaul]

...he charged various government agencies more than $700,000 for the use of his dogs.

So what will happen to the bureaucrats who authorized payment for this scam? Hah! They'll get promoted as usual. Of course no one is responsible.

[Tijeras_Slim]

For far less money I can rent them my dogs. they will have a guaranteed 100% success rate provided that the explosives are hidden in people's crotches or other dog's butts.

[Princeton]

Oldies but goodies:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932955/posts