FBI continues to probe bugging of Ford conference rooms
August 28, 2014 | Business Crime
The FBI has taken a computer disk and internal Ford e-mails in a continuing investigation of a former employee who was fired in June after the company found recording devices she had hidden in a building on its Dearborn, Mich., world headquarters campus.
Ford fired Sharon Leach, 43, a mechanical staff engineer who worked at Ford for 16 years, in late June after company security personnel saw her leave and return to the same conference room on multiple occasions.She told them she was recording conference meetings using the bugs.
Leach's attorney Marshall Tauber has told the Free-Press that the unusual case isn't about trade secrets or espionage, but rather that Leach needed help taking notes. He said she sneaked in listening devices for help.
According to court records, the FBI seized eight listening devices from Ford headquarters on July 11. It earlier had seized more than two dozen items from Leach's Wyandotte, Mich., home weeks earlier, including bank statements, tax records, a buy.com shipping bag, a Post-It note with numbers and a key chain with keys labeled "do not duplicate."
Ford said the FBI requested the latest materials. "We continue to work with the FBI on this investigation that we initiated and requested assistance on from the FBI." said Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel. " We have sent additional information requested by the agency."
Leach hasn't been charged with a crime.
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Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/08/07/fbi-ford-bugs-spying-listening-devices/13744521/
