Couple Charged with Conspiracy to Sell Nukes to Venezuela

Ex-Los Alamos Scientist, Wife Indicted in Alleged Atomic Weapon Conspiracy
Published September 17, 2010
FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON -- A scientist and his wife who both once worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory before becoming outspoken critics were arrested Friday after an FBI sting operation and charged with trying to sell nuclear secrets to Venezuela.

The scientist, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, is being detained until a hearing Monday morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His wife, Roxby Mascheroni, was released on a variety of conditions, including a monitor attached to her.

The investigation first drew attention last October when federal agents reportedly seized six computers, two cameras, two cellphones and hundreds of files from the scientist, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni.

Mascheroni declared his innocence to The New York Times last year, saying, "If I were a real spy, I would have left the country a long time ago."

After their arrest Friday morning, the two appeared in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico and were accused of dealing with an FBI undercover agent posing as a Venezuelan agent. The government did not allege that Venezuela or anyone working for it sought U.S. secrets.

The pair were indicted for allegedly communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official.

Accused in a 22-count indictment are Mascheroni, 75, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, a U.S. citizen. Both were formerly contract employees at Los Alamos.

According to the indictment, Mascheroni told an undercover agent he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and that under his program, Venezuela would use a secret, underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium, and an open, aboveground reactor to produce nuclear energy.

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Our Own Private Iran: Nukes on our Southern border. Nothing like re-living the 60's.