Ex-State Department officer sentenced in passport breach case ( probation)

[The Straight Story]

Ex-State Department officer sentenced in passport breach case

CongressDaily 12/19/2008

A former State Department employee accused of illegally accessing hundreds of confidential passport application files, including those of entertainers, athletes, politicians and business executives, was sentenced today to one year of probation and 50 hours of community service.

In September, Lawrence Yontz, a former foreign service officer and intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to viewing nearly 200 applications over a three-year period ending in early 2008. The department acknowledged in March that the files of President-elect Obama -- as well as those of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz. -- had been inappropriately accessed, prompting Secretary of State Rice to call them and apologize.

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081219_1573.php