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Ex-FBI Lab Worker
Guilty, Falsified DNA
CURT
ANDERSON
Associated
Press
WASHINGTON - A former biologist in the FBI
laboratory pleaded guilty Tuesday to submitting falsified DNA
analysis reports in over 100 cases.
Jacqueline A. Blake, 40, of Upper Marlboro, Md., pleaded guilty
in U.S. District Court in Washington to a single count of making
false statements on official government reports she prepared. Blake
faces a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine at
sentencing scheduled for Sept. 20.
Blake admitted that from August 1999 to June 2002
she wrote and submitted more than 100
reports containing false statements about her DNA analysis
work. In particular, she falsely certified that
she had performed certain control tests designed to ensure the
reliability of the DNA analysis.
DNA evidence has increasingly become crucial in prosecuting
criminal cases and in appeals of old criminal convictions that
occurred before the sophisticated analysis techniques were used.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has launched a project to create a
national DNA database for law enforcement to use.
The Associated Press reported in April 2003 that Blake had
resigned from the FBI amid a probe questioning her work on 103
cases. Blake worked for the FBI as a DNA biologist from 1988 until
she quit in June 2002, according to court documents.
According to her plea agreement, Blake knew her certifications
were false and submitted them even though she knew her work might be
used in criminal investigations and in trial testimony. It was
unclear Tuesday, based on the court documents, whether any of those
cases were compromised.
The case is part of a broader investigation by Glenn A. Fine, the
Justice Department inspector general, into the FBI lab unit in which
Blake worked. A Justice Department statement said Fine's findings
and conclusions will be issued "in the near future."
The current FBI lab director, Dwight Adams, has said changes have
been put in place in the DNA section to address past problems and
ensure that quality analysis is done. The FBI's DNA database has
helped law enforcement officials solve more than 11,000 cases in the
past few years, officials say.
ON THE NET
Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov | 
