Former federal worker sentenced for selling info to newspaper

ATLANTA - A federal judge in Atlanta has sentenced a former Drug Enforcement Administration analyst to one year in prison for selling restricted federal information to a London newspaper in 1999. <br> <br> Thirty-seven-year-old Jonathan Clay Randel of Roswell pleaded guilty last June to leaking information about British businessman Michael Ashcroft to The Times newspaper. <br> <br> U.S. District Judge Richard Story sentenced Randell on January ninth. He remains free on bond. <br> <br> In a plea agreement, Randel admitted supplying information from DEA data banks to a British television correspondent who freelanced for The Times. Federal prosecutors say Randel sold the information for $13,000. <br> <br> Attorneys say prosecution of government workers for leaking information is rare. However, last year, Attorney General John Ashcroft&#39;s anti-leak task force recommended agencies identify and prosecute employees who leak information. <br> <br> Randel&#39;s attorney -- Steve Sadow of Atlanta -- has appealed the sentence, based primarily on the $13,000 Randel is accused of receiving. <br> <br> Sadow said his client did not make any money after expenses, which included taking time off from work and flying to London.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/1/185547