• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Former professor who caused plague scare gives up medical license

Emergency Management Alert, February 17, 2004

A former Texas Tech University professor convicted in a case that arose from a bioterrorism scare surrendered his Texas medical license, the Associated Press reports.

Thomas Butler, MD, 62, resigned from the universitys health sciences center effective January 31. The state Board of Medical Examiners approved on February 6 his surrender of his medical license.

The case stemmed from Butlers report to police in January 2003 that 30 vials of potentially deadly plague bacteria were missing from his lab. Butler later said he accidentally destroyed the samples, but during his trial he testified he had no clear memory of destroying the vials and that he may have destroyed them while cleaning the lab after an accident.

A jury on December 1 found Butler guilty of mislabeling a package that contained plague samples he sent to Tanzania. He was also convicted of unrelated charges of theft, embezzlement, fraud, and mail and wire fraud pertaining to contracts he negotiated with pharmaceutical companies.

The jury acquitted Butler of 22 charges, including the most serious ones of smuggling and illegally transporting the bacteria. Sentencing is scheduled for March. Butler faces up to 240 years in prison and $11.7 million in fines, although his term would be shorter under federal sentencing guidelines.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive