Lake Saint Louis Man Indicted on Federal Charges

Jefferey Goebel, 57, of Lake Saint Louis, has been indicted for removing records illegally from a government office.

In February 2010, Goebel was working for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), which analyzes geographical imagery for national security purposes. As part of his duties there, Goebel received a spreadsheet with proposals from companies who provide that imagery.

The document was considered sensitive and valuable, as it contained information about the agencies and costs for comparison during negotiations.

Goebel retired from the agency in June 2010 and took a position at a private company that was a commercial provider of high-resolution geographic imagery, with customers in both the public and private sectors, including the NGA. 

In November, Goebel gave the NGA spreadsheet to a co-worker at the private company.

Shortly thereafter, the private company fired Goebel and told the NGA about the spreadsheet. They returned the company’s only copy of the spreadsheet to NGA on December 3, 2010.  

In a press release issued this morning, US Attorney Richard Callahan said:

. . . in contrast to the many criminal cases across the country dealing with corporate greed and wrongdoing, this case serves as shining example of what is right about the American business ethos. Here was a company that spurned the opportunity to gain an unfair advantage over its competitors and instead reported the matter to authorities.               

If convicted, Goebel could serve up to three years in prison and face fines up to $250,000.