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Company fired 9 charged with accessing Obama loans

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By NIGEL DUARA, Associated Press Writer
Nigel Duara, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 13,
6:19 pm ET

IOWA CITY, Iowa – A Department of Education contractor in Iowa said Thursday that nine former
employees charged with accessing President Barack Obama's student loan records were fired nearly a year ago.

Vangent Inc. spokeswoman
Eileen Rivera said the workers were let go last June for violating the company's
security policy after it learned what had occurred.

"An investigation identified a number of Vangent employees, among others, who
inappropriately accessed student loan records," Rivera said in a statement. She
said Vangent was not the subject of the investigation.

Authorities have not said why the nine people sought access to the records or
if the information was then used in any way. Rivera also declined to comment on
why they accessed the records.

"We do not know the intentions of the former employees," Rivera said.
"However, no evidence of misuse of the data by the former employees was
found."

The White House declined to comment Thursday.

The nine former employees are accused of gaining access to a computer at the
Vangent office in Coralville
office between July 2007 and March 2009, and accessing Obama's student loan
records while he was either a candidate for president, president-elect or
president.

They were indicted Wednesday on charges that they exceeded their authorized
computer access. The U.S.
attorney's office said a grand
jury returned the indictments in U.S. District Court in Davenport.

Those charged are Gary Grenell, 58; Andrew J. Lage, 54, Patrick E. Roan, 51,
Sandra Teague, 54, and Mercedes Costoyas, 53, all of Iowa City; Lisa Torney, 49, of Coralville; Anna C.
Rhodes, 32, of Ainsworth; Julie L. Kline, 38, of West Branch; and John P.
Phommivong, 29, of North
Liberty.

Lage told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he wasn't aware of the
charges, and declined to comment. He did not answer phone calls or e-mail
messages on Thursday, and no one answered the door at his last listed
address.

Teague told Cedar Rapids
television station KCRG that she had nothing to do with the alleged
accessing of Obama's records.

"I don't know what the others did, but I know that I did not do it," she
said. "All of it was a shock to begin with because I knew I had not done that. I
knew that something had occurred and that there was a breach of security."

None of the others charged could be reached for comment Thursday by the AP
and it was unclear if they had hired attorneys. Their last known addresses
ranged from small houses in leafy Iowa City suburbs to a North Liberty trailer park.

A man who answered the door at the listed Coralville address for Grenell said, "Gary doesn't live
here anymore." He declined to be identified.

The nine are scheduled to be arraigned May 24. The charge is punishable by up
to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

Rivera said Vangent has worked with the Department of Education for 30 years,
and said the contract with its Coralville office is still active. She declined
to disclose the terms of the contract, citing "competitive reasons."

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edward Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:19 am PDT Report Abuse

I don't believe a word he says..... No
creditablity with me....

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Melissa Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:34 am PDT Report Abuse

HBCs are singled out because most of
them do not receive high levels of donation - which encourage growth, upper
level education courses (like more PH.Ds offerings). I am glad the president
singled out HBCs - many of them would not survive the next generation of
students if there were not more money coming.

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Liz Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:35 am PDT Report Abuse

SO interesting to see all the
well-informed "pundits" mouthing off on their version of what it all means.
But "Scotty" -- ScottAAA -- someone needs to beam you up, buddy. That AAA
has to stand for addlebrained alcohol abuser. Never saw such an
unintelligible, garbled comment before.

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Melissa Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:39 am PDT Report Abuse

Ubidiah - stop hiding behind a black
cartoon. We all know what you are. Your comments prove it. No matter what,
you still have 2 more years of Obama. Don't let the bitterness eat you
alive. I know what that is like. I vote for Gore and got Bush. If I
continued to spew evil hateful things during his 8 years of nothing (oh
wait...I forgot, he did put us in debt for trillions because of two
unnecessary wars) my bitterness would have eaten me alive.

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Scott Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:43 am PDT Report Abuse

Obama can now hire all the people that
the banks will be firing to handle the student loan paperwork. This will now
help create another bastion of vote gatherers to replace the fallen ACORN.
It will also prove to cost the tax payers more money in the long
run.

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comment

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Ken Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:53 am PDT Report Abuse

With the government running the
program, I'm sure it will make student loans more affordable. The only thing
that confuses me is how student loans got lumped in with health
care.

314 users liked this
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Hoss Sat Mar 27, 2010 08:56 am PDT Report Abuse

Loaning someone money does not make
something affordable. Lowering the price of something makes it affordable.
The goverment should lower the price of a college education. The goverment
should lower the costs of health care premiums. The goverment should lower
the costs of cars, houses, apartments, etc. Loaning someone money is not
going to fix the problem. Only make it worse in the long run. But for most
elected members in Congress and White House, they are set financially so why
should they lower anything. I think there should be term limits of max 8
years for Congress. After that they become part of the problem and not the
solution after the lobbyists get a hold of them.

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Lars Sat Mar 27, 2010 09:13 am PDT Report Abuse

Thanks President Obama for getting
legislation passed that your constituents voted you in office to get done!

President Obama you ALREADY have my vote in 2012!!

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JaredH Sat Mar 27, 2010 09:20 am PDT Report Abuse

Banks, car companies, doctors,
hospitals, Now big brother obama controls who goes to college.
Never ran
anything in his life. now thinks hes king

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Judy Sat Mar 27, 2010 09:31 am PDT Report Abuse

This country is going toward a
communist country. The government should not force people into a insurance
plan.The government also made a plan for homeowners which I tried to take
advantage of but I was told I basically had to have rotten credit to
qualify. Income was lost due to job loss. It didn't do me any good. And
neither will this insurance. I am a registered Democrat but I didn't vote
democrat nor would I ever. I'm changing to republican.

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