The former NASA contractor arrested after boarding a flight to China late last month has been released from federal prison and will be under house arrest until his jury trial May 29 in Newport News, Va., where court documents show he will plead “not guilty” to charges of lying to law enforcement authorities.
Bo Jiang, a 31-year-old Chinese national who worked on imagery enhancement algorithms at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., was arrested March 16 by the FBI after Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) publicly suggested that Jiang had unauthorized access to sensitive NASA technology and data. Jiang was fired by the National Aerospace Institute earlier this year for violating security procedures by taking his NASA-issued laptop on a trip home to China in December.
Jiang was taken into custody at Dulles International Airport outside Washington for lying to federal law enforcement authorities about computer hardware in his possession, court papers allege. No other charges had been filed against him as of March 29.
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