Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Vivek Kundra (Obama CIO) A Confessed Petty Thief

reply to SUMware

Kundra Reinstated

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The new White House computer chief pleaded guilty 12 years ago to a petty theft charge, but it won't cost him his job, a spokesman for President Obama said.

Vivek Kundra, 34, hired from Washington's city government, admitted a theft of property valued at under $300 in Maryland, a White House aide confirmed.

He was fined $500, but the sentence was suspended and he only had to pay $100.

"Thirteen years ago, Vivek committed a youthful indiscretion. He performed community service and we are satisfied that he fully resolved the matter," said Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro.

Details of the crime were not immediately disclosed. The White House was aware of Kundra's record when its lawyers vetted him, a source said.

Kundra took a leave last Thursday after one of his former city employees was arrested on bribery and corruption charges. Kundra was not a target of that investigation, and he was reinstated Tuesday, Shapiro said.

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Computer office chief reinstated

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro late yesterday announced the reinstatement of Vivek Kundra as White House chief information officer in charge of federal computer purchasing.

Shapiro also said Kundra had done community service for the 1996 theft, and the White House was satisfied that he had resolved the matter.

Kundra was put on leave March 12 after the FBI raided the District of Columbia technology office he headed until recently. Two people were arrested on corruption charges.

It was the latest case of damaging information emerging publicly about one of Obama's choices after he announced their appointment or nomination.

Kundra pleaded guilty in Montgomery County, Md., to theft of less than $300 on Aug. 27, 1996, when he was 21.

Records show he was sentenced to supervised probation and 80 hours of community service within the following six months and was fined $500, of which $400 was suspended.

Almost a year later, his attorney, Gary L. Segal, got the disposition changed to "probation before judgment," which Segal said technically is not a conviction in Maryland.

It could not be determined immediately what Kundra was accused of stealing.

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The rub is that if he is 34 now, then 13 years ago, he was 21. While 21 is "youthful," it is not juvenile. He was an adult then, even by the rules of the 1960s, and certainly well over 18. If he had been 15 or 16 when this happened, I'd not be so concerned, but 21? Not good.

This makes me yearn for a kinder, gentler era, when the youthful indiscretions we heard about were those of Monica Lewinsky.

It was probably some dumba$$ stunt done while in college. There's been no indication of recidivism.

Not something I'd get worked up over at this point in time, for either a Democrat or a Republican.

Everyone does something amazingly stupid and ill-considered in their lives at least once.
Most of us just don't happen to get caught at it.
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Patriotism is not waving a flag, it is living the ideals