NEW YORK — A Secret Service office worker stole five agency cars believed irreparably damaged at ground zero and gave them to his mother and daughter, prosecutors charged.
William Bennette (search) pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of theft of government property, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence.
In comments to reporters, his attorney suggested that Bennette's actions could be explained by psychological trauma related to the attack on the World Trade Center (search), where Bennette was working on Sept. 11, 2001.
Suspicion began to focus on Bennette last month when the Secret Service, which was conducting a vehicle inventory, called shops that had been repairing cars damaged in the collapse of the trade center, where the agency had its New York office, prosecutors said.
A body shop worker in Queens told a Secret Service (search) agent that he had two cars but they had been given to him by Bennette. That prompted the agency to search Bennette's desk, where it found fake bills of sale for three other Secret Service cars.
The cars were found at the homes of Bennette and of his mother in North Carolina.
The cars were parked in the vicinity of the World Trade Center and contaminated by dust from the collapse, much of which contained asbestos and other potentially dangerous substances. Secret Service records listed the cars as disposed of by the agency.
Bennette admitted to investigators that he had falsified records and given the cars to his family, according to a complaint against him. He had been a Secret Service office support technician since 1999, the agency said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Casey said the investigation was continuing but had no further comment.
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