A Mitchell County man is facing federal charges after being accused of stealing trade secrets and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Fifty-five-year-old Josh Isler of St. Ansgar has been charged with one count of trade secret theft and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
Isler is accused of stealing trade secrets while employed by DuPont after accepting a job with a competitor in August 2013.
Isler allegedly transferred hundreds of DuPont’s electronic files to an external storage drive after accepting employment with a competitor in the fuel enzyme business.
Court documents say that Isler later lied to the FBI in November 2013 by denying he had downloaded the files. Isler is scheduled to make an appearance in federal court next Thursday.
If convicted of both charges, Isler would face up to a total of 15 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and eight years of supervised release.
(By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City)