Trio Charged With Stealing Trade Secrets

Three men are set for arraignment in November on charges that they stole trade secrets from a Hopkinsville company and tried to leverage the information to get jobs at a competitor. The men are charged with using portable USB drives to steal thousands of files from White Drive Products, a hydraulic motor maker, in 2007 and 2008.

PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) -- Three men are set for arraignment in November on charges that they stole trade secrets from a Hopkinsville company and tried to leverage the information to get jobs at a competitor.

A federal grand jury this week indicted Phillip Lee Groves, Gregory Lee Wampler and Eric Dale Tinderholt. The men are charged with using portable USB drives to steal thousands of files from White Drive Products, a hydraulic motor maker, in 2007 and 2008.

Grand jurors say the men went to an unnamed competitor and used the purloined files to get jobs.

Court records did not list an attorney for any of the men. White Drive Products did not return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Arraignment is set for Nov. 15 in federal court in Paducah.

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