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Mikovits gearresteerd

naar aanleiding van

een aangifte van diefstel

door het WPI

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

Naar aanleiding van een aangifte van diefstal door het Whittemore-Peterson Instituut,

dat onlangs om (nog) onduidelijke redenen Judy Mikovits op staande voet ontslagen heeft,

en de rechtszaak die daaruit voortvloeit, is op 18 november Judy Mikovits gearresteerd.

Zij zou de deelstaat waar de rechtszaak plaatsvindt, willen hebben "ontvluchten".

 

Het Whittemore-Peterson Instituut verliest, ben ik bang, aldoende snel haar goede naam,

want het doen arresteren van een hardwerkende ex-medewerker lijkt buiten alle proporties.

 

En de ME/CVS-patiënten? Die blijven ontluisterd en ontredderd achter!

Alleen "derden" spinnen garen bij deze onverkwikkelijke gang van zaken...

 

Het is in het belang van alle patiënten dat de waarheid rond deze affaire aan het licht komt.

 

 


 

 

Inside the Labyrinth: Osler's Web Updates

 

Judy Mikovits Arrested in Ventura County on November 18, 2010

 

November 19, 2011

 

 

Judy Anne Mikovits was arrested on Friday in Ventura County, where she li­ves, and transported to the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility. When I called that facility this evening, I was told that she was being transported from there to the jail facility on Todd Road in Ventura County. Information about this facility can be accessed on the website of the Ventura County Jail website.

 

According to the clerk I spoke to, Dr. Mikovits was arrested on an "out of county warrant." The county was Washoe County, he confirmed, when I asked. Washoe County includes Reno and Sparks, NV.

 

Currently, the charges against Dr. Mikovits are "being a fugitive from another state."

 

Her arraignment will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 22 in courtroom number thirteen at the courthouse in Ventura, California.

 

 

http://www.oslersweb.com/blog.htm?post=824223

 

 


 

Chronic fatigue syndrome researcher Judy Mikovits arrested

 

Judy Mikovits, the embattled chronic fatigue syndrome researcher who was fired from her post at Reno, Nevada’s Whittemore Peterson Institute in September, was arrested yesterday in California.

 

The Ventura County, California Sheriff’s Department web site lists Mikovits under booking number 1259336, charged with a felony violation of California Penal Code section 1551.1, "Fugitive From Justice." This is that section, according to FindLaw The arrest of a person may also be lawfully made by any peace officer, without a warrant, upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the courts of any other state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, or that the person has been convicted of a crime punishable in the state of conviction by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year and thereafter escaped from confinement or violated the terms of his or her bail, probation or parole. When so arrested the accused shall be taken before a magistrate with all practicable speed and complaint shall be made against him or her under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in Section 1551.

 

The arrest seems linked to a lawsuit. On November 14, Science Insider reported that the Whittemores had sued Mikovits:

 

A little more than 1 month after firing Mikovits, the Whittemore Peterson In­sti­tute for Neuro-Immune Disease (WPI) on 4 November filed suit against its former research director. According to WPI, after Mikovits was terminated on 29 September, she wrongfully removed laboratory notebooks and kept other proprietary information on her laptop and in flash drives and in a personal e-mail account. WPI, a nonprofit organization that’s based on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno, also won a temporary restraining order that forbids Mikovits from "destroying, deleting, or altering" any of the related files or data.

 

Mikovits attorney, Lois Hart, said her client cannot speak to the media about the case, but she strongly denies any wrongdoing. In an e-mail to Science Insider, Hart stressed that "Dr. Mikovits' integrity goes to the bone."

 

The Ventura arrest lists a hearing on Tuesday, November 22, at 1:30 p.m., which is the same time the Washoe County Courts have a hearing scheduled in Whittemore’s case. The Osler’s Web blog reports that a clerk told them Mikovits was arrested on an "out of county warrant" from Washoe County.

 

Mikovits is currently housed at Ventura County’s Todd Road Jail in Santa Paula.

 

We will update as we hear more.

 

 

http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-researcher-judy-mikovits-arrested

 

 


 

Brief van de advocaat van Judy Mikovits waarin zij alle beschuldigingen ontkracht:

 

 

Response letter sent to WPI by Judy Mikovits (November 4, 2011)

 

door Lilly Meehan op zaterdag 12 november 2011 om 7:36

 

The following letter was emailed from my computer at my house in my presence at noon on Friday, November 4. It was also hard copy faxed from my fax line at my office at the same time to the lawyer. I personally witnessed this transaction. I am beyond outraged at the shameful accusations thinly veiled by Annette Whittemore in her letter today. Patients need to know that letter titled "Our Responsibility" is full of lies.

 

I was also present at Dr. Mikovits home on Friday, September 30 at appro­ximately 11:30 am moments after she returned from Reno, having driven all night. I personally saw the empty rental car driven by Dr. Mikovits from Reno to California that did not contain any of the materials alleged in the letter from Annette Whittemore. The allegations in her letter are astonishing to me. Dr. Mikovits was fired by phone while she was standing on the sidewalk outside her Reno home. She never returned to the WPI. The firing took place at approximately 4:30pm and the lab was locked down by approximately 6:30 pm. Due to the activity of moving out of the Reno home, Dr. Mikovits had no opportunity to return to the WPI at any time. There are ample dated, time stamped receipts documenting and proving her whereabouts from the time of the firing to the time of her arrival in California. At no time did she ever return to the WPI facility. It is impossible for her to have stolen the items alleged in the "Our Responsibility" letter.

 

I am prepared to testify in court to the events I personally witnessed. Patients need to know that Dr. Mikovits remains fully committed to the well-being of the patients. She has always conducted herself with the utmost of integrity. Patients need to ask themselves who had the motive to remove and destroy the notebooks. Who had a motive to remove incriminating evidence? Who stood to lose with the revelation of misappropriation of funds and materials? It was not Dr. Mikovits.

 

Lilly Meehan, Ventura, California

 

Permission to repost

 

 

 

 

Lois W. Hart

November 4, 2011

 

Stafford Matthews

SNR DENTON US LLP

1530 Page Mill Road

Ste. 200

Palo Alto, CA 94304-1125

 

Re: Your letter to Judy Mikovits, Dated November 2, 2011

 

 

Dear Mr. Matthews,

 

 

My client, Judy Mikovits, and I have reviewed the demand letter your office delivered to her via email and FEDEX, November 3rd.

 

This is written in response to your statements made in this letter on behalf of your client.

All of the allegations of theft, misappropriations, withholding of data and various intellectual property, and items, are incorrect, and untruthful.

 

Your client’s allegations that Dr. Judy Mikovits has wrongfully taken and retained laboratory notebooks and other intellectual property owned by the Whittemore Peterson Institute, are not true.

 

Dr. Mikovits routinely locked the lab notebooks in a drawer in her desk, whenever she left the lab, as they contain confidential patient information. The keys to her desk were always in a placed in a convenient location easily accessible for her lab assistants. Dr. Mikovits habit was to leave them either in the lab, in one of the unlocked drawers under the lab benches that are underneath the lab windows. Otherwise, the keys were in the unlocked top drawer of her desk. Dr. Mikovits' assistants always have access to their lab books and anything else they needed at any time.

 

Dr. Mikovits had worked for several days, including the prior weekend, out­side of the country, presenting talks and representing WPI at meetings and conferences. She worked through the week until Thursday, September 29, 2011. Dr. Mikovits left her lab and the WPI building on September 29, at 3:30 p.m. after she had secured the notebooks in her desk. She informed her research associate she would be gone the next and the weekend, and placed keys to her office and the desk as was her habit, in the lab, so that appropriate lab members could access her materials at all times.

 

While waiting for a research associate to pick her up so she could pick up her car rental to drive home in, Dr. Mikovits was outside of her residence on Sierra St in Reno, she received a call from Annette Whittemore. Mrs. Whittemore made an unreasonable and unethical demand that Dr. Mikovits give Dr. Lombardi a cell line paid for by her R01 NIH grant funding.

 

Dr. Mikovits explained to Mrs. Whittemore that she could not allow that to happen, as she was constrained by her obligations, ethics, integrity and lawful obligations as a Principal Investigator. Mrs. Whittemore then screamed at Dr. Mikovits that (explicative deleted) she was fired.

 

Dr. Mikovits never returned to the lab or her office after being informed she was terminated. Dr. Mikovits was not and is not in possession of the lab notebooks or any WPI intellectual property. A number of individuals have keys to the office and lab, including the administrative staff, lab staff and custodial. Your client’s concern as to the location of those notebooks, and intellectual property, should be directed elsewhere.

 

Dr. Mikovits brought her thirty-year reputation of honesty, integrity, and laboratory research skills to WPI. This was to the direct benefit not only of the sufferers of ME/CFS, but WPI as an institute. Dr. Mikovits is the Principal Investigator (PI) on multiple government research grants, and those notebooks contain important non-proprietary information that was obtained in the course of said government-funded projects. The original data (gel photo­graphs, charts, etc.) in the notebooks is important backup information for published papers and is needed for completion of publications funded by NIH, DOD and several corporate contactors. Data already published in scientific journals certainly does not constitute proprietary information. Dr. Mikovits’ notebooks, as well as those of the employees whom she supervi­sed, should be returned to Dr. Mikovits so she can fulfill her responsibilities as PI on these government grants and corporate contacts, as there is an expectation on the part of the granting agencies that the results from government-funded research will be disseminated to the scientific community and to the public. Other than private medical information that is not to be disclosed to individuals who are not authorized by an approved IRB protocol, there is no "confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information" in the notebooks. Instead, there is important data that should be published to advance the field of neuroimmune disease. Failure of WPI to make these notebooks and raw data available to Dr. Mikovits so that she can fulfill her obligations and defend against false accusations of fraud will constitute serious harm to her reputation and scientific career. Dr. Mikovits has attracted a number of high quality scientific collaborators for the WPI and for the ME/CFS field. Her reputation for scientific excellence undoubtedly was an integral factor in the formation of these collaborations and in her being awarded a number of government grants as PI.

 

Contrary to the statements you have made in the demand letter, Dr. Mikovits’ actions after being terminated have are not inappropriate and unethical. Unfortunately, those phrases could be used to describe the sudden wrongful termination of an individual whose direct efforts, and her well-deserved and hard-earned reputation for honesty and integrity, brought in over $3,000,000.00 for research at WPI.

 

Moreover, Dr. Mikovits brought worldwide recognition and awareness of WPI and the victims of a devastating disease, ME/CFS, which continues to change the outlook and scientific research around the world. In particular, it is inappropriate and unethical for the WPI to prevent Dr. Mikovits from transferring to another institution the grants she obtained as PI, making it impossible for her complete the projects. This is especially so, in light of recent public statements that Mrs. Whittemore has made that WPI is no longer pursing such research at WPI.

 

One of many examples of Dr. Mikovits' work and integrity in giving ME/CFS and WPI credibility is that recently a Health Minister in Norway publicly apologized to victims of ME/CFS for not taking the disease seriously, and not treating them properly as they deserved. This resulted because of Dr. Mikovits' presentations and one on one talks with many doctors and authorities there last December.

 

Dr. Mikovits has performed all of her obligations, duties, correctly, fully, legally, ethically and with total focus on the WPI mission even after sudden termination by honoring her commitment to present WPI’s work in UK and Ireland October 7-16th, in spite of not being paid by the WPI, while the patients fully supported her travel costs. Dr. Mikovits gave herself over fully to this mission, donating not only her time, but also in giving back portions of her own earnings to WPI.

 

Dr. Mikovits cannot sign the Termination Agreement because she is not in possession of her notebooks, flash drives, nor her laptop computer, which were taken when her office and lab was in control of the WPI.

 

Dr. Mikovits is not intimidated by threats of lawsuit; rather she respectfully requests that the WPI honor all of its contractual and intellectual obligations to her as she has faithfully honored hers.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Lois W. Hart

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lilly-meehan/response-letter-sent-to-wpi-on-november-4-2011-by-judy-mikovits/235983363131553

 

 


 

Open brief Annette Whittemore waarin zij Judy Mikovits beschuldigt van diefstal

 

 

Our Responsibility

 

Friday, November 11, 2011

 

Dear Friends and Patients:

 

It is important for you to know that WPI is doing all that it can to protect the institute’s resources. Several laboratory notebooks, a personal computer and flash drives containing WPI research data and other information disappeared from WPI's research offices, on or near, September 29, 2011. These valuable materials represent the hard work and sacrifice of many people and were paid for by WPI. Your donations were part of the financial resources that supported this research. The theft or loss of these research materials robs us all.

 

As the guardian of this property, WPI immediately asked to have the materials returned, but to no avail. We have waited until now to tell you this news in hopes that the individual or individuals responsible for this loss would realize the gravity of the situation and return WPI’s property in a timely manner. WPI has previously sent a demand letter to the one person responsible for, and with access to, these locked materials and various electronic files. Despite this request, our valuable materials have still not been returned.

 

Because of the lack of response, WPI has been forced to take legal action demanding the return of our property and has reported the incident to the police and other authorities. WPI received notice this week that a temporary re­straining order has been granted to keep our materials from being altered or destroyed, and requiring they be delivered to WPI immedia-tely. We hope that this matter is quickly resolved and that further costly litigation is avoided.

 

WPI is a non-profit charitable organization, and as such, the work we do is held in trust for the larger community of patients and others it is our mission to help. That means the research equipment, the government and private funds we have been fortunate enough to obtain, and the WPI facility serve a larger community and not any one person. That is why we have our researchers sign a contract confirming the WPI's ownership of all data generated in our research labs as a condition of their employment.

 

While we hate to spend time and resources on something like this, the costs of legal action pale in comparison to the years of expenses incurred for researcher salaries, equipment, and supplies to generate this valuable work. We have oversight from, and obligations to, the various public and private grant funders who have made this work possible. And we take both these obligations and our public trust very seriously. Our research results must be reported, published, made available to physicians, or otherwise used to benefit all patients who suffer from neuro-immune diseases.

 

We hope that by keeping you informed of these facts, you will understand how difficult and painful this entire process continues to be for everyone at WPI.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Annette Whittemore

President Whittemore Peterson Institute

 

 

http://wingsofhopefornid.blogspot.com/2011/11/our-responsibility.html