a foreign nation , did communicate , transmit and disclose such data to another person . '' The transfer took place January 26 , the indictment alleges . Oakley is also charged with converting the material and `` restricted data '' to his own use . He began doing so on about October 17 , 2006 , and continued through January , prosecutors said . Prosecutors said the materials involved have been examined by scientists and posed no threat to people who may have come into contact with them . Oakley 's attorney , Herb Moncier , said outside court Thursday that Oakley 's job was to break rods `` into little pieces '' and throw them away . Moncier said Oakley had a security clearance , but Moncier did not believe it was a high-level clearance . The government alleges that in January , Oakley attempted to sell the `` pieces of scrap '' to someone he thought was a French agent -- but in reality was an undercover FBI agent , Moncier said . He said he questions whether those broken pieces would be considered an `` appliance '' under the law . `` Mr. Oakley has cooperated
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A former government contract employee was indicted on charges of stealing restricted nuclear energy-related materials and putting the United States at risk , the Department of Justice announced Thursday . Sources say the classified materials were taken from the East Tennessee Technology Park . Roy Lynn Oakley , 67 , of Roane County , Tennessee , appeared in federal court in Knoxville on Thursday . Oakley was briefly detained for questioning in the case in January , when authorities first learned of the alleged plot to divulge the materials , government sources told CNN . He voluntarily surrendered Thursday at an FBI field office in Knoxville , the sources said . Oakley is a former employee of Bechtel Jacobs , the Department of Energy 's prime environmental management contractor at the East Tennessee Technology Park , prosecutors said . The indictment states that Oakley , `` having possession of , access to and having been entrusted with sections of ` barriers ' and associated hardware used for uranium enrichment through the process of gaseous diffusion ... having reason to believe that such data would be utilized to injure the United States and secure an advantage to