Iowa man charged with stealing trade secrets from DuPont

CEDAR RAPIDS - A man from Northern Iowa is accused of stealing trade secrets from DuPont and making a false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Josh Harry Isler, 55, of St. Ansgar, was charged Thursday with one count of trade secret theft and one count of making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to information filed in U.S. District Court.

Court documents filed Thursday also show Isler will plead guilty next Thursday.

While Isler was employed by Dupont during August 2013 and after accepting an offer of employment with a competitor, he stole trade secrets of DuPont, which has facilities in Iowa, according to the information. After Isler accepted employment with a competitor in the ethanol fuel enzyme business, he is accused of transferring hundreds of DuPont's electronic files to an external storage device.

Isler is also accused of knowing that the files he downloaded contained proprietary information and trade secrets of DuPont, and many related to customers of DuPont who were also customers of the competitor or whose business was being sought by the competitor.

Isler retained the files in his new job and transferred some to his new employer, according to the information.

He also denied that he downloaded the files containing proprietary information of DuPont when interviewed by FBI agents in November 2013, according to the information.

If convicted on both charges, Isler faces a up to 15 years in prison, a fine up to $500,000, and eight years of supervised release following any prison time.

Isler could also be ordered to pay restitution to DuPont.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Murphy and was investigated by the FBI.

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com