SPACE.com -- KSC Worker Accused of Taking Columbia Parts

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	KSC Worker Accused of Taking Columbia Parts By Jennifer Ellis FLORIDA TODAY posted: 03:00 pm ET 24 April 2003

ORLANDO, Fla. - A quality assurance worker at Kennedy Space Center accused of taking pieces of Columbia debris will be in federal court today.

Michael Pankiewicz, 44, of Scottsmoor was part of a group of KSC workers sent to Texas in the early days of the shuttle disaster to search for parts of Columbia.

The shuttle broke up about 40 miles above the U.S. Southwest on Feb. 1 as it was returning from space for a scheduled morning landing at KSC. Seven astronauts were killed.

Pankiewicz was arrested late Wednesday by federal officers and charged with embezzling property belonging to the U.S. Government; transporting stolen government property and making a false statement to federal law enforcement investigators, said Carolyn Adams, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Orlando.

News reports today said Pankiewicz was being held at the Seminole County Jail after being arrested by officials with the NASA inspector general's office.

Pankiewicz will go before a federal judge today for an initial appearance and bond hearing. Adams did not know what time the hearing was scheduled for and refused to release any details about the investigation surrounding the arrest.

Space center spokesman Bruce Buckingham said he had little knowledge of either Pankiewicz or the circumstances surrounding the arrest. Pankiewicz was employed at the space centers quality assurance office, overseeing the work of contractors, Buckingham said.

More than 70,000 shuttle parts have since been found across more than 2,400 square miles of Texas and Louisiana.

Looting was so widespread initially that authorities declared a three-day amnesty period for scavengers to turn in what they found.

Hundreds of pieces of debris were brought in then. Still, at least five people have been charged with illegally keeping shuttle parts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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