NEWARK - A former computer network administrator was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for unleashing a $10 million "time bomb" that deleted all the production programs of a New Jersey-based high-tech measurement and control instruments manufacturer, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge William H. Walls ordered Timothy Allen Lloyd, 39, of Wilmington, Del., to surrender on May 1 and begin serving his sentence.

Lloyd was the former chief computer network program designer for Omega Engineering Corp., a Bridgeport, Gloucester County, corporation with offices in Stamford, Conn. On May 9, 2000, a federal jury in Newark convicted Lloyd of one count of fraud and related activity in connection with computers, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney V. Grady O'Malley, who tried the case.

The count on which Lloyd was convicted charged that on July 30, 1996, Lloyd intentionally caused irreparable damage to Omega's financial position by activating a "time bomb" that permanently deleted all of the company's sophisticated manufacturing software programs.

Lloyd had been terminated from Omega on July 10, 1996, after working for the company for approximately 11 years. His Indictment stated that the sabotage resulted in a loss to Omega of at least $10 million in sales and future contracts.

The jury convicted Lloyd after about 12 hours of deliberation over three days. Lloyd was found not guilty of Count Two, transporting approximately $50,000 worth of computer equipment stolen from Omega to his Delaware residence.

At the time of conviction, the case was believed to be one of the most expensive computer sabotage cases in U.S. Secret Service history, according to C. Danny Spriggs, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service's Philadelphia Office.

Lloyd faced a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison on the count of conviction and a $250,000 fine. However, Judge Walls determined the actual sentence based on a formula that took into account the severity and characteristics of the offense as well as other factors. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the Secret Service in Philadelphia under the direction of Spriggs, for developing the case against Lloyd.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney O'Malley, Senior Litigation Counsel, in the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense Attorney: Ed Crisonino, Esq. Westmont

• More information on:  Lloyd's Plea
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