News

Texas D.A. Won't Prosecute Alleged Braindumper

Judge orders assets returned; Microsoft considering civil charges.

• By Becky Nagel
• 04/23/2004

Almost two years ago, San Antonio police seized the business and personal assets of former TestKiller.com and TroyTec.com owner Garry Neale during a criminal investigation of a complaint made by Microsoft alleging that he sold Microsoft certification exam questions, in violation of Texas theft of trade secret statutes.

Now, Neale's assets -- including $408,566.84 from various bank accounts along with business assets and personal items such as a truck, collectibles, children's video games and a refrigerator -- have all been returned to him by court order. The Bexar County District Attorney's Office has also publicly declared that it no longer intends to criminally prosecute Neale.

Neale, who was never charged with any crime, declined CertCities.com's requests for an interview. One of his defense attorneys, John Convery, told CertCities.com that he's "very happy" for his client. Convery confirmed to CertCities.com that all of Neale's belongings were returned to him last month.

According to the parties in the case, a plea deal was almost reached early last year that would have led to Neale to plead to a misdemeanor and forfeit half their assets. However, this plea deal fell through, in part because of a disagreement between the D.A.'s office and Microsoft over who would receive the seized assets.

Story continued on CertCities.com here.