Ex Sandia Labs employee indicted on fraud, money laundering

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Authorities say a former Sandia National Laboratories worker used her position and created a phoney company to defraud the facility of more than $2 million.

A federal grand jury indicted 55-year-old Carla Sena of Albuquerque on Wednesday on 11 counts including wire fraud, major fraud against the U.S. and money laundering.

Most of the lab’s work involves research, development and maintenance of nuclear weapons.

A former procurement officer, Sena was tasked in 2010 with overseeing the bidding for a $2.3 million contract for moving services.

The indictment said Sena prepared a bid for a company under someone else’s name and leveraged other bidders’ information to ensure herself the winning bid.

Sena is also accused of diverting at least $640,000 between December 2011 and April 2015 to her father’s businesses.

It was not immediately known if Sena had an attorney.