Jury finds Iowa City woman guilty in Obama records case

A jury found an Iowa City woman guilty Wednesday of illegally accessing President Barack Obama's student loan records.

Sandra Teague, 54, was the first to go to trial of the nine people charged with accessing the records while they were employed at Vangent Inc. in Coralville.

The trial was held in federal court in Davenport.

Teague took the stand in her defense Tuesday, denying she misused her National Student Loan Data System identification to look at Obama's records on a company computer on Aug. 27, 2008, when Obama was a candidate for president.

She blamed other employees and supervisors who “shared IDs freely, like it was no big deal,” she testified.

Teague was let go by Vangent in June 2009.

Jurors deliberated Wednesday morning and arrived at their verdict just before noon.

Teague now faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The others charged include Mercedes Costoyas, 53, Andrew J. Lage, 54, Patrick E. Roan, 51, and Anne C. Rhodes, age not available, all of Iowa City; Gary N. Grenell, 58, and Lisa Torney, 49, both of Coralville; Julie L. Kline, 38, of West Branch; and John P. Phommivong, 29, of North Liberty.

Five of the former workers have pleaded guilty. Grenell was sentenced last month to community service and a $25 court fee.

Trials for other defendants are set for later this fall.

By Brian Wellner, Quad-City Times