A former Ford Motor Co. engineer is being investigated by the FBI after listening devices were found in meeting rooms at company offices, the automaker said on Friday.
"Ford and the FBI are working together on a joint investigation involving a former employee," Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel said. "As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to provide additional details."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation served a search warrant at Ford offices on July 11, the company cooperated, and agents left with eight listening devices, an FBI spokesman said.
Three weeks earlier, the FBI served a warrant on the residence of the engineer, and collected several computers and documents, the FBI spokesman said.
The Detroit News, which first reported the investigation early Friday, said the home was that of 43-year-old Sharon Leach, who worked for Ford for 17 years and was a mechanical engineer.
No charges have been filed against Leach, 43, the paper said.
Calls to Leach's attorney, Marshall Tauber, were not returned on Friday.
Leach placed the devices under tables in meeting rooms to enable her to transcribe what was said for her own use and did not intend to share the recordings with anyone, the newspaper cited Tauber as saying.
The devices were not installed in rooms where the company's board of directors would meet, the report said.
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