Authorities say she acknowledged sneaking into the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park shortly after midnight July 18 and removing more than 4,000 cryogenically frozen crystal samples from cold storage.
The samples thawed over that weekend and were ruined. Lab officials estimate it will cost $500,000 in personnel expenses to replace the samples.
Authorities say Oommachen told investigators she did it because she felt overworked and mistreated.
