News Nearby: Rockville Resident Receives Pardon From President

A Rockville inventor was among the 17 people President Obama pardoned on Friday, The Washington Post and several news outlets have reported.

Robert Leroy Bebee, a biotech inventor, “whose offense was concealing information about a felony,” was one of the two Washington-area residents on the pardon list, The Post reports.

Clemency was also granted to Jamari Salleh, of Alexandira, VA. Salleh was a former foreign service officer sentenced for submitting fake lodging vouchers to the State Department, according to The Post.

The full article is posted at WashingtonPost.com.

Most of the 17 felons pardoned on Friday had been sentenced for minor offenses, several news outlets have reported.

According to an Associated Press story published on Huffington Post, Bebee was sentenced to two years’ probation. Salleh was sentenced to four years' probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $5,900, according to the report.

A White House spokesman told The New York Times that the president granted pardons to these people because they “have demonstrated genuine remorse and a strong commitment to being law-abiding, productive citizens and active members of their communities.”