diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantoptimizer/VariantGaussianMixtureModel.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantoptimizer/VariantGaussianMixtureModel.java
index cde0fb526..a55ea8800 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantoptimizer/VariantGaussianMixtureModel.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantoptimizer/VariantGaussianMixtureModel.java
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ public final class VariantGaussianMixtureModel extends VariantOptimizationModel
         } else {
             try {
                 value = Double.parseDouble( (String)vc.getAttribute( annotationKey ) );
-            } catch( NumberFormatException e ) {
+            } catch( Exception e ) {
                 throw new StingException("No double value detected for annotation = " + annotationKey +
                         " in variant at " + vc.getLocation() + ", reported annotation value = " + vc.getAttribute( annotationKey ) ); 
             }