By Mike Mount, Senior National Security Producer
A civilian worker has been arrested and charged in connection with a fire that caused $400 million in damage to a U.S. Navy submarine last May, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office inMaine.
Casey James Fury, 24, was arrested by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on suspicion of setting the massive blaze and setting a second fire around the submarine last month, according to a criminal complaint from the U.S. District Court of Maine released to the public Monday.
Fury was working inside the USS Miami on May 23 as a painter and sandblaster while the Los Angeles-class attack submarine was in dry dock at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine undergoing a massive overhaul.
The affidavit charges Fury with two counts of arson and says that he "willfully and maliciously set fire to and burned a vessel, namely the USS Miami, together with building materials and supplies located thereon."
A Navy news release says the second count will be specific to burned building materials and supplies in and around the USS Miami.
Fury had initially denied involvement in both fires, according to the affidavit, but later confessed. The second fire Fury allegedly started was on June 16 in an area underneath the submarine where he was working. In both cases, he told investigators that he started the fires because he was having extreme anxiety and was trying to get out of work, according to the federal documents.
Naval investigators said Fury was also taking medication for depression and anxiety.
If convicted of either charge, Fury faces life imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Initial investigations by the Navy found that the fire may have been started by a vacuum cleaner. But the criminal complaint said Fury admitted to setting fire to a pile of rags near a vacuum cleaner in a stateroom in the submarine.
A criminal investigation headed by NCIS began soon after the fire was reported on May 23 and is ongoing, according to the Navy. Other law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, are assisting in this investigation, according to a Navy news release.
The Navy has begun planning repairs with the goal of returning the USS Miami to the fleet.
The submarine was commissioned in 1990 and carries a crew of 12 officers and 98 enlisted personnel, according to the Navy.
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The real damage is done and he demonstrated how easy it is to take a submarine out of commission. Next it will be an aircraft carrier.
Yeah, fine him $250,000. That from an out-of-work painter. Brilliant.
He thinks he had anxiety problems before, wait until this is done!
Seems a little misguided- I usually just call in sick with a migraine. Works every time.
Treat this like the act of Treason that it is. This is a direct attack on US National Security, nothing less.
Your mother is a direct attack on US National Security.
First the domestic terrorist group the Tea Party shoots up district offices belonging to members of the Democratic Party following passage of the historic Affordable Care legislation, then they shot Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords and murder little Christina Green while she waved the American flag, this of course following Sarah Palin painting of Crosshairs on a map of Congresswoman Giffords district for the Tea Party. Then they blew up the oil rid in the Gulf of Mexico, then they hired a Hispanic gunman to take shots at the White House to manipulate the Hispanic vote, then they hired a Jewish newspaper publisher in Atlanta to write an article calling for the assassination of our President just to manipulate the Jewish vote. Now they're setting fires to our nuclear submarines all with the main objective of undermining our democracy and seeing to it that our President fails! Hey, who needs to worry about al Qaeda?
Seems like the arsonist isn't the only person to forget to take his meds......
Ramble much?
wow. just, wow.
Shhhhh!!! They're listening! This is going right into your FBI file, you know...
Forty percent of americans think like this rambling idiot.
Seems like this guy was not properly vetted for his employment clearance nor properly observed thereafter.
Oh wow.
They should hang him.
While this crime should not be forgiven it is equally criminal and aggregious that some contractor is charging the taxpayers $400,000,000 for the repairs. Jackals.
The Portsmouth Shipyard in Kittery is a Navy facility. It's not a contractor.
How can you call it treason? He didn't out a CIA agent.
Maybe he just wanted his sub toasted? No mayo, please.
Amazing to me the number of Americans suffering from depression and anxiety. Sign of our times?
It's truly a national mental health crisis which needs to be addressed by the Surgeon General . . .
Isn't life in prison a little harsh? I mean 400 million is chump change when it comes to defense spending.
....And a second point – Was the guy fired, or did the union stand up for him? After all, that's their job!
The guy got off lucky
Alright, joeschmo, let's talk about the attempted destruction of a vessel of war. Since we're practically at war for the past 11 years, that could net him the death penalty. How about the lives he placed in danger, because people had to go in and fight that fire? As a prior Navy sailor, I can tell you that there's nothing more terrifying, on board ship, than an out of control fire, so let's add some terrorism charges on too.
And since you feel that 400 million dollars is "chump change", we'll let YOU pay it off. You'll notice the payroll deduction next payday.
Hom0-erotic military jargon turns me on!
Arson? How bout treason!? He had 'anxiety' ...what a bunch of liberal non-accountability B.S. He is responsible for wasting $400 million in taxpayer money and rendering a U.S. warship unfit for duty for months, likely years. He should be tried for treason and if found guilty hung from a sub sail plane!
He should be tried, found guilty of high treason and sabotage against the US and shot up against a brick wall.
Using your line of "I am judge, jury and executioner" thinking, why not off him and forget the trial?
Let a military commission deal with this one. Only his fellow soldiers can truly appreciate the harm he has caused.
This was a civilian yard worker, not a military member. He will be tried in the civilian courts under normal criminal laws. It's arson, not treason.
Military Commissions are still used to try enemy combatants. This person very well may fall into that category....
He should be tried for treason in A TIME OF WAR.
........in a time of WHAT?
If we were to string up everyone who blew hundreds of millions of tax-payers dollars, Congress would be virtually empty.
Where does this article say that he's a liberal? What the HECK does this have to do with political affiliation anyway? So you're just going to disagree with some statement he made and call it a liberal point-of-view? Really?
You know what I see? I see a guy who deliberately set fire to a submarine. I don't see him as being liberal or conservative. I see him as being a criminal.
Treason? If he was in the military, perhaps. But he is a civilian so I do not think the law applies. Perhaps if the submarine had been on a mission, and the perpetrator had been in the military, I can see justification for a treason charge. But this happened in dry-dock so no missions were compromised as a result.
Having said that, he should be punished in full accordance with the law.
I found your comment to be much too logical, well-balanced, and thoughtful for this forum.
You don't have to be in the military to be charged with treason....where did you get that stupid idea?
ho gives a damn about 1 burning usa submarine china has over 80 heavy military submarines.
Nice incoherent statement. 1. China has inferior submarines. 2. they're growing number and advancements mean you should care MORE about this. Unless you want to live under Chinese lack of human rights? SMH
USA has lost against china.!
Ha. Not exactly Saeed. China is a one coast country. Limited geographically from beating the U.S. You may go back to your in your cave now
If nobody cared, then I must be imagining all the replies I'm reading about.
Reblogged this on Marinchek-Marn and commented:
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