May 16, 2008 6:32 am US/Eastern
Reward Offered In Apparent Boeing Vandalism
RIDLEY TWP. (AP) ―
Investigators have concluded that two military
helicopters were vandalized on the production line at a Boeing factory near Philadelphia, the Defense
Department said Thursday as it offered a reward in the case.
Federal officials were handing out fliers to
workers at the Boeing Rotorcraft Systems plant listing a $5,000 reward for information
leading to the identity of the person or persons who vandalized the H-47
Chinook helicopters.
"We have determined that this was a deliberate
act and not an accident," said Ken Maupin, resident agent in charge of the Philadelphia area office
of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, at a news conference outside the
plant.
A production line at the plant has not been
fully functional since Tuesday when two workers found what the company called irregularities
in the transport helicopters.
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak has said he was told that
broken or severed wires were found in one helicopter and that a suspicious
washer was found in a second. Maupin described the washer as being in a place it
shouldn't.
Maupin said 10 agents were investigating the
case, but he would not comment on specifics of the investigation or what led to
the determination it was vandalism.
"You have a large number of workers here at
this point and one or more that was the problem," Maupin said. "The majority of
the people here are hardworking, loyal Americans, and many of them are veterans.
They want to find (those responsible) as much as we do."
Maupin said the military had not grounded any
helicopters that are now in use.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said that he was
comfortable with the conclusion the damage was done deliberately and that a prosecutor
had been assigned to the case.
"There are federal statutes that would
implicate anybody who intentionally interfered with a mechanism like this that
is being introduced into a theater of war," Meehan said.
The Chinook is the Army's workhorse aircraft
and is used to transport troops and supplies. Boeing is currently producing new
Chinooks for the Army, as well as updating older models.
There are no surveillance cameras on the
production line, said Jack Satterfield, a company spokesman.
Satterfield said Boeing had no comment about
the investigators' determination and would not be releasing information about
the nature of what was found.
"We're leaving that to the investigative
agencies," Satterfield said.
John DeFrancisco, president of United Auto
Workers 1069, said that the factory's 5,200 workers take pride in making
aircraft for the military and that he believes information would have surfaced about
what happened without a reward having to be offered.
"We're very, very concerned and we're very, very
upset," DeFrancisco said. "We're upset that, if this is deliberate, it affects
all of us."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
