The Virginian-Pilot
©
NEWPORT NEWS
A former shipyard inspector was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison for lying about the certification of weld inspections on Navy vessels.
U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis sentenced Robert Raymond Ruks Jr., 34, of Newport News three months after he pleaded guilty to a charge that in 2007 he knowingly put his signature and employee ID number on the record of a pipe joint weld he knew he had not inspected.
He also admitted that he knowingly made a false statement about the certification of ship welds to Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents in May 2009.
The government's case revolved around 9,506 non-nuclear welds that Ruks had certified on six submarines from 2007 to 2009. Of those, 16 were found to be unsatisfactory, including five that were critical to the subs' safety. One, a half-inch linear crack on the bottom of a pipe weld on the Missouri, could have sunk the sub.
"Mr. Ruks, you put the lives of potentially thousands of people, it seems to me, at risk," Davis said. "It almost leaves me speechless."
Davis said he struggled in determining the sentence because Ruks had no prior criminal record and appeared to come from a good family with many benefits.
"This was not having a few bad days," Davis said. "This was over a lengthy period of time, making a decision repeatedly to engage in this behavior."
It seemed, Davis told Ruks, "as if you were in this fog for, what, three years? And all of a sudden snapped out of it."
Ruks, in a brief statement, told the judge there was no way to "express the amount of sorrow I have."
"I made a mistake.... I can't take it back," he said.
An employee of Newport News Shipbuilding when it was owned by Northrop Grumman Corp., Ruks had faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count, as well as three years of supervised release on top of any prison term.
Under sentencing guidelines as calculated by the U.S. Probation Office, Ruks could have received 30 to 37 months for both counts, though the judge was not obligated to follow the guidelines, said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
As part of Ruks' plea deal in May, he agreed to a "restitution order" that will require him to pay the U.S. government the $654,000 that it cost to reinspect and rework some of the 9,506 welds he certified on the submarines, court records show.
The reinspections, identifications and corrections of defective welds took 18,906 man-hours, according to the court filings.
In May 2009, the Navy announced that an investigation was under way after an inspector at the Newport News shipyard admitted falsifying three weld inspections, saying he had done them even though he had not.
Northrop Grumman fired Ruks after he admitted to the false certifications. When Ruks was charged in March, a company spokeswoman called the case a personnel matter and said Northrop Grumman was cooperating with the government. The shipyard now is owned by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.
Ruks was hired at the shipyard around March 2005, court records state.
On Friday, he was ordered to surrender to prison officials on Sept. 20. His prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release.
Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
prison industrial complex
Couldn't this guy have been fined instead? probation? community service?
Is he a danger to society? did he commit a heinous crime?
The taxpayers are paying a hefty fee to make America the most incarcerated nation in the world.
I kinda understand why the two put the thumbs down but
I am beginning to see allot of people going to jail for really ridiculous reasons, and the jails and prisons are a business like anything (most privately owned) and are paid by us to house the inmates. (and more money than you think as well!) I mean if they did not make money for the owners they would have less laws going up each year to include prison time! I think that his crime was horrid and was a danger to the Naval person's lives but to put more money on the tax payer to house yet another prisoner for a none jail-able offense in previous years, a waste of money! Jail and prison have become overwhelmed with dumb crimes, I think this is one of them! Please pay attn. to what is really going on with this countries court system
Ridiculous
Ruk & Hamilton get a combination of 12 1/2 years for victimless crimes! Ridiculous!!Let's play the race card!!!
Should have given him
Should have given him nine.
Phil needs a cellmate.
should be sharing the "hot seat"
OK, so he admits it. How about the union yahoo welders who did the shoddy work and the welding supervisors that were there too? How about the SUPSHIP inspectors? There is more than one person to blame here...how about the NDT folks who took pictures of the welds?...yeah the inspector is wrong but there are many redundancies in this kind of work that are built in and all of the folks responsible need to be chastised...,IMHO
QUALITY
It is axiomatic in industry that you cannot "inspect in" quality. Inspectors audit the work, they do not perform it. Yes, the system should be structured to catch errors but obviously knowledgeable negligence involving deliberate circumventing of safeguards is harder to detect. Work quality standards are a responsibility that lies squarely on the shoulders of the artisan. That being said union affiliation has no bearing on the duty of an honest employee and is a red herring which serves only to expose the political views of the commenter. I do agree that a corrective action plan should go "up the chain", however...
This Is Not About "Inspecting In" Quality - It Is About Fraud,
and Falsification of documentation that is meant to ensure the safety of people, equipment and systems. If the Inspector had not been engaged in fraudulent activity, he would have caught the faulty welds. In the Navy, his actions are called "Gun-Decking" are in the world of the USN and USMC, this is probably one of the worse sins or actions that any Sailor or Marine could do. This is because the individuals actions do not just impact the lives and safety of him or her, it impacts the entire crew/team. Bottom line is that his activities endangered lives.
Agreed
I agree, sir, and I think you will find that my view is not in opposition to your own. I just wanted to clarify the common perception that that inspection is a panacea. I turn the wrenches every day on Navy aircraft so I am keenly aware of my life and death responsibility and the consequences of shoddy workmanship, "gun decking" and outright fraud. There is a special place in hell for people who so easily prostitute their ethics and dismiss as unimportant the lives of others, but on this earth they should receive maximum penalties!
Union yahoo welders?
"The government’s case revolved around 9,506 non-nuclear welds that Ruks had certified on six submarines from 2007 to 2009. Of those, 16 were found to be unsatisfactory, including five that were critical to the subs’ safety."
16 bad welds out of 9506 total welds doesn't seem like the "union yahoo welders" were doing to bad. Unless only getting it right 99.998% of the time is shoddy.
Any Faulty Weld By A Nuclear Certfied Welder Is UNSAT
There are special qualifications required for those who conduct welding repairs for Nuclear Systems. We are not talking about a faulty weld where at worst the weld cracks. We are talking about welding that are tied to Nuclear Systems and endanger the safety and lives of the crew, and a billion dollar-plus dollar submarine. Would you have the same laissez-faire it is ok if it fails attitude if it were a parachute and your life depended on it. I do not think so. Do you want to write the condolence letters to the affected families? The applicable welders, NDT inspectors and all who signed off on it should be legally punished an removed from the Nuclear welding program. The US and the US Navy do not need another USS SCORPION.