WTF? Woman Faces Very Little Jail Time After Admitting She Scammed The Navy For Decades
Metallurgist Elaine Thomas is looking at just 10 years of jail time after she confessed to scamming the Navy for decades. Thomas is accused of selling the Navy counterfeit, untested metals to use on their many crafts—Such as submarines.
Thomas didn't freely give this information and only confessed after the Navy hired a new Metallurgist who realized something just wasn't right.
"Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, Washington, was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls."
"From 1985 through 2017, Thomas falsified the results of strength and toughness tests for at least 240 productions of steel — about half the steel the foundry produced for the Navy, according to her plea agreement, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma," the AP noted. "The tests were intended to show that the steel would not fail in a collision or in certain 'wartime scenarios,' the Justice Department said," according to the outlet.
"Ms. Thomas never intended to compromise the integrity of any material and is gratified that the government's testing does not suggest that the structural integrity of any submarine was in fact compromised."
"She suggested that in some cases she changed the tests to passing grades because she thought it was “stupid” that the Navy required the tests to be conducted at negative-100 degrees Fahrenheit "
"Thomas faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine when she is sentenced in February. However, the Justice Department said it would recommend a prison term at the low end of whatever the court determines is the standard sentencing range in her case."
If Thomas gets the full 10 years she could be out in 5 years or less, depending. This just doesn't seem right to me. While I am thankful that none of her untested products have been linked to an accident it still doesn't sit right with me. What about you? Let me know in the comments below. Am I being too harsh?