PORTLAND, Maine — A civilian employee working as a painter and sandblaster aboard a submarine at a Maine shipyard has been charged with setting a fire that caused $400 million in damages to the vessel in May, and a second fire near it in June, Navy investigators said in a complaint filed Monday.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service said 24-year-old Casey James Fury has been charged with two counts of arson involving the USS Miami, according to the complaint filed in federal court in Maine. Investigators said Fury told them his anxiety caused him to set the fires. He was on multiple medications for anxiety and depression, according to the criminal complaint.
The submarine was in dry dock for an overhaul at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. Court documents say Fury was assigned to strip paint in the torpedo room. He first denied involvement in the fires, then later acknowledged his involvement in the major fire when it was clear he was failing a polygraph examination, federal investigators say.
Fury, from Portsmouth, N.H., is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Portland Monday afternoon.
It was not immediately known whether Fury has a lawyer. He agreed to take the polygraph examination July 20 without a lawyer present.
According to federal court documents, Fury initially denied involvement in the May 23 fire and a subsequent, minor fire on the dry dock supporting the USS Miami on June 16.
A federal investigator stated that in a follow-up interview with Fury on July 18, he admitted setting the second fire. He told investigators he became anxious after texting a former girlfriend about the man she was seeing and wanted to leave work, according to the complaint. He told federal investigators his anxiety also prompted him to set the May 23 fire in a state room of the submarine. He told investigators he set fire to a bag of rags atop one of the bunks.
Sabotageee!
That will getcha a long jail term!
I wonder if they can get him on a payment plan for restitution? $20 bucks a month or so, will only take million years or so, give or take…
Definitely long time….. no soft judges on this one please.
My guess is that Mr. Fury will have lots and lots of time to feel what real depression is.
Bet he’s a republican who is depressed that Reaganomics didn’t work then and doesn’t work now.
Anyone interested in looking into this guy’s political associations? I doubt that he was a tea party member.
Don’t jump to conclusions. After all, he demonstrated a reckless disregard for other people.
Just asking, not making any conclusions
Sad, this will probably cost the shipyard future business and lost jobs for Maine workers.
The Navy is going to close it anyway and save money. Portsmouth is an obsolete facility.
It is unfortunate that the BDN has a venue for people like you who are grossly uninformed.
I’d say he is pretty much done for. He tried in May and again in June? Twice? Caused 400M in damages to the Miami. Not only is someone like this a threat to society in general he is a threat to National Security as well. He is an enemy combatant to the United States of America in my opinion. The article doesn’t state if he was arrested but if he hasn’t been he needs to be taken off the streets.
This sounds like Sabotage not simple arson. A National Security Investigation is needed immediately.
Agreed. If this had been done by a Muslim American, they would be screaming terrorism. This is a premeditated plan to damage/destroy a US nuclear submarine.
He should be tried by the military. This crime could put our country at risk.
He didn’t burn ALL of our subs….I think we were probably ok that day and night.
If you read the military press and see how this will effect us and sailor deployments then yes it is a threat in a few years and a strain on military personnel due to the longer deployments this will cause. Besides it is a military vessel not a private one.
Risk, strain,threat…which is it? No doubt that $400,000.000.00 hurts somewhere in our country’s military budget. I doubt very much that it alters troop deployments. You do know that this is the NAVY right?
My bad I apologize “sailor” or submariner deployments if you want. Yes it does effect deployments read these articles and if you need more information find some more sources and read, it might help you think a little deeper and with more insight. The original article I read was much more in depth but locating it is difficult because I never bookmarked it but I will try and find it for you.
http://m.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120603/NEWS/120609925/-1/WAP&template=wapart&m_section=
http://defense.aol.com/2012/06/05/early-estimate-pegs-uss-miami-sub-fire-damage-up-to-500-million/
Thanks for sending that along-I see what you are saying. We really don’t have Reagan’s 800 ship Navy any more do we? By the way, my brother wasA submariner and worked at the ship yard after he got out. He then took his Nuclear reactor skills to Seabrook for the last 30 years.
Tell your brother thanks, the subs are quite a difficult duty to pull. No we do not have the huge navy like we used to. I think we should have a bigger fleet but I don’t make the decisions. So back to the original discussion, I still think he should face a military court. This guy just cost every person in the US at least a dollar fifty.
I’ll bet the Navy reexamines their security measures for civilian employees. The Navy must scare the hell out of people like my brother. After 40 years he won’t say one thing about the capabilities of a Naval sub-not one word.
Terrorist.
Well, no. Terrorists cause terror. This incident was more of an expensive inconvenience with a side order of minor injuries.
Mr. Fury, would you like that taken out weekly or monthly from your check?
exactly how does anxiety force one to start fires?… “I was just so incredibly anxious that the only cure was to start a fire at work.”
…nice try, buddy.. but you can’t rely on your anxiety meds for this one. Gonna have to bump up that prescription in the slammer.
To this day he wonders why his girl left him….seems like such a winning personality.
Unreal…..Fury by fire.
He has yet to be proven guilty in the court of law. If it goes like everything else, his court appointed attorney will find a loop hole and Fury will be roaming the streets once again, all at our taxpayers expense.
With the soft legal system he will get away.
Arson is a mighty peculiar anxiety response. In future, stick to downing entire pints of ice cream in one sitting, mate. It’s safer all around.