A 25-year-old man from Maine has been sentenced to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay $400 million in restitution after admitting to setting two fires in and around the nuclear submarine USS Miami.
Casey James Fury, a civilian painter and sandblaster, pled guilty to two counts of arson. He said he set the fires on May 23 and June 16 while the vessel was being renovated at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine because he was suffering from extreme anxiety and depression and wanted to go home from work.
The first fire was set inside a cabin aboard the Los Angeles-class attack submarine, where Fury lit a bag of cotton rags. It took 100 firefighters around 12 hours to control the blaze, which caused about $450 million of damage, according to The Guardian. Seven people, including five firefighters, were injured. The second fire, started beneath the submarine, caused relatively little damage but led to Fury’s arrest.
At the sentencing, the judge cited Fury’s emotional condition and his lack of previous convictions as reasons for sparing him from a life sentence. But the damage has left a question mark over the USS Miami’s future. Repairs have been postponed pending US Navy budget reviews.
Restitution
The order for Fury to pay $400 million in restitution is a gains-based recovery; he will have to pay the US Navy any money he makes as a result of profiting from the crime. This might include selling his rights to a movie or writing a book about the incidents. In this case, officials do not expect to see that $400 million, making that aspect of the sentence appear to be little more than a token judgment.
The restitution claim is quite possibly the biggest relating to a fire in recent US history. Two cousins who accidentally started Arizona’s biggest ever wildfire, causing an estimated $109 million of damage, were ordered to pay the comparatively paltry sum of roughly $3.7 million.
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
this day, I do recommend to my customers, not only deep background check but also in some cases mental state evaluation of the employees… before giving them access to sensitive information and e.t. Reality of today world… you do not know anymore – whom to trust… even if they pass background check… with flying colors…
Mental health issues such as depression can affect anyone, as well. Stress-related anxiety is, by some in my experience, often dismissed as a minor thing affecting people not able to deal with the pressure. This isn’t the case, it can hit anyone and it can be debilitating. I think you’re right to be cautious batye, but I’d add to that to be compassionate as well. Willingness to listen to anxiety issues is important to stop it going too far.
yes, you are right Rob, as good ground rule in security… you listen and observe the person… getting the clues via verbal and non-verbal communications… to figure out state of mind…
I hope Mr Fury thinks about what he did and consider “was it worth it?” Did he try simply talking to his supervisors for some time off instaed if goint this route? Putting this incident into perspective I see that manty tragedies could have been avoided if people just paused for a moment and thought about “what if?”
@Robert Brown, thanks for the post. Its really shocking to see that the Casey James Fury did this because wanted to go home from work. I think companies should take steps to identify such behaviours in employees so that such incidents dont repeat. Also companies should install sufficient video surveillance so that such acts can be caught on camera.
getting the clues via verbal and non-verbal communications… to figure out state of mind
@Alexander Stephens, getting clues via verbal and non-verbal communication is very crucial. I think people especially who are working in high-stress zone should also be trained in meditation and yoga so that they can relax.
Hard to tell of course. Impossible to say of course, but it would be fascinating to know what kind of support was available to him.
You’d have thought that anyone allowed onto a nuclear submarine (important note I didn’t make: nuclear powered submarine. No nuclear weapons) would be pretty extensively vetted. They certainly would over here. Doesn’t stop it happening though, of course.
right question Rob, I would also ask about quality of the background check… as he did fall through the cracks… how I see it…
Also fair. What’s your perception on the general quality of background checks?
quality of background checks – old style/school
you have to meet his/her neighbors in person and ask – see the response/eye moments/hands moments during answers…
create psychological profile via asking the person to complite the psychological tests…
assestment of the person from few angles and e.t.
Sounds pretty extensive, perhaps too extensive. What sort of ‘easier’ solutions are there for people who aren’t able to go into such detail on the background? There’s criminal records bureau checks etc. but this only picks up prior offences, obviously.
14 years ago in Russia, I did see simple solution profile creation/testing via PC… candidate spend on pc 3 hours answering simple yes/no questions… after pc gives 75-85% correct results about person state of mind/character… but after the development program get classified by the Russian Military…
Ah, interesting, thanks @Alexander Stephens. So the military kept it for themselves? Pesky military!
yes, but from what I know… Russian Mil. Sold parts of this research to China Red Army… and China uses this program/software to hire hackers to attack West… go figure…
The order for Fury to pay $400 million in restitution is a gains-based recovery; he will have to pay the US Navy any money he makes as a result of profiting from the crime. This might include selling his rights to a movie or writing a book about the incidents. I think the “gains based recovery” is the most interesting aspect of the story. There are too many cases where criminals ultimately profit from the crime by publishing books, lecturing, or selling film rights. While I am not suggesting that Mr. Fury did this for a profit motive, or in… Read more »
Yes too extensive, interestingly though I recently filled a questionairre for a well reputable polling or research/analysis firm. Those questiosn were quite detailed but presented a good personality profile. I got tired of answering midway through and gave up on it 🙂
So if a research firm can do a deep analysis of a potential candidate why can’t other professions employ similar tests? Maybe not as detailed but something that would give a good idea about a candidate’s mental state.
Yes, agreed. OJ Simpson is a good example of that with his ‘If I Did It’ book. That was shocking! Definitely a good idea to be seeking money back in cases, I’d say especially arson which very often may be an insurance job (obviously not the case here, of course)
It would be good to see this as an ongoing standard. Whether the insurance company or the government gets reimbursed, the principle is the same; denial of benefits to the perpitrator. This could circumvent the whole civil lawsuit process by eliminating the need to get a judgement and give a third to the lawyers.
As we have seen in the past that such fires are always associated to cirminal elements. Arson attacks are not uncommon in militaries. Arson and sabotages were amongst the oldest of attack tactics. It has yet to be seen whether this huge amount of money could be recovered from Fury. The man does not seem to have enough resources to recompense damage he inflicted on nuke submarine. I would consider that lapse on the part of working staff as well who could not foresee this extreme measure amongst thier workers. The individual must have displayed some signs of unusal behaviour… Read more »
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the point of view of lots of people if you tried to get them to fill in such a quiz.
Great, anything that circumvents civil law suits is a plus for me. I can’t stand this culture of litigation.
I think categorising him as an extremist is a bit much. He was undoubtedly unsettled, but there wasn’t a terrorism angle here.
Seriously? Now this is really messed up. Can you perhaps provide any links where I can read up about thos topic more? Seems like a shame to use it for such purposes.