Thread: Man fined $131k for subpar concrete in Wilson Bridge - Man is an IA

washingtonexaminer.com
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
12/27/11 2:58 PM

A Maryland construction manager was fined more than $131,000 and sentenced to a year of home detention in connection to a case of providing sub-par concrete for the building of Woodrow Wilson Bridge and another massive federally funded project.

Santos Eliazar Rivas was sentenced last week to 12 months of home detention and 24 months of probation in Baltimore's U.S. District Court, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General’s Office. As an undocumented immigrant, he is expected to be deported at the end of his sentence.

The sentence was far less than he could have gotten, though. Under the plea deal, he could have served as much five years behind bars and paid up to $250,000, court documents show.

Rivas had been the director of quality control for Pennsylvania-based Frederick Precast Concrete, Inc., which produced precast concrete drainage structures for building projects such as the Wilson Bridge project and Interstate 70 around Baltimore.

But the materials failed to conform to state-approved specifications, according to a federal investigation. Certain structures contained the wrong amounts and types of steel rebar, while others had unapproved wire mesh as the foundation for the concrete instead of steel rebar.

“All of them were materially weaker than if they had been produced according to design,” according to the Inspector General's Office.

On numerous occasions, Rivas had signed off on shipping tickets containing concrete that hadn’t been tested – or had failed to meet strength standards.

The problems were found in 2007 when a precast structure on Interstate 70 cracked open, according to court records. It had only two layers of rebar instead of the required three.

Maryland highway officials then checked all projects to find other pieces provided by the company. All of their materials have been replaced at the company's expense, said Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman David Buck. "It never in any shape or form affected the integrity of the bridge," he said.

Rivas pleaded guilty in September to three counts of making false statements about the highway project materials. His attorney did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/...#ixzz1hmsIcfOD

Santos Eliazar Rivas was sentenced last week to 12 months of home detention and 24 months of probation in Baltimore's U.S. District Court, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General’s Office. As an undocumented immigrant, he is expected to be deported at the end of his sentence.

Not only are undermining our economy but they are also weakening our roads and bridges. THis guy needs to have every penny of his worth taken, business closed and sold for repayment, and he needs to be deported with NO option to return for life. He is risking LEGAL AMERICANS lives, he needs to be barred for comming back forever.

You can't anticipate or calculate the damage that's being done to everything 8 million illegal alien workers are involved with every single day from gas lines that aren't put together properly, to wiring that's not installed correctly, to concrete that's not the right mix, to rebar in the wrong size or amount, to food that's not properly handled, to joists that aren't hung right, to brake lines that aren't repaired the right way, and on and on and on and on.

We need E-Verify and need it yesterday.

Dang right Judy..Some of us repair the work that illegals and the criminals they worked for did during the construction boom of the late 80- 90's through 2000s. Dangerous, Disgusting and Shameful, and its all around us. I'm sure roofers seen his share too.