Herald staff
BREMERTON — The Navy is investigating a possible sabotage of equipment on a Trident submarine docked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The damage to the USS Alaska was discovered in late summer, said an official at the shipyard.
"The damage appeared to be deliberate, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened a formal investigation," said Mary Anne Mascianica, public affairs officer for the shipyard. "The damage did not compromise the safety of the personnel working on the ship."
Mascianica wouldn’t give the details of the damage. The Sun newspaper of Bremerton reported that it apparently involved cut electrical cables.
She also wouldn’t discuss security procedures related to the sub, and Navy officials wouldn’t release details of the investigation.
The damage to the sub is the second reported incident involving the USS Alaska since it came to the shipyard in April for an 18-month overhaul. Within days after the submarine entered the yard, work was interrupted for a few hours after a bomb threat was made, Navy officials said.
The USS Alaska is the first of four Tridents to go to the shipyard for conversion to the larger, more powerful Trident II nuclear missile system.
Inmates sue state: Two female inmates in the state’s only women’s prison say a male guard raped them and have filed $1 million claims against the state. Annette White Guzman and Rosie Hamann said they were raped but they didn’t tell anyone right away out of fear. Guzman said she didn’t think anyone would believe her because she was an inmate. But their stories eventually came out while talking to a prison investigator. The guard has since been fired and the case has been sent to Pierce County for possible criminal charges, prison officials said. The women filed a claim against the Department of Corrections on Thursday, claiming negligent supervision and lack of safeguards. State lawmakers made it a crime for corrections officers to have sex with inmates, even if it’s consensual, after an inmate was impregnated at the same facility.
Defendant attacks judge: A 20-year-old man charged with first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend’s baby threw a metal stamp at a judge during a courtroom appearance. A ranting Jason Mejia grabbed the stapler-size device, used to stamp seals onto documents, from a desk in front of the bench and threw it, hitting Yakima County Superior Court Judge Michael Leavitt in the left arm. Corrections officers tackled Mejia and took him from the courtroom in the Thursday incident. Leavitt said the stamp put a temporary dent above his elbow, but he wasn’t badly hurt. Mejia now faces a potential assault charge and administrative punishment in jail, officials. Mejia, arrested earlier this week, is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 10-month-old son in September. Police say Christian Gonzalez was smothered with couch cushions.
Salmon recalled: About 100 pounds of salmon put into Bear Candy gift packages could be contaminated with a dangerous organism, federal health officials said Friday. The company that makes the gift packages, 2 Bear Ltd. of Seattle, voluntarily recalled the product after inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration found listeria in the food in Stockton, Calif. No illnesses have been linked to the salmon, FDA officials said. Listeria infections can be fatal for young children, the elderly, or people with weakened immune systems. It can also cause miscarriages. Healthy people who become infected could have fevers, nausea and headaches.
