Opinion ID: 150668
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Count 1 Concealing Material Facts

Text: Count 1 of the indictment charged Siemaszko with knowingly and willfully conceal[ing] and cover[ing] up, and caus[ing] to be concealed and covered up, by tricks, schemes and devices, material facts in a matter within the jurisdiction of the [NRC], to wit, the condition of Davis-Besse's [RPV] head, and the nature and findings of previous inspections of the [RPV] head in violation of §§ 1001 and 2. The tricks, schemes and devices that the indictment charges to Siemaszko were: (1) drafting parts of SL 2731 that (a) deliberately omitted critical facts concerning the inspections and limitations on accessibility and (b) falsely stated that the inspections complied with ... Davis Besse's [BACCP]; and (2) compiling the nozzle inspection table, included in SLs 2735, 2741, and 2744, which falsely reported that (a) the entire RPV head was inspected in 1996, (b) that the 1996 inspection video was void of head orientation narration, and (c) that in 1998, satisfactory inspection results were obtained for the ten nozzles for which no video record was required. We must uphold the conviction on this count unless we find that there was insufficient evidence for a jury to convict on any one of these six assertions. See id. at 598. Siemaszko argues that the limited information he provided for SL 2731 as a draft response to section 1.d. of NRC 2001-01 was accurate and merely responded to Goyal's request. He argues that any false information was the result of an iterative process by those who subsequently edited and altered the text without his final review. However, the government entered sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find that the original drafts forwarded by Siemaszko to Goyal were already misleading and inaccurate, that Siemaszko did not act to correct material omissions in future drafts that were forwarded to him for review, and that Siemaszko acted knowingly and willfully. Additionally, §§ 1001 and 2 prohibit willfully causing the concealment of material facts, and a rational juror could conclude that Siemaszko knew that others were relying on his drafts and representations of the prior inspectionswhich turned out to be false, misleading, and incomplete in some material respectsin editing and submitting the serial letters. In section 1.d. of NRC 2001-01, the NRC required full disclosure of the scope of prior inspections and any impedimentswhether insulation or depositsto a full bare metal visual inspection. Siemaszko's first draft of SL 2731 stated that ninety-five percent of the nozzles were inspected in 2000, and his second draftin response to Goyal's unease with that representationstated that the majority of the nozzles were inspected. It is undisputed that Siemaszko oversaw the 2000 inspection and had seen the videos of the inspections that revealed significant visual impediments. The jury also saw the inspection videos, including the visibility impediments, and reviewed Holmberg's audit report that estimated that only twenty-three of the sixty-nine nozzles were visible in 2000. The government also presented evidence that the earlier drafts did not include information that the NRC considered critical, such as descriptions or photographs of the large boron deposits found in 2000, including the red photographs taken during RFO12. Siemaszko argues that he could not have concealed the red photographs because they already had been submitted to the NRC resident inspector in 2000, but a juror could reasonably consider their omission as concealing the status of the RPV head in SL 2731 when taken in conjunction with other understatements that the government pointed out at trial. For example, Siemaszko's draft reported some accumulation of boric acid in 2000, while Siemaszko had seen the lava-like flows of boric acid on the RPV head in 2000. Siemaszko also stated that the [RPV] head was cleaned with the demineralized water as best as it could be, but did not state that bars were used to knock off chunks of deposits and that significant deposits remained at the top of the RPV head after cleaning. Siemaszko also argues that there is no evidence that he was asked to review the final draft of SL 2731 or to sign the green sheet and so did not make any statements directly to the NRC in that letter. Whether Siemaszko signed the green sheet via attachment remains unclear, as the secretary in charge of circulating it testified that see attached could indicate initialing on a separate sheet but could not recall if Siemaszko had done so in this case. However, there is sufficient evidence that Siemaszko was involved in the final submission of the letter and that material language from his original draft remained in the submitted SL 2731. Goyal testified that after he expressed doubts about signing the green sheet, because of his concerns regarding the lack of any description of impediments to a complete, 100-percent inspection of the RPV head, Siemaszko and Cook came to his cubicle to urge him to sign. Goyal testified that he eventually signed the green sheet only after Siemaszko personally assured him that he had seen the entire head in his review of the video. A rational juror could infer from this evidence that the relevant portions of SL 2731 constituted a statement by Siemaszko himself and that, in any case, Siemaszko caused Goyal to sign the green sheet and thereby make the relevant statements to the NRC. Furthermore, the government provided evidence to suggest that Siemaszko had knowledge of the final content of SL 2731. The government presented evidence suggesting that Siemaszko reviewed the results of the editing after he submitted the revised draft to Goyal on August 9, 2001, but before it was sent to the NRC on September 4, 2001. The record indicates that Cook and Goyal had discussedover email and in personthe section 1.d. response and the entire draft with Siemaszko, including whether the two-inch gap at the top of the RPV head impeded inspections (Siemaszko's draft and SL 2731 falsely stated that it did not) and whether the claim of ninety-percent inspection in 2000 was accurate. Drafts of SL 2731 were circulated to Siemaszko on August 22 and 23, 2001. On August 27, 2001, Cook sent Siemaszko and others a draft that is in all material and relevant parts identical to that submitted to the NRC. In the email accompanying the draft, Cook stated that the time for their review was of the essence, requested comments, and noted an added caveat to the first paragraph of section 1.d.: `The scope of the visual inspection was to inspect the bare metal RPV head area that was accessible through the weep holes to identify any boric acid leaks/deposits.' This is to ensure that we state that not all of the head was accessible or inspected for inspection for whatever reason. The government also presented evidence that Siemaszko was involved in changes to commitments in SL 2731 regarding the intended scope of RFO13 up until August 30, 2001. A rational juror, therefore, could infer that Siemaszko willfully and knowingly concealed or caused to be concealed material facts in SL 2731 regarding the prior impediments to complete inspections, that he reviewed the final document sent to the NRC after editing, was aware of the changes made, and did not object to them. Therefore, the evidence presented at trial sustains Siemaszko's conviction for count 1 based on the first allegation in the indictment. Although we need not inquire into the sufficiency of the evidence with respect to the remaining allegations contained in count 1 in order to affirm Siemaszko's conviction, a discussion of Siemaszko's participation in the creation of the misleading nozzle inspection chart bolsters our conclusion that the government presented sufficient evidence to convict Siemaszko and demonstrates the degree of his involvement in concealing the limited nature of prior inspections and the extent of the boron buildup discovered in those inspections. Because there was no full bare metal visualization of the entire RPV headand all sixty-nine nozzlesin 1998 or 2000, Davis-Besse needed to demonstrate to the NRC that the 1996 inspection was complete and revealed no leakage or deposits that could progress to significant circumferential cracking before the planned shutdown in April 2002. The government argues that the underlying message of Davis-Besse's second letter to the NRC, SL 2735, was that if there was stress cracking at Davis-Besse, the cracking had not progressed sufficiently to allow leakage in 1996 and, thereforebased on crack-growth modelingany cracking would not progress to a point of significant concern before [RFO13]. The government further argues that the nozzle inspection table, with its footnote stating that [i]n 1996 during 10 RFO, the entire RPV head was inspected, and a statement in the body of the letter that no leakage had been identified in 1996, were the key elements of FENOC's representation and misrepresentationto the NRC in SL 2735. Siemaszko, however, argues that there is no evidence that he was the origin of the 1996 footnote; that the footnote was edited and altered by Miller in the licensing department; and that there was no evidence that Siemaszko ever reviewed the final SL 2735. While a rational jury could agree with Siemaszko, there is sufficient evidence that he participated and acquiesced in the drafting of the additional footnote, that he knew that the nozzle inspection table, which he prepared in draft form, concealed the incomplete nature of the prior inspections and the extent of boron accumulation, and that he did review the final document. Siemaszko told the NRC's special agent conducting the investigation that he had spent weeks preparing the table and reviewing the inspection tapes and that he had relied on others for information on the 1996 inspection. He also stated in an interview with NRC special agents that he sat down with Geisen and Miller to complete the table and that Miller and Geisen had dictated the footnotes. Siemaszko, therefore, was aware of and did not object to the 100-percent inspection assertion and, the government argued at trial, after reviewing the video of the inspection he would have been aware that at least eighteen nozzles were not visible in the video. Goyal testified that, after he saw a draft of the table, he reminded Siemaszko that he had not seen 100 percent of the RPV head, the language was subsequently changed to the entire RPV head. While evidence supports Siemaszko's assertion that it was Miller who removed the last two lines of the original footnote that stated that four nozzles were not included in the 1996 inspection, the original footnotewhich Siemaszko credited to Geisen and Miller did state falsely that 100% of nozzles were inspected by visual examination. The jury could have found that Geisen and Miller relied on Siemaszko's representations regarding the inspection in crafting the footnote, and Siemaszko did not object to their mischaracterization of the inspection's scope. Furthermore, the information regarding the four nozzles was included in the body of SL 2735. Moreover, Siemaszko signed the green sheet for SL 2735, implying that he had reviewed its final content. The government also argued at trial that Siemaszko's statement in the SL 2735 footnote that [s]ince the video was void of head orientation narration, each specific nozzle view could not be correlated was an attempt to conceal the fact that the entire RPV head had not been inspected in 1996. If Siemaszko had followed the method of documenting each nozzle by looking at videos of the inspection, he could not have completed the table for 1996. A blanket assertion as to the absence of head orientation narration, therefore, meant that he need not reveal the impediments to a full visualization even in 1996. Siemaszko counters that he did not have the knowledge or expertise to interpret the orientation on the video because he did not know which nozzle he was looking at in correlation with the numbers. Circumstantial evidence, however, suggests otherwise. The 1996 video, including narration, was played for the jury. Holmberg testified that in performing his audit of the 1996 inspection video, he had used the stud hole numbers and other clues to compile a map of the nozzles by number and demonstrated the method to the jury. Goyal, who supervised the 1996 video inspection, testified that the video contained head orientation narration because the technicians had called out the stud numbers when inserting the camera into the weep holes. Goyal also testified that Siemaszko had called him to ask about the stud numbers recited on the video, although Goyal could not recall their meaning at that time. However, the government entered into evidence a map of the RPV head that Siemaszko had used to plot the inspections that indicated the stud hole numbers, demonstrating that he was aware of the numbers' meaning and that there was an adequate method of charting each nozzle from the 1996 video. These inconsistencies could lead a rational jury to conclude that Siemaszko knew that the 1996 video was not void of head orientation narration and that he knew this at the time that he drafted the nozzle inspection table submitted to the NRC. Siemaszko next argues that any inaccuracies in his draft submissions were caused by the lack of skills and guidance necessary to complete the table and not because of improper intent. He rightly asserts that incompetence or negligence are not sufficient to convict under § 1001 and that statements made innocently or inadvertently are not false statements under § 1001. See United States v. Brown, 151 F.3d 476, 486 (6th Cir.1998). However, the government submitted evidence to the jury that Siemaszko was aware of the inaccuracies and had a motive to portray prior inspections as complete in order to keep the plant running until RFO13. Siemaszko reported in the draft of the tableand it was included in the final SL 2735that ten nozzles were not visible on the video of the inspection in 1998 (RFO11), but the table listed those nozzles as having satisfactory visual inspection with no leaks observed and that no video record [was] required. Mainhardt, who conducted the RPV head inspection in 1998, could not remember conducting any of the inspection without recording it and also testified that Siemaszko never consulted him when compiling the table, even though he was working for FENOC at the time. The government also argued that Siemaszko knew that there were no unrecorded parts of the inspection because he had seen the videos, which depicted complete inspections. The government argues, therefore, that the status of no video record required was fabricated by Siemaszko to conceal the lack of documentation of inspections of certain nozzles in the table. The government also provided evidence that Siemaszko was worried about the NRC investigation that resulted from RFO13 in 2002 and argued that his concern was evidence that he knew that his representations were false, incomplete, and misleading. For example, Mainhardt testified that Siemaszko had been worried in 2002 that the NRC would count the nozzles on the videos because all the nozzles aren't there. Also, Goyal testified that after he and Siemaszko were fired, Siemaszko spoke to him about what they would say to the NRC regarding certain assertions in the serial letters. The jury also heard testimony that Siemaszko admitted to the whistle-blower investigator that he had provided misleading information to the NRC and that, because of that, he was a hero in the eyes of the company and ... received a $1,000 bonus. At the very least, this evidence suggests that Siemaszko knew that the statements were false, and a rational juror could infer that he presented a more favorable representation of the inspections in the nozzle inspection table in order to help keep Davis-Besse operating until RFO13. Because there was ample circumstantial evidence of Siemaszko's direct and indirect participation in drafting the serial letter submissions, including the false statements and material omissions alleged in count 1 of the indictment, there was sufficient evidence for a rational juror to find him guilty of that count. We, therefore, affirm his conviction on count 1.