Firm Sued Over Defects in Subway Welding

Federal authorities sued a Metro Rail contractor for millions of dollars Tuesday, alleging it conducted shoddy and fraudulent inspections of defective welds at two subway stations in the Hollywood area and elsewhere on the subway system.

At the same time, federal prosecutors disclosed that the contractor’s former chief inspector had pleaded guilty to three felony charges stemming from production of counterfeit certificates for welding inspectors who were not qualified.

William H. Benson of Riverside appeared before a federal judge Monday and will be sentenced in November for arranging the counterfeit documents certifying three men as qualified to inspect welds, when they had not completed the required training and testing.

In the civil suit, the government accused Twining Laboratories of Southern California of fraud in its submission of claims for payment on inspections of welds along the Red Line subway.

The government alleged that the Long Beach-based company failed to identify defective welds in two subway stations--on Vermont Avenue at Santa Monica Boulevard and at Beverly Boulevard--just before the facilities were scheduled to open in June 1999.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority was forced to take action to correct the “potentially dangerous welds” at its expense, estimated at about $500,000.

Asked whether the faulty subway station welds would have posed serious hazards, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey Rawitz said that “had it not been discovered, there was a serious risk that people who use the subway could have been injured.”

Charles Stark, MTA executive officer for construction, said the bad welds were discovered during the first quarter of last year in the simulated-rock ceiling structure above the passenger platform at the Vermont and Beverly station. Other bad welds were found in the large diagonal canopy that sits over the entrance to the Vermont and Santa Monica station.

In both cases, Stark said, the defective welds were repaired before the subway stations opened to passengers. “There was the potential for structural movement, structural failure or potential injury. That’s why we took the action we did,” he said.

As a result of the corrective action, Stark said, the MTA “can assure the public the [subway] system is very safe to ride in.”

But Stark did say the steel framework that supports the simulated-rock ceiling could have deformed and dropped a chunk of the material. At the Santa Monica station, the entrance could have bent or deformed in a serious event, such as a high wind or earthquake.

The civil suit alleges that Twining made false statements and performed inspections with unqualified personnel on numerous other MTA subway contracts.

In bringing the case, the U.S. attorney’s office took charge of a civil suit filed under seal in September 1998 by a whistle-blower, Michael D. Torres, a former quality assurance engineer for the MTA.

Torres alleged that Twining had defrauded the MTA and violated federal and state laws that make it illegal to submit fraudulent claims for payment to government agencies.

Rawitz said Torres became suspicious as he observed Twining’s inspectors at work. “They weren’t doing things the right way,” Rawitz said. Torres started his own investigation, retrieved copies of the fabricated certificates “and that got the ball rolling,” the prosecutor said.

The civil suit marked the first time the federal government has intervened in a False Claims Act case involving the MTA. The law provides for whistle-blowers and the government to recover triple damages in cases in which a contractor has obtained government money through fraud.

Twining released a statement saying it has been in business for 46 years and never before been the subject of misconduct allegations such as those unsealed Tuesday. “The lawsuit arises from allegations involving the isolated conduct of a single employee in violation of company policies and practices,” it added.

The company said it has cooperated fully with federal investigators and has reinspected the welds in question at no cost to the MTA.

Benson, 64, left Twining Laboratories in 1997, said his criminal defense lawyer, Victor Sherman. He said he was not sure if Benson quit or was fired.

By fabricating the inspectors’ certification documents, Sherman said, his client was “simply trying to help them get future employment.”

Benson, he said, “had no knowledge that these people were going to be licensed to work on the Metro Rail project.”

Sherman said the bogus documents were placed in the company’s files and eventually used by other Twining officials as evidence that the inspectors were properly qualified.

In his deal with prosecutors, Benson agreed to cooperate with the FBI and testify truthfully before the grand jury or any other legal proceeding.

Benson, who remains free on $5,000 bail, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 13 by U.S. District Judge Carlos R. Moreno. He faces a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.

Although only Benson has been charged so far, Sherman said federal prosecutors hope to work out a a criminal plea agreement with the company itself.

Rawitz, who negotiated the plea agreement with Benson, confirmed that Tuesday, saying: “Initially, we focused on Mr. Benson, who was responsible for hiring and overseeing the inspectors. Having concluded that process, we will next focus our attention on the corporation and its liability for Mr. Benson’s misconduct.”

John Crouchley, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer representing Twining, said, “We hope and expect to convince the government not to indict the company.” He said the wrongdoing was the work of a “rogue employee.”

Twining was involved in work at numerous Red Line stations, but most of it did not involve structural welds that support heavy weight-bearing loads. Some involved handrails and other fixtures in stations or ventilation equipment.

Through the civil suit, Stark said, the MTA, like the federal government, hopes to recover money paid to Twining to do weld inspections. “They couldn’t do what they were paid to do because they weren’t certified,” he said.

A precise estimate of the amount involved remains to be determined.

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Bad Welds

Defective welds were found last year at the Red Line subway stations on Vermont Avenue at Beverly Boulevard and Vermont Avenue at Santa Monica Boulevard.