For more than 30 years, Elaine Thomas has changed the test results of more than 240 steel products while working at a foundry that provides metal for U.S. Navy submarines.

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On Monday, a former metallurgist at a foundry that supplies steel for U.S. Navy submarines pleaded guilty in federal court in Tacoma, Washington, to forging test results that measure the strength and toughness of metals-prosecutors said she continued to do so for more than three years .

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington said in a statement that Elaine Thomas, a 67-year-old former metallurgist in Auburn, Washington, pleaded guilty to major fraud by forging the test results of more than 240 steel products. When she was sentenced on February 14, she could face up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

According to the indictment of the case, Ms. Thomas worked as a metallurgist at a steel foundry in Tacoma, Washington from 1977 to 2017, which was owned by Atlas Castings & Technology and was acquired by Bradken in 2008. Ms. Thomas was appointed as the director of the company's metallurgical department in 2009.

According to the indictment, Bradken produced steel castings as a subcontractor or supplier to the company that signed the contract with the Navy. The prosecutor stated that the company is a major supplier of the Navy’s “casting high-volume” steel for naval submarines, adding that the products tested for counterfeiting accounted for “a large portion of the castings produced by Bradken for the Navy”. It is not clear which submarines may be affected.

The indictment stated that from around 1985 to 2017, Ms. Thomas “intentionally designed and executed a plan with the intent to deceive the U.S. Navy and obtain money and property through substantial false and fraudulent excuses and statements.”

The indictment alleges that in an example of a “fraud plan,” Ms. Thomas sometimes changed the first digit of a test result to add 10 or 20 foot-pounds of weight to the test to determine the toughness of the steel, while “the amount of dynamic force "It can bear it.

The indictment alleges that Ms. Thomas’ forged test results “caused the U.S. Navy to pay contract payments that the Navy would not have paid if it knew the true characteristics of the steel”​​.

In a statement submitted to the Federal Court by John Carpenter, Ms. Thomas' lawyer, on Monday, the former metallurgist stated that she "takes shortcuts and made a major misrepresentation."

"Multiple sclerosis. Thomas never intended to compromise the integrity of any material, and is pleased that government tests have not shown that the structural integrity of any submarine has actually been compromised," the statement said. "The unique thing about this crime is that it is neither motivated by greed nor personal desire to get rich. She regrets that she has failed to follow her own moral code-admitting that false statements are not her retirement as she imagined. Life."

The U.S. Attorney's Office stated that Bradken's leadership didn't know about the falsified test results until May 2017, when a laboratory employee discovered that the results were "altered and there were other discrepancies in Bradken's records."

The indictment stated that after discovering the false test, Ms. Thomas agreed to conduct voluntary interviews with federal agents, during which she "made false statements" to cover up her submission of hundreds of false results.

In 2019, Ms. Thomas admitted that she changed some results, "but stated that she must have a good reason to change the results," the indictment stated.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the company assumed responsibility for falsified tests in June 2020 and paid more than 1,080 for Bradken’s allegations of manufacturing and selling "substandard steel components for installation on U.S. Navy submarines." Ten thousand dollars in civil settlement fees.

"The Navy has taken extensive measures to ensure the safe operation of affected submarines," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. "These measures will lead to increased costs and maintenance, because non-conforming parts are monitored."

Bradken and the Naval Information Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday night.