A former manager of TVA's Brown's Ferry Plant has been sentenced on a federal violation.
John L. Symonds, 57, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips to serve two years of probation and to pay a $5,000 fine.
The sentence followed Symonds's guilty plea to making a false statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Valley Authority, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001.
On July 2, 2007, United States Attorney James R. Dedrick filed an information in the United States District Court charging Symonds with knowingly and willfully making a false material statement to the Tennessee Valley Authority by executing and submitting a financial disclosure certification, OGE Form 450-A, in which he knowingly and willfully failed to disclose his receipt of $54,212.77, through Krohn Enterprises, LLC.
According to court documents, from Nov. 13, 2000, through Dec. 31, 2002, Symonds, was employed as a manager at TVA's Brown's Ferry Nuclear Plant. ). As a TVA-BFN manager, Symonds was required to complete and submit to TVA an OGE Form 450, entitled “Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report.”
As a TVA-BFN manager, Symonds was required annually to update the financial disclosures set forth in OGE Form 450, which could be accomplished through the completion and submission to TVA of the OGE Optional Form 450-A, in lieu of filing a new OGE Form 450 each year.
On or about Nov. 13, 2000, Symonds executed and submitted an OGE Form 450 that was forwarded to TVA headquarters in Knoxville. On that form, Symonds answered “None” to the question that asked him to: “Identify for you, your spouse, and dependent children: 1) assets with a fair market value greater than $1,000 at the close of the reporting period or producing income over $200; and 2) sources of earned income such as salaries, fees, honoraria (other than U.S. Government salary or retirement benefits, such as the Thrift Savings Plan) which generated over $200 in income during the reporting period.”
On his Nov. 13, 2000, OGE Form 450, Symonds certified that his statements were “true, complete, and correct to the best of [his] knowledge.”
On or about Oct. 16, 2001, Symonds executed and submitted an OGE Form 450-A that was forwarded to TVA headquarters in Knoxville. On that form Symonds certified that “[a]fter examining a copy of [his] last confidential financial disclosure report (OGE Form 450)”, which was his November 13, 2000 OGE Form 450, that (1) he had “no new reportable assets or sources of income, for [himself], [his] spouse or [his] dependent children.” and that (2) “neither [his] spouse nor [he] [had] new reportable sources of income from non-Federal employment.”
On or about Oct. 21, 2002, Symonds executed and submitted an OGE Form 450-A that was forwarded to TVA headquarters in Knoxville. On that form Symonds certified that “[a]fter examining a copy of [his] last confidential financial disclosure report (OGE Form 450),” which was his November 13, 2000 OGE Form 450, that (1) he had “no new reportable assets or sources of income, for [himself], [his] spouse or [his] dependent children.” and that (2) “neither [his] spouse nor [he] [had] new reportable sources of income from non-Federal employment.”
However, on or about Feb. 7, 2002, during the reporting period for his October 21, 2002 OGE Form 450-A, Symonds co-owned Krohn Enterprises, LLC with his former spouse, and on or about Feb 7, 2002, Krohn, was paid $29,212.77 by Check No. 31738 drawn on the Mellon Bank account of U.S. Tool & Die Inc. (“USTD”). That $29,212.77 check was deposited into the Krohn Heritage Bank account, and the proceeds of that check were used to pay the personal expenses of Symonds and his former spouse, officials said.
On or about Feb. 7, 2002, Symonds knew that USTD had been directed to send that $29,212.77 check to Krohn by Holtec International (Holtec) – a company that Symonds knew as of that time (1) had contracted with TVA in November 2001 to design and construct a dry cask storage system for spent nuclear fuel rods at TVA BFN and (2) had contracted with USTB to fabricate some of the construction materials for the TVA BFN dry cask storage system, it was stated.
Additionally, on or about Feb. 27, 2002, during the reporting period for his Oct. 21, 2002 OGE Form 450-A, Symonds co-owned Krohn Enterprises, LLC with his former spouse, and on or about Feb. 27, 2002, Krohn nterprises, LLC, was paid $25,000 by Check No. 31970 drawn on the Mellon Bank account of USTD. That $25,000 check was deposited into the Krohn Enterprises, LLC, Heritage Bank account, and the proceeds of that check were used to pay the personal expenses of Symonds and his former spouse. On or about Feb. 27, 2002, Symonds knew that USTB had been directed to send that $25,000
check to Krohn by Holtec – a company that Symonds knew as of that time (1) had contracted with TVA in November 2001 to design and construct a dry cask storage system for spent nuclear fuel rods at TVA BFN and (2) had contracted with USTB to fabricate some of the construction materials for the TVA BFN dry cask storage system, officials said.
Symonds knowingly and willfully failed to disclose his receipt, through Krohn Enterprises, LLC, of either Check No. 31738 in the amount of $29,212.77 or Check No. 31970 in the amount of $25,000 on the OGE Form 450-A that he executed and submitted to TVA on or about Oct. 21, 2002, it was stated.
The investigation was conducted by the TVA, Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney F.M. (Trey) Hamilton III represented the government.