[ RadSafe ] Truck Driver Charged With Lying About Radioactive Cargo

[Steven Dapra]

Aug. 29

         This story leaves out more than it tells.  What was the 
radioactive material?  If the box did indeed fall off the back of the 
truck, why did the driver lie about it (if he did lie about it) and say 
someone stole it?  That makes no sense at all.  How did it fall off the 
back of his truck?  I can scarcely believe anyone would be allowed to haul 
around a box of radioactive material in an open truck where the box could 
slide between the slatted sides.  If the truck was an open truck, why 
wasn't the box properly secured?

         According to the article, the driver was driving from Madison to 
Milwaukee, and the box was found in Waukesha.  Waukesha is about 60 miles 
from Madison.  How could the driver have traveled 60 miles before the box 
fell off?  What does getting lost have to do with anything?  How did he 
discover that the box had fallen off his truck, when did he find that out, 
and why didn't he summon assistance as soon as he knew it was missing?

         If the truck had a closed box, what happened?  Did the driver 
drive off with the box sitting on the tailgate?  Did he drive off with the 
door open?   I wouldn't call it insane, I would say it's so stupid it 
defies description (at least based on the article that's my assessment of it).

Steven Dapra


At 09:46 AM 8/29/07 -0400, Clayton J Bradt wrote:

>This is insane!
>*******************************************
>Truck Driver Charged With Lying About Radioactive Cargo
>
>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
>
>By John Diedrich
>
>August 23, 2007
>
>GREEN BAY, WI — A Green Baay man has been charged with lying to federal
>agents after he told investigators in January that someone stole a box off
>his truck containing radioactive material bound for a Milwaukee hospital,
>according to federal records.
>
>Randall U. Kubsh, 53, is charged with two counts of lying, to the FBI and
>U.S. Department of Transportation, according to an indictment handed down
>this week. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison, but it's
>unlikely he will get that much time. In January, the Milwaukee County
>sheriff's office reported that a box of radioactive material bound for a
>hospital was missing. Authorities were concerned because the material could
>cause burning or poisoning if ingested.
>
>Authorities launched a criminal investigation and began a search for the
>box between Milwaukee and Madison, where Kubsh drove, Assistant U.S.
>Attorney Mel Johnson, the prosecutor in the case, said Thursday. The box
>appeared a few days later when a Waukesha man who found it near N. 46th St.
>and W. Lisbon Ave. turned it in, Johnson said. That man is not being
>charged, he said. Kubsh later told investigators he got lost on his way to
>Aurora Sinai Medical Center because of construction, Johnson said. Kubsh
>said he knew the box had fallen off his truck but he couldn't find it when
>he went back to look for it.
>***************************************************************
>Clayton J. Bradt