Boeing Sabotage Update - Disgruntled Employee Under Arrest!

An arrest was announced this morning:

A Boeing Co. assembly line worker from Trevose has been arrested on charges of hacking wires on a $30 million Chinook helicopter being assembled at a Ridley Township plant last week.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan announced the arrest today, about a week after damage was discovered on two of the new model Chinook CH-47F helicopters. The dual-rotor aircraft were still on the assembly line, and no damage was found to other models in production or already deployed.

Meehan's office identified the arrested man as Matthew K. Montgomery, 32, an employee for 18 months at the Boeing plant. Montgomery admitted that he damaged one of the aircraft he was working on, Meehan said. Montgomery was arrested last night while being interviewed by Defense Department investigators.

Apparently, I was right about the motive - the sabotage was caused by a disgruntled employee:

Meehan said he would not speculate on a motive in the Montgomery case. According to an affidavit filed in the case, Montgomery was told on May 10 - two days before the severed wires were detected on one of the Chinooks - that he was being transferred to another assembly line at Boeing.

Montgomery told investigators yesterday that he cut the wires the day he was told of the transfer, the affidavit said.

There may have been "some sense of lack of appreciation for the job he may have been doing," Meehan told reporters at a news conference.

Well, he certainly got his wish - there's no way he'll get transferred to another assembly line now.

He appeared before a judge today, and was released on own recognizance. He also agreed to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Both Boeing and the feds quickly settled on referring to this as "vandalism", rather than calling it sabotage. To me that suggested that they had an idea early on as to who and why.

They're still treating the second aircraft as a separate incident, and the investigation is ongoing.