Sentencing delayed for Davis-Besse ex-employee

4/8/2008

The sentencing of former Davis-Besse engineer David Geisen has been postponed to May 1. It had been set for April 17.

Geisen, of DePere, Wis., was convicted Oct. 30 in U.S. District Court in Toledo on three of five counts of deception in a case that centered around the roles he and two others were accused of having in a cover-up at FirstEnergy Corp. s Davis-Besse nuclear plant nearly seven years ago.

Geisen faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He will be sentenced by Judge David Katz.

The judge said during a hearing last month that the verdict against Geisen seemed to indicate the jury struggled in reaching a consensus.

It deliberated more than 26 hours. One of two co-defendants, Rodney N. Cook, a contractor from Millington, Tenn., was acquitted on all four counts against him.

The other, Andrew Siemaszko, of Spring, Texas, who also was formerly employed by FirstEnergy, is to stand trial later this year.

Prosecutors allege the cover-up kept the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from finding out that Davis-Besse s old reactor head was about to burst and cause radioactive steam to form, endangering northern Ohio.

FirstEnergy has paid a record $33.5 million in fines for its corporate role in the matter.