Man who sold sub
parts gets 3 years

A former Pearl Harbor shipyard employee was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday for selling new and refurbished ship and submarine parts worth more than $200,000 as scrap metal for $529.

U.S. District Chief Judge David Ezra ordered Carl Graham Roberts Jr., 49, to begin serving his sentence immediately and to repay the government the $529.

Some of the parts Roberts sold to undercover federal agents posing as scrap metal dealers were valves awaiting installation in ships and submarines.

"What you did was flat-out dangerous," Ezra said.

Federal prosecutors said Roberts and two other shipyard employees sold the parts to buy crystal methamphetamine.

Six defendants have pleaded guilty to unauthorized sale of Navy property, but Roberts is the first to go to prison. Three other defendants received probation. The rest are awaiting sentencing.

Also awaiting sentencing is a former supervisor at the Pearl Harbor recycling program and officials from the two local metal recycling companies. They pleaded guilty to illegally funneling scrap metal from Pearl Harbor to the two companies.