Reposted from 11/1/2013
05000237/249
Where I once worked, went through licensing school (1983) with a guy who bragged he had a IQ of 154. I believe his IQ was that high? Eugene Van Boman went on to be a shift supervisor at VY. He was many times the most senior man on site and the overall boss of the nuclear plant when he was working. Many years later he was coming to work in a personal hovercraft. He had some 3 or 4 secret DUIs he never told the plant about. He had a case pending for 5 years in the court with sexually abusing a 6 year old girl and he still worked as a shift supervisor as it was cycling in the courts. He eventually plead guilty. He lived with his girlfriend and her 15 years old daughter. There was a fear he was sexually abusing the young girl and she was getting ready to spill the beans. His girlfriend and the 15 year old then disappeared...he remains a person of interest with their murders.
I did a search in the NRC documents on Brittian and Buhrman
and there are no other documents that came up with their names on it other than
the post hijacking. This is highly suspicious that the NRC sterilized all
documents and searches with their names on it. It is as if they don’t want you
to catch any illegalities or rules breaking with any errant documents. This
looks like attempt to protect the industry operation...they are afraid it will
strain the industry.
The ADR process is an attempt to keep all record behind
closed doors.
This is that inconceivable event where two highly paid and
senior nuclear managers could be involved with terrorist. We could have had a
near miss inconceivable terrorist event at a two plant facility...these guys
could have given every detailed security vulnerabilities to these terrorist on
the Dresden Plant. Dresden should have
been put on an extreme terrorist alert since this happen.
Ultimately
I am going to give you some commentary on what I think was going on.
They
exactly hired and promoted these
employees for the attributes you see in their lawlessness.
You
notice they are hiding what kind of employees these guys were at the plant in
their so call bureaucratic processes...
They
love them brilliant as hell and immoral...hyper focus on what is in their
income interest.
The
SRO’s are the bottom level management enforcers of Exelon and Dresden
Management...
The
NRC interact with these guys a lot...what did they think of them...
...These guy get promoted for the ability to walk across the backs of their peers and those who are below them.
...Has any FBI expert or Homeland security terrorist interrogation expert said to either these guys...give up to us illegal activities at the Dresden plant and we will give you a sweet court deal. Play one against the other...
These plant are obsolete dogs. Most of the new employees come from the best of nuclear technology. It is extraordinarily depressing stepping back in the nuclear Stone Age and with no opportunity to ever work in a modern facility.
I went to these plants for simulator training in around 1985...there was horrible stories about how they ran these facilities back then and the disgraceful material conditions of the units.
Wiki
Unit 2: June 9, 1970
Unit 3: November 16, 1971
Dresden Generating Station(also known as Dresden Nuclear Power Plant or Dresden Nuclear Power Station) is the first privately financed nuclear power plantbuilt in the United States. Dresden 1 was activated in 1960 and retired in 1978. Operating since 1970 are Dresden units 2 and 3, two General Electric BWR-3 boiling water reactors. Dresden Station is located on a 953-acre (386 ha) site in Grundy County, Illinois, at the head of theIllinois River, near Morris, Illinois. It serves Chicagoand the northern quarter of the state of Illinois, capable of producing 867 megawatts of electricity from each of its two reactors, enough to power over one million average American homes.
Arrests Call Into Question Nuclear Plant Employee Training
| Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 | Updated 5:43 AM CDt
Two more Dresden Nuclear Power Plant employees have been
arrested in the past month, further calling into question the security
screening that all nuclear power plant employees must undergo on a regular
basis.
NBC 5 Investigates has learned that Nery Fajardo, 40, and
Black Speckman, 24, were in training to become licensed reactor operators at
the Dresden plant, located in Morris, Ill., just southwest of Chicago.
But the two were arrested in September at an offsite
party. Speckman is accused of tackling an officer, and Fajardo is charged with
throwing a beer can at another officer and resisting arrest.
Nuclear safety experts say it's further proof that
there's a breakdown in how employees are screened and trained at Dresden.
David Lochbaum, one of the nation's leading independent experts
on the subject, says "controls are not as tight as they should be."
The Dresden plant is one of six Illinois nuclear power
plants operated by Exelon. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ordered Exelon
to retrain all workers in those plants on proper security procedures,
specifically on how to recognize and report suspicious behavior among
employees.
It's the direct result of the activities of Michael
Buhrman and Landon Brittain, two former high-ranking Dresden employees who were
senior nuclear operators at the plant.
Brittain is awaiting trial in DuPage County Jail, and
Buhrman was just returned to the U.S. by federal marshals after being arrested
in Venezuela.
Both men fled to the South American country after a wild
diversion from their day jobs at Dresden. The NRC confirms Burhman recruited
Brittain at the plant and tried to recruit others to help him in a carjacking
and bank robbery based on his fascination with the movie "The Town."
Then, the men vanished.
Lucas Hixon, the editor of the nuclear watchdog web site
Enformable.com, says Burhrman and Brittain "are supposed to be licensed
from top to bottom and are supposed to be no problem personnel."
Hixon investigated the case, and through Venezuelan
police sources, claims the two men ended up living a life of crime, residing in
a luxury high rise building in Caracas and hosting sex parties.
"It takes all of our current notions of safety and
kind of tosses them on their head," Hixon said.
In the past 24 hours, the NRC has issued a personal
letter to Burhmain and Brittain formally prohibiting involvement in any future
license nuclear activities to protect the public health and safety.
Burhman was already tried, convicted and sentenced in
absentia and Brittain is a week away from his next court date.
The two most recently-arrested Dresden employees are
awaiting trial.
Exelon officials would not comment on the four men but
did say the company would comply with the NRC order to retrain its staff.
In
2012, Michael Buhrman and Landon Brittain worked together as senior reactor
operators at the Dresden nuclear power plant in Morris, Illinois.
Michael
Buhrman, 31, began his career in the nuclear industry after being honorably
discharged in from the Navy nuclear program in 2005, where he had worked as a
reactor operator and nuclear electronics technician.
After
watching the movie, “The Town” featuring Ben Affleck, which features four
friends who decide to rob a bank, Buhrman was inspired to feed his adrenaline
through a life of crime. The well-paid senior reactor operator started
attempting to recruit other workers at the Dresden nuclear power plant in order
to form a gang to rob banks “to get back at the system.”
Buhrman
did succeed in recruiting at least one other worker, Landon Brittain, a senior
reactor operator at the Dresden nuclear power plant. Landon Brittain, 31, had
studied at Washington University in St. Louis, and was living in Joliet,
Illinois while working at the Dresden nuclear power plant.
From conspirators to
criminals
The
parking lot of the Kohl’s department store in Woodridge, Illinois.
On
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012, around 10:00 pm, Michael Buhrman and Landon Brittain
were preparing to commit a brazen crime. The plan hatched by Buhrman was to
hijack a car and use the stolen vehicle for a planned assault and ultimately a
bank robbery in the small town of Hammond, Illinois.
Together,
they lurked in Burhman’s Mercedes Benz SUV in the Kohl’s parking lot on the
1000 block of 75th Street in Woodridge, Illinois. When a young woman, Carrie
Bradley, exited the store into the parking lot on break from her job, Buhrman
leapt into action.
Wearing
a realistic mask that resembled a bald old man and armed with a loaded handgun,
Buhrman ambushed the victim and pointed the loaded .45-caliber handgun at her
chin, telling her to hand over the keys and walk away.
After
she gave up the keys, the masked criminal jumped in the victim’s 2000 Pontiac
Grand Am, and fled while being pursued by a witness, Lou Canino of Downers
Grove, who was notifying authorities of the crime and the direction the stolen
car was traveling until it was corralled in a parking lot a few blocks away.
Bradley
fled back into the department store after giving Buhrman her keys.
Landon
Brittain’s role was to act as a lookout from the SUV and notify Buhrman of the
police presence in the area with hand-held radios they carried.
Woodridge
officers responded to the call from Lou Canino and stopped the vehicle. When
they took Buhrman into custody, he was still wearing the mask and carrying the
loaded weapon.
While
in custody with authorities, Buhrman confessed that hijacking the car was a
stupid thing to do and that he was only “thrill seeking.” After his arrest,
Buhrman did not return to the Dresden nuclear power plant.
Buhrman
appeared in bond court two days later, on May 11th, 2012, and was released
after posting a $200,000 bond.
On
Monday, June 4th, 2012, Buhrman formally plead not guilty during a brief
appearance before DuPage Judge Kathryn Creswell. The arraignment was attended
by Dresden Site Communications Manager Robert Osgood.
The
defendant was represented by defense attorney Richard Blass. Despite the
prosecutor’s objection, the judge determined that she would grant a request
from Buhrman to travel out of state to Nebraska for his 6-year-old son’s birthday
party.
Burned by love
In
June, Buhrman began dating a young 22-year old woman, whom he gave a false
alias with the last name “Brennan” instead of his real name. In July, Buhrman’s
girlfriend saw a piece of mail which was mailed to Michael Buhrman, not Michael
Brennan. She searched his name on the internet, and found his criminal charges
online.
After
she realized that he was facing felony charges, she warned prosecutors that
Buhrman bragged about access to offshore bank accounts and a private jet, and
was planning to flee to Chile. The young woman also testified that she had
overheard Buhrman making bank transfers and that he had purchased $100,000
worth of gold.
The
Assistant State Attorney Demetri Demopoulos wrote a motion seeking the bail for
Buhrman be revoked, and added that “(Buhrman) indicated that he has ‘two
defense teams’ who will keep seeking (court) continuances until he is ready to
flee.”
Buhrman’s
attorney countered the claims made by the girlfriend of the defendant by saying
that his client only mean to diversify his retirement portfolio, and that he
had only talked of ‘vacationing’ in Chile after the case was closed.
Hon.
Judge Kathryn E. Creswell, Presiding Judge of the Felony Division for the 18th
Judicial Circuit Court.
In
response to the new findings, Judge Kathryn Creswell tightened bond conditions
and restricted Buhrman’s ability to leave his house, but declined to increase
or revoke bail. Under the new conditions he was equipped with an ankle
monitoring bracelet and only able to leave his home for employment, court, and
attorney or doctor visits. He was also barred from going within five miles of
any airport, airfield, or heliport.
During
the investigation of the crime, federal authorities had Buhrman and a few other
co-workers under investigation with the carjacking. Buhrman was also being
investigated for other crimes in the area.
$14,000
was deposited into Buhrman’s checking account from a foreign source on
September 24th, which he withdrew the next day. Three days after the
withdrawal, on September 28th, Buhrman’s GPS monitoring device issued an alert
to police that it had been tampered with.
Officers
searched Buhrman’s home, finding the ankle monitoring bracelet cut off inside
the home, but the defendant had already escaped and police did not find any
clues as to his whereabouts. Inside the house, officers noted two slashed
window screens, a broken lamp in the master bedroom, some disturbed furniture,
a small amount of blood, and several empty boxes which appeared to have
contained gold at some time.
Buhrman’s
Defense Attorney Richard Blass, attempted to spin the flight of the fugitive in
the eyes of the public. “From what I understand, there were signs of foul
play,” he told reporters. “His home was in disarray. The back door was left
open, and the front door was locked. They did find blood… I’m just scared this
was something that occurred that was beyond his control.”
Police
reported that Buhrman had staged his Coal City home to make it appear as if he
had been abducted or some other foul play had taken place. They noted that
nothing was disturbed near the windows where the screens were cut, that nothing
inside of the open drawers appeared disturbed, and none of the high-end
electronics in the home were missing.
Illinois
State Police Sgt. Heather Poerio said, “It looked very staged, like somebody
wanted us to believe gold was taken and he was forcibly removed. I felt it was
a probation violation.”
Prosecutors
continued working on the case and suggested that Buhrman was willfully absent.
They requested that Judge Creswell set a date for jury trial in March.
Brittain’s
family reported losing contact with him in October of 2012, around a month
after Buhrman had removed his monitoring device and ran from his home before
police could arrive and apprehend him. U.S. Marshals later reported that Landon
Brittain, a former person of interest, had went to South America and not
returned. According to a missing-persons flier posted on Facebook by his
family, Brittain was last seen in Caracas, Venezuela.
Landon
Brittain Missing Poster
Landon’s
half-sister reported him missing to the Joliet Police Department on November
5th, of 2012. Landon’s half-sister contacted a friend of Brittain’s from a gym
in Caracas, and told him that Landon had told her that he had fled the country
because one of his girlfriends had gotten pregnant.
In
subsequent reports she is quoted as saying, “Landon is missing, but it seems it
is by choice. He did not notify his friends or his family that he was leaving.
He made great efforts to ensure that he could not be found. He took very little
from his home, but we are sure he had a large amount of money. Events leading
up to his disappearance suggest a vast change in the Landon we all know and
love. Sometimes we face things in our life that are difficult and everyone reacts
differently to these situations.”
Some
of those “great efforts” made by Landon included efforts made by the defendant
to prevent family or law enforcement officers from retrieving any information
of his whereabouts from his laptops, computers, credit cards and known cellular
phones.
Michael
Buhrman was convicted in absentia in May 2013, on the charges of charges of
aggravated vehicular hijacking and vehicular hijacking, and sentenced to 40
years in prison.
DuPage
County Judge Kathryn Creswell did find Buhrman “willfully absent” from court after
his disappearance in September and allowed jurors to hear the case without him.
During
sentencing, Buhrman’s ex-wife testified how controlling and abusive the
defendant had been during their nearly three-year marriage, which had ended in
July 2008.
Judge
Creswell felt assured that Buhrman had fled to avoid prosecution, and said that
a lengthy sentence would be required to protect the public.
The
jury only needed 45 minutes to return the verdict of guilty. After the
sentencing hearing, Buhrman’s ex-wife cried as she apologized to the victim in
the hallway outside of the courtroom, bemoaning that she had not done anything
sooner about her ex-husband.
In
July of 2013, a DuPage County judge set bail at $1 million for Landon Brittain,
31, who fled to Venezuela after the carjacking instead of facing charges of
aggravated vehicular hijacking, vehicular hijacking and obstructing justice.
The public defender appointed to the case indicated that Brittain was homeless
at this time.
Prosecutors
said that after other evidence pointed to his involvement, Brittain had
implicated himself in the crime. The fugitive was also accused of lying to
police on the day of the carjacking.
Michael
Buhrman was listed as one of Interpol’s 150 Most Wanted.
Fugitives on the run
Initially,
in October of 2012 Brittain and Buhrman had decided to attempt to run away to
Santiago, Chile, where they knew some people who could help them settle down
and continue their nefarious ways. This plan ultimately fell through, and the
fugitives were forced to hide in Venezuela.
Landon
Brittain was the first to flee the United States, by flying commercially to
Venezuela. Buhrman had to take more precautions due to the public nature of his
case, so he fled the United States into Mexico, travelling by bus until he
bought a motorcycle and headed to the second largest city in Guatemala,
Quetzaltenango.
In
Quetzaltenango, Buhrman waited for Jonnathan Morales, aka Jesus Sira, a known
Venezuelan racketeer. Landon Brittain, who was awaiting them in Caracas, also
contacted Morales.
In
partnership with Morales, who was using the alias Jesus ‘Jay’ Sira, Buhrman
shipped $500,000 in cash inside of nutritional supplement containers for
bodybuilders. They did this by using the Caribbean island St. Barts as a
bridge, where they opened the containers, hid the bills inside with the
products, and resealed the containers again.
Jesus
Sira advised Buhrman to contract the services of a shipping company with
experience in importing and exporting in order to legalize the shipment of the
impregnated “nutritional supplements” in Venezuela. They also took advantage of
the opportunity to smuggle other items which they hid in the shipping
containers, including two high-speed motorbikes, along with televisions and
other electrical devices.
The
two fugitives planned to make friends of a higher social status in Venezuela,
and live the lives of “jet-setters”, far from where they would have to worry
about prosecution for their crimes in the United States.A collage of photos
taken by Landon Brittain on his cell phone at luxury residence they rented in
Caracas, Venezuela.
Betrayed by greedy
accomplice
Once
in Venezuela, Buhrman wanted to launder the money by investing in business and
real estate, but as the famous adage goes, “if you sleep with dogs, don’t be
surprised if you wake up with fleas.” The fugitives rented a residence at the
luxury condominium and apartment building called El Rosal Atrium in Caracas,
Venezula. Here in Venezuela, Michael Buhrman began using a new alias, Michael Caine.
El
Rosal – Atrium Building in Caracas, Venezuela
The
end of Buhrman and Brittain’s dreams of escape were virtually assured once the
money arrived in Venezuela along with the supplements, for Jesus Sera was back
in his native country and overcome by greed – he had it in sinister plot formed
to rip the two fugitives off and keep the rest as profit all for himself.
Jonnathan
Morales was under investigation by SEBIN, the Venezuelan intelligence agencies,
for criminal activities including drug trafficking, arms trafficking, fraud and
money laundering. SEBIN is an elite taskforce that only works special cases of
organized crime, major fraud, etc,.
Morales
planned to denounce Brittain and Buhrman to the police. He stashed drugs and
weapons in an apartment of Buhrman’s a few months before the fugitive’s arrest.
Morales was not aware of the fact that SEBIN was already investigating both
fugitives from the United States for illegal arms trade and trafficking of
illegal substances including steroids.
After
arriving in Venezuela, Buhrman and Brittain rented a luxury property,
frequented a local gym, and were associated with a Venezuelan gang known for
forging IDs, possessing stolen automobiles and motorcycles, hijacking, fraud,
money laundering, extortion, trade of illegal substances (mostly steroids),
weapons, among other crimes.
Once
Buhrman began catching on to Morales’s betrayal, he began planning his murder.
While
attempting to capture Buhrman, several officers were wounded by the fugitive.
One left with a fractured arm and another with a fractured foot. Once in the
custody of SEBIN, Buhrman confessed that he and Brittain were planning a big
hit in the United States, a bank robbery, kidnapping, or jewelry theft.
Both
Buhrman and Brittain despised Venezuelans, looking down on almost all of them.
They were recorded by police loudly boasting that “almost all Venezuelan men
were fools” and that “all Venezuelan women all were whores”, calling them
‘un-gringo’.
Venezuelan
investigators found sex toys and pornography when they searched the living
quarters of both fugitives. In Venezuela, both men had promiscuous sexual
habits, but Brittain was the most bizarre of the two fugitives. He is reported
to have recorded several of his sexual encounters with male and female
bodybuilders, without the knowledge or permission of his sexual partners. Among
tapes confiscated by investigators were two “group sex” tapes, which featured
Brittain.
Buhrman
was the most suspicious of the two, constantly on the guard for anyone that
could betray them. Their main accomplices were Reinaldo Palma, Yelitza de Khan,
and Jonnathan Moreno, who are all behind bars in Venezuela.
Landon
Brittain was less careful. He told a work out partner at the gym they
frequented about the true story of both men and confessed they were fugitives.
A
photo of Landon Brittain and Michael Buhrman working out at a gym in Venezuela.
Of
the two fugitives, Buhrman was the leader and managed the finances and
accounts. Brittain was always his accomplice, until problems began to form out
of jealousy and Brittain’s constant bumbling, carelessness, and recklessness.
Landon
Brittain was captured on May 23rd in the gym they frequented in Caracas. He was
handed over to United States Marshalls in Maiquetia International Airport 8
weeks later, after coordination between Venezuela and the United States.
On
July 17th, 2013, Landon Brittain was booked into the DuPage County Jail on
three charges counts, Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, Vehicular Hijacking, and
Obstruction of Justice – Evidence and False Information, with a bond of $1
million, similar charges to those which landed Buhrman a 40 year sentence.
DuPage
County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin told the press that a grand jury had
recently indicted Brittain, but the indictment was impounded as officials
ascertained his location. Berlin admitted that Brittain aided in the
carjacking, though he would not discuss details of his role. The State’s
Attorney said that the defendant had “implicated himself” and as the
investigation continued other evidence pointed to his involvement.
After
his arrest in Venezuela, one of Landon Brittain’s acquaintances, Raul Llosa,
contacted one of Brittain’s family members in the United States, attempting to
get information on the status of the fugitive after his deportation. Raul was
one of Landon’s homosexual friends in Caracas, who was also arrested this past
week in relation to the case.
Today,
Landon’s biggest concern is money. By the time that Brittain was deported back
into the United States, he was bankrupt and had no money. He has no home here
in the United States, does not have access to any of his assets from Venezuela
from the jail cell in Illinois, and none of the money which he took to Caracas
was ever brought back.
From
time to time his family would put $100 on his commissary account at the county
jail where he is being held. His family also helped him hire a new lawyer, but
it takes a long time for the justice system to play out – and Brittain’s family
is not wealthy.
The
family of Landon Brittain is also largely in the dark about his capture in the
United States and the severity of the charges against him here in the United
States.
On
October 22nd, Brittain pled not guilty to charges in the United
States, and is due back in court on November 6th.
Buhrman’s arrest in
Venezuela
One
of the last photographs taken of Michael Buhrman in 2012 before his fugitive
flight from the United States.
Buhrman’s
last lover in Venezuela was the 19-year-old daughter of a prominent
businessman. She had run away from college and her parent’s home to live with
Buhrman. Buhrman was worried that his lover’s father wanted revenge on him, so
the fugitive criminal was planning an offensive move involving kidnapping the
businessman and holding him ransom.
SEBIN
arrested five other Venezuelans in relation to Buhrman and Brittain, who all
face charges of forging identities, criminal cooperation, trafficking of
illegal substances, money laundering, and terrorism. The terrorism charge was
added because Buhrman was interested in acquiring C-4 explosives and a Kalashnikov
AK-47 for criminal purposes.
Michael
Buhrman was on a 5:00 pm flight today in the custody of U.S. Marshalls en route
to the United States from Venezuela. Landon Brittain is in jail in Illinois
awaiting trial.
Michael
Buhrman, and many of the details of the case, will be hung up in Venezuela for
some time. Currently, SEBIN intelligence agents are investigating an entire
network of organized crime in Venezuela that Buhrman and Brittain were related
to. More arrests will be made in relation to the case in the near future.
Brittain
and Buhrman are under investigation for additional burglaries, robberies, and
felonies in the United States and Venezuela. More charges are likely to be
filed against the defendants.
