Picture not only being terminated from your job for whistleblowing, but being charged with computer trespass and arrested too. It happened to ex-Boeing employee, Gerald Eastman.
Here’s a link to an April 7 article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about Eastman’s first court ordeal, which ended in a mistrial. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) also blogged about Eastman’s disclosures, writing:
Internal Boeing documents obtained by the Project On Government Oversight show that the allegations of a former Boeing quality control inspector facing criminal charges have merit. Quality control problems at Boeing increase the likelihood that defective aircraft parts end up on planes and flaws in the manufacturing of planes remain uncorrected. This can potentially threaten public safety and drive up the cost of aircraft maintenance.
Gerald Eastman, the former Boeing inspector, is facing a second trial of criminal charges for disclosing Boeing information to the press. His first trial last month resulted in a mistrial when jurors could not agree on whether Eastman committed “computer trespass.” Mr. Eastman claims that his involvement with the press stemmed from the lack of corrective actions taken by Boeing and the government in response to his disclosures of wrongdoing to them.
The rest of POGO’s post can be found here. As POGO notes, if Mr. Eastman is found guilty, it could set a terrible precedent for not just aviation safety, but public safety in general. Mr. Eastman is set to return to King County (WA) Municipal Court again next week.
5 users commented in " Boeing Whistleblower Gerald Eastman "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackBoeing is a criminal enterprise;
RICCO Act–”When three or more parties conspire to carry on an on going criminal enterprise, it can fall under the “RICCO Act.
Boeing should be barred from Gov’t contracts for a year.
It won’t happen. Once Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas, they eliminated the competition. Besides, where would all those SESers and Generals go to work after retiring from Govt. service?
This whole case has been a disgrace to the legal system and an embarrasment to all who seek justice. The company has been trying to blame many things on the convenient fall guy. All the while they continue their too cozy relationships with many individuals and offices in the government.
Boeing has tried very hard to paint Mr. Eastman as a common criminal, and deny him the dignity of being acknowledged as a legitimate whistleblower, which he is. It appears they may have been successful in buying themselves influence in the prosecutor’s office through campaign contributions, and they successfully convinced a judge to instruct the jury to ignore whistleblower law in considering the case during the last trial. One can only wonder what they’ve been cooking up for the second one.
Boeing apparently feels they must make a very big example of Mr. Eastman in order to intimidate and terrorize the rest of their employees. I expect they fear what other employees might be able to tell if they decided to become whistleblowers. In the mean time, I am advised, working conditions continue to deteriorate and the atmosphere becomes more hostile for their employees.
Boeing attends court dates with a stable of attorneys, both in-house and some outside hired guns, I am told. All of this to try to destroy one whistleblower, who has only his one court appointed defender to fight back. If anyone knows of more help for Mr. Eastman, please let him know. Email at his website: http://www.thelastinspector.com
[...] Boeing Whistleblower Gerald Eastman [...]
Thanks, Charlotte, for covering this on your blog. Thanks also users, for the kind comments. True, I do need more legal help than I currently have. I recognized early on this was a RICCO-like case. It is crime organized to the nth degree. My being prosecuted for breaking an anti-computer hacker law when I didn’t hack into any computer is just a case of the true criminals going on legal offense so they can continue their fraud by making an example of the one person who did the most to try to end it. If I could be convicted of a crime I did not commit, that surely would deter any would-be whistleblower, no matter how law abiding they are.
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