A federal jury last week convicted Bitterroot Valley resident Jay M. Gasvoda of making false statements to a federal agency. The conviction, handed down in U.S. District Court in Missoula, likely will be appealed after Gasvoda is sentenced Feb. 6, defense attorney Martin Judnich said.
“I never lied about a thing,” Gasvoda said in a telephone interview Friday. “I was set up by some people that I fired.”
The Forest Service requires firefighters to have passed a fitness test by walking three miles in 45 minutes while carrying a 45-pound backpack. They also must complete survival instruction.
“Several of Gasvoda's employees were not qualified to fight fires in 2003,” federal prosecutor Timothy Racicot wrote in a document filed in court on Sept. 29. “Some had not taken the Standards for Survival test, others had not attempted the arduous fitness test and some had not completed either requirement. If the Forest Service had known that Gasvoda's employees had not satisfied the training requirements, the agency would not have awarded him the contract, by which he was eventually paid approximately $68,000.”
Gasvoda, a resident of Sula, said expenses he deducted from the $68,000 or so included payroll, fuel and wear on his equipment. He supplied firefighting services through his Bitterroot Fire Protection business. About 50 percent of the firefighting force in the Forest Service's Missoula-based Northern Region is obtained through contracts, agency spokeswoman Rose Davis said.
Forest Service investigator Jackie Fisher said she investigated the qualifications of four of Gasvoda's 2003 firefighters and found none had passed the fitness test. Gasvoda said the four were among eight people he hired. Under the Forest Service contract, Gasvoda supplied two fire engines and a truck that hauled water, Fisher said.
A grand jury indicted him in August.
Asked about the five-year lapse between the contract period and the court case, Fisher said only that the contract probe arose as the Forest Service investigated other matters. She said those matters, which she declined to disclose, will be handled administratively.
Possible penalties for making false statements to a federal agency are five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervision.
Gasvoda, who once served as fire chief of Corvallis, said he works as a trucking agent.
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Dan Barnhart wrote on Nov 17, 2008 11:16 AM: