Wednesday, December 14, 2016

PRESS RELEASE FOR INCIDENT AT DOMINION COVE POINT LNG; FOLLOW-UP PRESS RELEASE INCLUDED

On December 07, 2016 at approximately 1150 hours the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office was notified by a representative of Kiewit Construction that a noose had been located on the construction site at the Dominion Cove Point LNG facility in Lusby. This is the 5th such noose that has been found on this site. The Sheriff’s Office was contacted immediately upon the noose being located. The noose was collected and placed into CCSO property for evidence. Kiewit construction is cooperating fully with CCSO detectives who are investigating these cases. Numerous CCSO resources have been deployed to assist with the investigation which is still ongoing. 

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Detective Nicholas DeFelice @ 4105352800 or defelinb@co.cal.md.us.

All media inquiries are to be through Capt. Steve Jones. He can be reached at 443-624-1941 or email jonessr@co.cal.md.us.

***UPDATE***

The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is committed to sharing as much information as we possibly can without jeopardizing the ongoing investigation into the nooses that have been located at the Dominion Cove Point facility.

This updated release includes actions taken by the CCSO, Kiewit and the North America’s Building Trades Union and is supported by Dominion.

Kiewit and the Trades Union continue to work aggressively, with the full support of Dominion, to assist the CCSO in identifying the person(s) that are responsible for these acts.  CCSO personnel have been told repeatedly that nothing less than the safest work environment for everyone working on the Cove Point job site is acceptable.

Kiewit has trained all of the workers on the Cove Point site on Kiewit’s zero-tolerance policy for any object that has the potential to offend someone. Kiewit also asked all of the workers to fully cooperate with the CCSO investigation and to report any information they may have regarding the nooses. 

Kiewit management held meetings with all workers to review the established procedures in reporting and securing areas if inappropriate objects are discovered. The CCSO and construction safety staff increased their visibility on site to provide additional surveillance.

The Building Trades Union has committed to convening meetings on the jobsite with its local union leadership and the craft workers to ask their assistance in finding the responsible individuals and to make sure everyone understands the types of actions and attitudes that are unacceptable.

In addition, the Trades Union has increased the reward to $250,000.00 for any member that provides information leading to the identification of the responsible individuals.

The CCSO asks that anyone with information that may assist the investigation contact Detective DeFelice at 410-535-2800 or defelinb@co.cal.md.us.


Sheriff Mike Evans stated:  “Due to the nature of these events in our community we will investigate this as if it were a crime. We do not typically see these types of things in our County and as a community we will stop it.” Although no one has come forward to file a complaint it is fair to say that this act is offensive in nature to our entire community.