Navy: Worker Set $400M Sub Fire to Get Out of Work

That fire on the USS Miami that caused $400 million in damage in May? Turns out it may not have been caused by a vacuum after all. Navy investigators say civilian laborer Casey James Fury actually set the fire ... because he wanted to leave work early. Fury now faces two counts of arson and, if convicted, could find himself in prison for life, the AP reports. Fury, who was on anxiety and depression meds, admitted to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that he was anxious when he set two fires—one on May 23 and another that caused no damage on June 16.

Fury, who was working as a painter and sandblaster at the time, had initially denied any involvement in the fires on the nuclear-powered submarine. The second fire, he told investigators, was started after he had a conversation with an ex and found out she was seeing someone else; he got anxious and wanted to get out of work. According to the affidavit, he lied "because he was scared and because everything was blurry to him and his memory was impacted due to his anxiety and the medication he was taking." (More USS Miami stories.)