MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont bridge contractor has paid $270,000 to settle allegations that employees shortened anchor bolts designed to keep a bridge over the New Haven River in Bristol intact during extreme events like a flood.
The U.S. attorney’s office says the payment resolved allegations that general contractor J.A. McDonald of Lyndon Center and the company’s president, Eric Boyden, violated the federal and state false claims acts.
The Vermont Transportation Agency received a tip that bolts that were supposed to be embedded 18 inches (46 centimeters) into the concrete during construction in 2014 were too shallow. The bolts have since been replaced and the two McDonald employees involved have been fired.
The payment was not an admission of liability. The company’s attorney did not return a message seeking comment.
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