Ex-Boeing worked sentenced in Chinook vandalism

Former Boeing Co. employee Matthew Montgomery was sentenced to five months in prison for vandalizing a Chinook military helicopter on the assembly line of a plant near Philadelphia.

Montgomery, of Trevose, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in September to willfully injuring property under contract to the federal government. Montgomery must serve five months in prison and five months of home confinement, Acting Philadelphia U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid said today in an e-mailed statement.

Montgomery admitted he intentionally cut through half of a bundle of about 150 electrical wires to disable the aircraft in May after Boeing reassigned him to another line. Boeing temporarily suspended operations at the plant after alerting the Defense Contract Management Agency.

The CH-47 transport helicopters are built for the U.S. Army and cost between $20 million and $30 million. In addition to the prison term, Montgomery was ordered to pay $110,500 in restitution.