Flawed Concrete Used in Maryland I-70, I-95 Projects

A Hagerstown man has acknowledged he approved substandard concrete products used in construction projects on Interstate 70 and the Capital Beltway.

U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein says 32-year-old Santos Rivas pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to three counts of making false statements. He faces up to 15 years in prison and $750,000 in fines at his sentencing Dec. 19.

Rivas was the quality-control director at Frederick Precast Concrete Inc. of Greencastle, Pa., when he signed off on the products. They were used at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which carries the Capital Beltway over the Potomac River, and an Interstate 70 interchange in Frederick County.

The investigation began in 2007 when a worker noticed that a structure from Frederick Precast had cracked open at the I-70 job site.