U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle ruled Tuesday, for the second time, that former N. C. Department of Transportation Ferry Division Director Jerry Gaskill will not receive an active prison sentence for his role in the illegal dredging of the Currituck Sound in 2004.
Boyle declared that Gaskill would receive four years probation, six months home confinement without electronic surveillance, and 200 hours community service. A group of approximately 50 supporters accompanied Gaskill, of Cedar Island, to the federal court building.
A panel of judges from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in March that Boyle did not follow proper procedure when he previously sentenced Gaskill in March 2007 and ordered Boyle to conduct another sentencing hearing.
The case revolves around a May 2004 incident in which Ferry Division workers used workboats to “prop wash” a channel in an area designated an essential marine habitat. The dredging was done in an effort to establish passenger ferry service across the Currituck Sound. When news reports about the incident surfaced, Gaskill and other Ferry Division officials said the damage done to the sound was accidental, but an investigation showed that the damage was intentional.
The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, representing the government, filed charges against Gaskill and other NCDOT employees.
After a four-day trial in 2006, a jury convicted Gaskill of making false statements to the Army Corps of Engineers during a lengthy investigation of the illegal dredging activities. At the first sentencing hearing, Boyle, over the federal government’s objection, granted Gaskill a lesser sentence than federal guidelines stipulated. The recommended range was a prison sentence of between 15 and 21 months, but Boyle sentenced Gaskill only to three years probation, six months home confinement, 50 hours community service, and a $5,000 fine.
The federal government disagreed with Boyle’s deviation from the guidelines and appealed his sentencing decision to the higher court.
Three other Ferry Division workers who participated in the dredging pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and were given no active prison time. A former supervisor, Billy R. Moore of Grantsboro, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and received the same sentence as Gaskill. The federal government did not appeal Moore’s sentence, however.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan reiterated Tuesday to Boyle that the government believed he should sentence Gaskill according to the guidelines of 15 to 21 months in prison. Boyle explained to her that he has the discretion to deliver a sentence outside the guidelines and this time he tried to make it clearer why he was issuing a lesser sentence.
Boyle said he has sentenced between 5,000 and 15,000 people. “Based on this, I find that six months of house arrest would be a fair, just, and right punishment. Fifteen to 21 months would be cruel and oppressive under my discretion,” he said. Boyle also said Gaskill’s years of service to the state, his accomplishments in his community, and his concern for the environment factored in the judge’s decision. He also said Gaskill doesn’t pose a threat to the community and that “the punishment will serve adequately to deter others in government.”
After the hearing, Gaskill and his supporters were clearly happy with Boyle’s ruling. Carolina Journal was unable to obtain a reaction from the U. S. Attorney’s office, or to learn whether the federal government plans a second appeal of the sentence.
Civil action settled
In addition to his criminal activities, Gaskill is also a party to a related civil lawsuit filed by the federal government that was settled last month. In February 2008 the government initiated an action to obtain civil penalties and injunctive relief against the NCDOT, Gaskill and Moore for their violations of the Clean Water Act in conjunction with the illegal dredging. The government had requested civil penalties that totaled nearly $3 million from the three parties.
According to the settlement agreement, NCDOT will pay $48,000, and Gaskill and Moore will each pay $1,000 to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A failed project
Plans for the ferry project were initiated soon after the Currituck County Board of Commissioners asked State Sen. Marc Basnight in July 2002 to help establish a ferry service to transport schoolchildren from the Outer Banks to the mainland. But previous stories by CJ showed that a scheme to transport resort workers and tourists was a major factor behind the project. The 2002 state budget bill ordered the Department of Transportation to perform a feasibility study.
Gaskill conducted a study and submitted it to the General Assembly in May 2003. The proposed route would have been about 12 miles across the shallow Currituck Sound from the Currituck community to the Corolla community.
“The proposed ferry service is feasible, assuming the appropriate permits can be obtained,” Gaskill concluded in the study. But he failed to address two previous unsuccessful attempts by Currituck County to obtain a dredging permit for the shallow Corolla location. State and federal environmental agencies had ruled that the area was a sensitive marine habitat that needed to be protected. At the time of the illegal dredging, neither NCDOT nor Currituck County had applied for a permit.
The 49-person, 50-foot pontoon boat ordered for the service was delivered in August 2004 to the State Shipyard in Manns Harbor. The boat remains docked there unused, and there are no efforts to revive the project.
Don Carrington is executive editor of Carolina Journal.