LOL!!! Oh, my. For the record, I'll go ahead and foreshadow the rest of this diary by saying that these photos are of serious desperadoes who committed serious crimes and then fled the country to avoid prison time. I await the dismissals of the resident Snowden bent-noses here who have expressed so much outrage over the past few weeks over NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's dramatic and circuitous flight as a Fugitive From American Justice. Because "insiders" - especially well-paid "insiders" in government and/or its contractors and/or license-holders - aren't supposed to turn out to be bad guys - aka "Desperadoes."
The two strapping ex-Navy criminals pictured above also hold the distinction of having been Senior Reactor Operators for Exelon's Dresden nuclear power plant in Illinois. Or, they were SROs for Dresden until May of 2012, when SRO Supervisor Michael Buhrman (on the left) put on a rubber mask and burnished a handgun at a young woman inside a parked car, He then ordered her out and drove away from a Kohl's parking lot in Woodridge, Illinois in the stolen car.
A witness followed Buhrman and gave police information on his direction, Woodridge officers finally stopped and arrested him. They found the loaded gun on him, and yes, he was still wearing the rubber mask. Buhrman later confessed to the hijacking, saying he was only "thrill seeking," presumably because his job operating the reactor at Dresden was so terminally boring to a guy whose neck is bigger than his head. He was dutifully released on bond despite Buhrman's girlfriend informing the court that he had detailed escape plans, complete with access to offshored bank accounts and a private jet. He sure enough skipped the country, just as predicted. Officials suspect he is hiding out in Venezuela, or maybe Chile.
He was tried in absentia in May of this year and found guilty after less than an hour by the jury. The sentence? 40 years. During the trial - which like the Republican National Convention later in 2012 featured an empty chair - he was described by Assistant State's Attorney Demetri Demopoulos as "...a dangerous man who cares nothing for society and the laws the rest of us live by." According to Woodridge Police Detective Jody Porras, Buhrman actively recruited his fellow SRO to join him in a crime spree that included plans for a string of bank robberies and armored car heists.
This week Buhrman's accomplice in crime, Landon Brittain (on the right), was booked into the DuPage County Jail after being extradited by Venezuela, on three felony counts: Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, Vehicular Hijacking, and Obstruction of Justice. Bond has been set at $1 million.
Per Lucas Hixson in this article,
These serious events cast a dark shadow of doubt on [the] process Exelon uses to screen persons of high responsibility which may have adverse effect on the health and safety of the public. Each reactor operator is given a battery of psychological tests and screened by a psychologist prior to enrollment in supervisory programs. There are also multiple continuing behavior programs, on-going screenings, and tests which maybe should have caught these aberrant behaviors prior to the crimes actually taking place.