The company that makes Syn-crete - an experimental road surface that failed in a $1.5 million proj-ect on I-15 - is considering legal action against investigators who raided its office last week.
Executing a federal search warrant on Thursday, state and federal investigators, accompanied by armed police, interrogated employees, confiscated files from cabinets and computers, and carted away gallons of concrete products from the offices of Hodson Chemical Construction Corp. in North Salt Lake."They even took our communications with our attorneys and confidential information on ongoing business negotiations. They (investigators) may have a right to do that, but we thought it went way beyond the bounds of what was appropriate," said company vice president Owen C. Hogle.
Within minutes of serving the warrant, Hogle said, his office was surrounded by armed police officers.
"We couldn't go to the bathroom without an armed escort," he said, accusing investigators of using "Gestapo tactics" during the nine-hour search.
Federal officials were unavailable for comment Saturday. But at a press conference Friday, state Attorney General Paul Van Dam said the warrant, signed by federal magistrate Ronald Boyce, was issued at the request of a federal grand jury.
That's the first official confirmation that the yearlong criminal investigation into Syn-crete by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general's office has made its way to a grand jury. The state attorney general has assisted the government in the probe.
Parties that have been questioned by investigators said they believe authorities are looking for some type of misrepresentation made by Hodson officials to the Utah Department of Transportation.
In late 1989, UDOT used Syn-crete to resurface a four-mile stretch of I-15 in Salt Lake County. Within days the Syn-crete started to crack and crumble. In the end, the $1.5 million project cost the state an estimated $2.7 million in applying and removing Syn-crete.
An examination of the fiasco by the legislative auditor general's office found the Syn-crete project bypassed normal UDOT testing procedures in awarding a $1.5 million contract to Hodson. UDOT engineers recommended a $400,000 project for the experimental product, but "it appears that the financial needs of Hodson Chemical Construction Co. impacted the size of the approved project," the auditor said.
Federal authorities launched a criminal investigation because an estimated $20,000-$25,000 in federal money was spent in evaluating Syn-crete.
Those interviewed in the past year include officials from UDOT, the governor's office and Hodson Chemical. Lobbyist-engineer Steve Creamer, who represented Hodson before the Utah Transportation Commission when it approved the Syn-crete project, was also questioned.
"We are trying to cooperate with investigators and get the matter resolved," Hogle said. "We had several meetings with investigators and provided them with records and communications we thought were relevant."
He confirmed that investigators on Thursday took additional correspondence with UDOT and California transportation officials, who had looked at Syn-crete but never used it on a large scale.
Hogle said he will meet with Hodson Chemical's attorneys to determine if investigators exceeded the scope of the search warrant.