Engineer charged with obstructing MS plane crash inquiry

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An engineer has been arrested and accused of making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation into a 2017 military plane crash that killed 16 service members in Mississippi.

James Michael Fisher, formerly of Georgia and now of Portugal, was arrested on a federal grand jury indictment out of North Mississippi on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

On July 10, 2017, a United States Marine Corps KC-130 transport aircraft known as “Yanky 72” crashed near Itta Bena, Mississippi, resulting in the death of 15 Marines and one Navy Corpsman.

Fisher, 67, was the former lead propulsion engineer ar Warner Robbins Logistics Center in Georgia.

Officials say he “knowingly concealed key engineering documents from criminal investigators and made materially false statements to criminal investigators about his past engineering decisions” in an attempt to avoid scrutiny over why the crash may have occurred.

He is charged with two false statements and two obstruction of justice charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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