Andrew Nolan, a former employee of  a Stowe-based concrete company, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he falsified quality control tests for concrete used in a major Washington D.C. railway project. As part of the deal reached with federal government and the state of Virginia, Nolan will pay more than $700,000. According to federal court documents, Nolan, a former quality control manager at  Universal Concrete Products, settled the claims brought against him by the federal and state agencies this spring.

The case was sparked by a whistleblower lawsuit one of Nolan’s former subordinates initially filed in federal court under seal in March 2016, but became public when the government agencies joined in and filed their own claims alleging the parties also defrauded the federal government and taxpayers that funded the construction of the Dulles Metrorail projection.

The suit named Nolan, Universal and its president Donald Faust Jr. — who is also Nolan’s uncle — in the suit. It alleged that Nolan directed the subordinate who filed the whistleblower lawsuit, Nathan Davidheiser, and other colleagues to falsify data about the air content of concrete panels used in the project, for which it was a subcontractor, writes Michelle Caffrey in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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Nolan’s settlement comes three months after the 28-year-old Florida resident pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the Dulles Silver Line project. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 7, when prosecutors will request he spend 24 months in federal prison. The $700,500 fine represents the cost of remediating the concrete.

In a court document outlining prosecutors’ position on Nolan’s sentencing, it stated his position at Universal was his first job out of college, he received limited training and a prior manager taught Nolan to record false results, although he knew it was inappropriate. He inaccurately thought the panels would be safe if they passed strength tests, prosecutors said, and added Nolan admitted responsibility when confronted by law enforcement.

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