DATE: Thursday, July 10, 1997               TAG: 9707100498

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   80 lines

OOPS! WAS THAT A MISSILE I DROPPED? A CRATE OF FAKE WEAPONS STIRS UP REAL CONFUSION AT A VIRGINIA BEACH TRUCK STOP.

Having one's freight shipped from one side of the country to another is a little like awaiting a restaurant meal: Sometimes you're better off not knowing all that happens during the delivery of the goods.

But when you get a midnight call at the Navy base tipping you off that some guy over at Big Charlie's Truck Plaza has just dropped and backed over a crate labeled ``Extended Use Tomahawk Test Missiles,'' you'd better believe you haul over there quick.

So began one of the stranger episodes in military transport in recent years.

It happened Feb. 28 at the truck stop on Northampton Boulevard in Virginia Beach. The case didn't officially close until this week, when the Naval Legal Service Office received two checks totaling $37,256 from the trucker's employer to reimburse it for damage to the cargo.

It was, in retrospect, not much to worry about. The two missiles, though shaped and sized like Tomahawks, turned out to be inert training devices. No explosives were involved, said Lt. Jade Jones, a claims attorney for the Naval Legal Service Office.

With the real things, ``there's a lot more safeguards on transportation, stowing, a lot more accountability,'' said Wayne C. Bailey, special agent in charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's Norfolk office.

But just before midnight on that last day of February, the handful of other truckers who clustered around the banged-up crate had no way of knowing that.

``It caused some stir. . . rightly so,'' said Bailey, who characterized the incident as ``bizarre.''

Jones said a Pittsburgh-area trucking company, American Road Line Inc., had a Defense Department contract to transport the missiles from Newport, R.I., to San Joaquin, Calif. The driver, Joseph Scilabro, was to transfer the cargo onto a different trailer in Virginia Beach after picking up another load of westbound military cargo.

Navy investigators found that instead of using a prescribed forklift to unload the missiles, Scilabro decided to try doing so with hooks and chains. He reportedly chained the crate to a post at the truck stop and slowly edged his truck forward, but the rigging faltered and the crate of missiles tumbled several feet to the ground.

Trying to move the missiles out of the way of other trucks, Jones said, Scilabro next backed the rear of his trailer into the crate, causing more damage. Then the driver left, apparently to fetch the other part of his load.

In short order, Jones said, another trucker was on the phone to Norfolk Naval Base security, ``saying, `You might want to get over here and take a look at what we have.' ''

Base security did, along with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the FBI and a Navy ordnance detachment's mobile unit. The ordnance experts quickly determined that the cargo was harmless and hauled it to the base.

Terry Lynn, president and co-owner of American Road Line's government division, confirmed most of the details, pointing out that his company uses the truck stop for temporary storage because it bases an agent there.

In his unloading attempt, Lynn contended that Scilabro had chained the crate to the back of another trailer instead of to a post. He said the driver used a short-cut method because ``he was trying to keep another man from having to get up in the middle of the night and operate a forklift.'' He also said he didn't think the damage to the specially designed crate and its contents was as serious as Navy officials contended.

Nevertheless, Lynn said he agreed to the settlement and stopped using the services of Scilabro, who worked for American Road Line through another, smaller trucking company that leases rigs to his outfit. No charges were filed against the driver, who couldn't be reached for comment. None of the people interviewed for this story knew Scilabro's address.

Out of thousands of shipments his company has handled for the federal government in 12 years, this is only its second damage claim, Lynn said.

``I got in my car and drove down there the next day,'' Lynn said. ``Stayed there for a week, to show you how seriously I took this.

``I wanted people to know I care.''

In the aftermath, he said, ``we've just pounded on the. . . drivers that these things can't happen, they just absolutely can't happen.''

Meanwhile, the last he'd heard, Lynn said, Scilabro ``went to work for one of our competitors. He's still hauling government freight.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Illustration] KEYWORDS: MILITARY NAVY TEST MISSILES ACCIDENT TRAFFIC

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