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ByMichaelMelia The Associated Press HARTFORD, CONN. When Peter Picone sold counter- feit electronic parts from China and Hong Kong for use in U.S. Navy subma- rines, the U.S. Justice De- partment says, he knew their failure could have "cat- astrophic" consequences. He was sentenced last week to more than three years in prison in one of the first convictions under a new law that aims to help curb the growing problem of counterfeit parts enter- ing the supply stream for U.S. military contractors. It's a problem that occu- pies federal investigators particularly in states like Connecticut with many de- fense contractors. In addi- tion to the case involving integrated circuits for the submarine built at Groton- based Electric Boat, a man is awaiting sentencing for supplying unapproved com- puter chips for military he- licopters built by Stratford- based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. "With the amount of de- fense contractors in Con- necticut, and the volume of integrated circuits and things like that that go into these different DOD components and systems, it's certainly an important thing for us," said David Mello, agent in charge of the Homeland Security In- vestigations office in New Haven. "We do have a lot of leads and we look into them regularly." The issue gained urgency with a 2011 investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee that found 1,800 cases of suspected counter- feit parts in the defense sup- ply chain over a two-year period, tracing many back to China. A number of measures aimed at cleaning up the defense supply chain were adopted that year in a law that also created stiffer pen- alties for people caught in cases involving counter- feit military parts. Among other efforts since then, U.S. Justice Department officials say, there has been an increased focus on seek- ing out people responsible for shipping the imitation parts. The only other person convicted so far under the new law is Hao Yang, of Bloomsburg, Pennsyl- vania, who was sentenced last year in federal court in Maryland to one year and nine months in prison for importing counterfeit goods, including electron- ics from China, and selling them as legitimate mer- chandise. Picone, 42, of Methuen, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in June 2014 to con- spiracy to traffic in coun- terfeit military goods. Ac- cording to prosecutors, he bought millions of dollars' worth of counterfeit inte- grated circuits from suppli- ers in China and Hong Kong and resold them to custom- ers abroad and in the U.S., including defense contrac- tors he knew to be involved in construction of nuclear- powered submarines. He was sentenced last week in federal court in Hartford to three years and one month in prison. "Picone risked under- mining our national secu- rity so that he could turn a profit," Assistant Attor- ney General Leslie Caldwell said. "He sold counterfeit integrated circuits know- ing that the parts were in- tended for use in nuclear submarines by the U.S. Navy, and that malfunc- tion or failure of the parts could have catastrophic consequences." In the case involving parts for Sikorsky heli- copters, defendant Jeffrey Krantz, of New York City, was not convicted under the new statute. He pleaded guilty in July to supply- ing customers with falsely marked microprocessor chips. The parts were ex- amined and found not to be the cause of any mechanical problems. Government officials say other cases are under inves- tigation. DEFENSE COUNTERFEIT PARTS Prosecutions highlight bid to clean up supply chain By Meg Kinnard and Jeffrey Collins The Associated Press CHAPIN, S.C. As the worst of the floodwaters that roared through South Caro- lina washed out to sea, Gov. Nikki Haley and other offi- cials said Monday it is time to start recovering instead of reacting to the ongoing emergency. Workers reopened the en- tire stretch of Interstate 95 southbound Monday, mak- ing it the first time in eight days that traffic on the ma- jor highway link from Flor- ida to the Northeast didn't take a two-hour detour. Crews hope the northbound lanes would soon follow. Again on Monday, Haley refused to speculate how much damage in dollars the massive floods that started Oct. 2 have caused and how the state might pay to fix it. But she promised to re- build. "This is not going to take us years to get out of this," the governor said. Haley also thanked vol- unteers, law enforcement and other workers for their times. Those helping in- cluded people like Bob Kue- nzli, who usually works as a police officer at a school in Chapin, but while school was cancelled last week, put on a South Carolina State Guard uniform and was as- signed to help at a Colum- bia food bank. Kuenzli, 68, was direct- ing traffic Friday when a food bank volunteer, 72-year-old Charles Kauff- man, became irritated that Kuenzli was letting truck traffic move and stopping other cars. "Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him coming my way," Kuenzli told reporters Monday. "He sped up and threw me. ... I got thrown to the ground." An angry Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott made sure Kauffman was charged with attempted murder. Kauffman's lawyer said at his bond appearance Sunday that he has apolo- gized to Kuenzli and is tak- ing medication after suf- fering two recent strokes. Kauffman's bond was set at $75,000 and he was put under house arrest after be- ing released from jail. There was no answer Monday at a phone number listed for him, and his attorney did not immediately return a message. Kuenzli broke a bone in his wrist. But the Air Force veteran from the Vietnam War was ready to go back and volunteer as soon as he could. "I was just doing my job," he said, his left arm in a sling. "That's all I was do- ing." Thousands of other peo- ple in South Carolina have also been working long hours, including crews con- tinuing to fix a breach in the canal that supplies Colum- bia drinking water. Reserve tanks had been refilled and the city hopes to get all 375,000 of its customers off a boil water advisory soon. The South Carolina State Fair in Columbia was on schedule to start Wednes- day in Columbia, and Lott said his deputies could han- dle traffic and security for the University of South Car- olina's football game sched- uled for Saturday. Contractors were also busy putting rock and con- crete to shore up the foun- dations under more than a dozen small bridges over rivers and swampland on a 13-mile stretch of Interstate 95 that had been closed since Oct. 3. RAINSTORM Rivers crest, I-95 opens as SC turns to recovery JASONLEE—THESUNNEWS Arthur Holmes and Carnell Linen row a boat to get items from a flooded home in the Dunbar community of Georgetown, S.C., on Friday. By Suzan Fraser and Desmond Butler The Associated Press ANKARA, TURKEY The sui- cide bombings that ripped through a rally promoting peace in Turkey's capital have magnified the political uncertainty ahead of a key election Nov. 1 and raised fears that the country may be heading toward an ex- tended period of instability. The blasts — Turkey's bloodiest in years — have further polarized the coun- try as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries again for a ruling majority in par- liament. And with political winds blowing against the ruling party, the election could create new power struggles just as the coun- try grapples with more than 2 million refugees and tries to avoid being drawn into the chaos in neighboring Syria and Iraq. This is a dramatic and dangerous time for the mostly Muslim nation and NATO ally, so often cited as an example of stability in a tumultuous region. "We are now facing un- charted waters in terms of deadly violence in Turkey," wrote Omer Taspinar of the Brookings Institution in To- day's Zaman, an opposition newspaper. "We are also in uncharted waters in terms of political polarization in the country." Turkey has suffered a spi- ral of violence since July, when a similar suicide bombing killed 33 Turkish and Kurdish activists in a town near the Syrian bor- der, ending a cease-fire. Kurdish rebels blamed Tur- key's government, and hun- dreds have been killed since then in the renewed conflict with security forces. No one has claimed re- sponsibility for Saturday's explosions at the Ankara peace rally, which killed at least 97 people and wounded hundreds. Deputy Prime Minis- ter Numan Kurtulmus said Monday that the two bombers exploded about 11 pounds of dynamite each, and that authorities have detained "a large number" of suspects. Investigators are close to identifying those responsi- ble, and believe they likely infiltrated Turkey from a neighboring country, he said. Kurtulmus called for unity and solidarity in re- sponse to these attacks, which he said were aimed to sow discord and create "deep fissures" within Tur- key. Indeed, the attack in the heart of the capital — far from the conflicts bleed- ing over Turkey's southern borders — is rattling nerves around the nation and be- yond. Amid the turmoil, the Turkish lira is losing value and interest rates are spik- ing, making it more diffi- cult for Turkey to finance its looming short-term debt. Persistent instability also could harm tourism, an important source of rev- enue and foreign currency. "These attacks won't turn Turkey into a Syria," Prime Minister Ahmet Da- vutoglu said. BOMBINGS In wake of terrorist attacks, Turkey faces period of instability ahead of election CAGDAS ERDOGAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Le ist protesters stand by a barricade they set on fire, during minor clashes with Turkish security forces following a protest against Saturday's Ankara bombing attacks, in Istanbul's Gazi district on Monday. MEL EVANS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Angus Deaton gestures at a gathering at Princeton University a er it was announced that he won the Nobel prize in economics, on Monday in Princeton, N.J. By Paul Wiseman and Malin Rising The Associated Press Angus Deaton has dug into obscure data to ex- plore a range of prob- lems: The scope of pov- erty in India. How poor countries treat young girls. The link between income inequality and economic growth. The Princeton Univer- sity economist's research has raised doubts about sweeping solutions to pov- erty and about the effec- tiveness of aid programs. And on Monday, it earned him the Nobel prize in eco- nomics. For work that the award committee said has had "immense importance for human welfare, not least in poor countries," Deaton, 69, will receive a prize of 8 million Swedish kronor (about $975,000) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Deaton's research has "shown other research- ers and international or- ganizations like the World Bank how to go about un- derstanding poverty at the very basic level," said Tor- sten Persson, secretary of the award committee. He becomes the sixth scholar affiliated with Princeton to win the No- bel in economics since it was first given in 1969. "That lightning would strike me seemed like a very small probability event," Deaton said at a news conference at Princ- eton. "There are many peo- ple who are worthy of this award." 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