First On 11: Government Investigates Death Of Local Soldier Electrocuted In Iraq

Target 11 has uncovered a lawsuit and a federal investigation into why a local soldier was electrocuted while serving in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted while taking a shower. The incident was ruled an accident.

However, Target 11 learned Wednesday that Defense Secretary Robert Gates got a letter demanding answers about Maseth's death.

Target 11 investigator Karen Welles spoke with Maseth's mother.

His mother, Cheryl Harris, said she wants to know who's at fault and wants to prevent any more electrocutions to protect the rest of the troops.

Harris has a personal stake in the matter; her youngest son served in Iraq and is back in the U.S. and Ryan's twin brother, Brandon is still serving in Iraq.

Harris told Welles, "They're protecting us and how are we protecting them? How are we protecting our troops?"

Harris is talking about our troops in Iraq which until Jan. 2 included her 24-year old son, Ryan.

Maseth died of an apparent accidental electrocution as he took a shower while serving in Baghdad.

Harris said, "Ryan was highly trained. He wasn't just a Ranger. He was a Green Beret. He was a weapons master. He was trained to survive and hearing that he was electrocuted, it was just so senseless for me."

Maseth's death wasn't the only electrocution in Iraq.

According to the Army and Marine Corps, at least 11 other service members have been electrocuted since 2003.

In a letter to Gates, the chairman of the oversight committee said "Maseth's death was due to improper grounding of the electric water pump which supplied water to the building's pipes."

What's more, he said the defense contractor, HBR Inc. of Houston, was contracted to do maintenance on the building in 2007 and that, "KBR may have submitted reports documenting safety hazards relating to the improper grounding of electrical devices."

Maseth died in 2008.

U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire wants a congressional investigation.

Altmire said, "The contractor themselves, the people responsible for making sure that this didn't happen, identified it as a problem months before this incident took place, so we're gonna get to the bottom of it."

Maseth's family is suing KBR.

Pat Cavanaugh, the family's attorney, said, "In Ryan Maseth's building, they in fact knew about it, reported it, were funded in excess of $3 million dollars to fix it and for whatever reason did not fix it."

A representative of KBR told Target 11, "At the time of Staff Sergeant Maseth's tragic death, KBR was providing repair services at the facility in response to requests issued by the army."

There have been other lawsuits filed against KBR while it was a subsidiary of Halliburton. The two companies parted ways last year.

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