20 Names Linked to F-14 Parts Smuggling

Twenty people have been investigated as co-conspirators in an alleged smuggling ring that sold stolen U.S. aircraft parts to Iran, according to affidavits filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Seven people have been charged in the case, but 20 individuals were identified as “suspected co-conspirators” in the scheme allegedly headed by Franklin P. Agustin, who for at least four years allegedly sold stolen F-14 Tomcat fighter parts to an Iranian national living in London.

The suspects, many of them sailors and Navy employees from around the country suspected of having access to F-14 parts, were named in affidavits filed in support of continued telephone wiretapping of Agustin’s home and business. The affidavits, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego on July 2, had been sealed until Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip Halpern, who has argued in opposition to allowing the smuggling suspects to be released on bail, has said that the investigation is continuing and has not ruled out the possibility of additional arrests. However, U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez said on July 25 that no more arrests are expected in the case.

Six people are being held without bail in the United States. The San Diego-based ring was allegedly headed by Agustin, 47, and included Agustin’s wife, Julie, 46; Pedro M. Quito, 60, a retired sailor who was a Navy civilian employee; Franklin’s brother, Edgardo, 45; Primitivo B. Cayabyab, a crewman on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, and Antonio G. Rodriguez, a crewman on the amphibious assault ship Belleau Wood. Saeid Asefi Inanlou, the Iranian charged in the case, was arrested by British authorities on July 12 and later released on $150,000 bail.

According to court documents, U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson authorized a wiretap on April 1 (and subsequent extensions on May 2, June 1 and July 2) so federal investigators could listen to conversations on Franklin Agustin’s home and business phones. The affidavits indicate that between May 25 and June 26 agents intercepted 915 calls to Agustin’s National City insurance office. Of these, 16 were “pertinent to the investigation.”

During the same period 421 calls were made to the Agustin’s Tierrasanta home, and on 29 occasions Franklin or Julie Agustin discussed the selling or procuring of stolen aircraft parts, the affidavits say.

The records also allege that over a 2 1/2-year period Franklin Agustin had 130 telephone conversations with Inanlou in London, and that 80% of those calls were made “immediately or subsequent to a known (parts) shipment.”

During this period Franklin and Julie Agustin were receiving calls from numerous Filipinos in the United States who had access to F-14 parts, the affidavits say. Some were sailors, civilian employees of the Navy or people who lived close to bases where F-14 parts were stored.

According to court records, many of the monitored conversations lasted less than a minute and the subject of aircraft parts was not discussed. But others, including calls made to the San Diego home of a man listed as a co-conspirator, may have involved conversations about parts. The San Diego man is identified as a Navy employee assigned to a repair shop, and his job “most likely” gives him access to F-14 parts.

Frank and Julie Agustin made at least 27 calls to the man’s home since early March, according to the affidavits.

After listing other suspects and calls made to them by the Agustins, the affidavits say: “The above information shows that Julie and Frank Agustin have maintained frequent contact with U.S. Naval personnel. Since March 1, 1985, there have been over 30 calls to such personnel who may have direct access to Navy aircraft parts. By virtue of their specific positions; in all instances these personnel have daily access to the Navy facilities or to those personnel who have direct access to navy aircraft parts.”

According to the affidavits, the Agustins placed at least 15 calls to a Lovelock, Nev., residence where six Filipinos lived at one time or another. Although the people who lived in the Lovelock house were not named as conspirators, the affidavit notes that the house is about 50 miles from Fallon Naval Air Station, where F-14 training is conducted.

“Due to their proximity, it is believed that the individuals having access to the telephone at the (Lovelock) residence would come in contact with other Filipinos who work at the air station,” said the affidavit.

Meanwhile, a government expert witness testified at a bail review hearing Monday that federal investigators have failed to find evidence linking Edgardo Agustin to bank accounts or land holdings in the Philippines. Halpern presented Internal Revenue Service agent Stephen R. Gelman as an expert witness who would supposedly testify to Edgardo Agustin’s ties to the Philippines.

Edgardo Agustin is a naturalized U.S. citizen, but Halpern argued that if released on bail he would flee to the Philippines to avoid prosecution. But when defense attorney Lonn Berney asked Gelman if he had seen any records to show that his client had a Filipino bank account, Gelman answered, “I don’t believe I have.”

Gelman went on to say that “I don’t believe I’ve seen anything from the Philippines for Edgardo Agustin.”

Then Halpern introduced copies of five checking deposit receipts and a blank check as evidence. The deposits, credited to Agustin’s New York company, Merritt Communications, totaled $350,000 and were made between September and November, 1981. This unleashed a rapid line of questioning by Berney, who barely gave Gelman time to answer each question.

Berney: “Mr. Gelman, it’s not unusual for a corporation to make money, is it?”

Gelman: “No.”

Berney: “So, the fact that the corporation made money in 1981, that wouldn’t indicate anything to you out of the ordinary, would it?”

Gelman: “No.”

Then when Gelman was asked if he knew how Halpern was able to obtain Edgardo Agustin’s bank records, he answered, “I believe you (Berney) made them available.”

The hearing also featured an unusual display of candor by U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen. George Hunt, Cayabyab’s attorney, argued for his client’s release on bail or on his own recognizance and referred to a weekend story in the San Diego Union quoting a Navy official who said that no classified parts for the F-14 or its Phoenix air-to-air missile system reached Iran.

“I saw the article, and from my own knowledge it is completely false,” said Nielsen. Then he described the official quoted in the story as “some joker in Washington who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

The bail review hearing for Franklin and Edgardo Agustin, Cayabyab and Quito will continue today. Hearings for Julie Agustin and Rodriguez have been scheduled for next week.