San Diego

Bail was set Monday at $500,000 each for two men charged with being part of a San Diego-based smuggling ring that allegedly stole parts for F-14 jet fighters from the U.S. Navy for illegal shipment to Iran.

U.S. Magistrate Roger McKee set the bail in San Diego for Antonio Rodriguez, 38, and Primitivo Cayabyab, 36, and ordered the men to check in with court officers Monday through Friday after they are released. Prosecutors said the men will not be released immediately because there will be another court hearing to question their friends and relatives who are pledging property to secure the bail.

Bail had already been set for a third suspect in the case. Pedro Quito, 60, a civilian warehouse employee at the North Island Naval Air Station, was released last week on $500,000 bail.

Bail was set for Cayabyab, former storekeeper on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, and Rodriguez, former storekeeper on the amphibious assault ship Belleau Wood, as the result of the 9th District Court of Appeals decision Sept. 19 upholding a ruling by U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen that the men could no longer be held without setting bail.

When they are released, both men will be stationed at the 32nd Street Naval Station, Cayabyab in Navy custody and Rodriguez working in a department called transient personnel services, attorneys said.

Prosecutors argued for a $750,000 bail for Rodriguez. They told McKee that new evidence showed that Cayabyab had received at least $25,000 and Rodriguez $30,000 for their part in the alleged smuggling scheme.

Cayabyab, Rodriguez and Quito were among the seven people indicted on 61 counts involving alleged smuggling of stolen aircraft parts to Iran. Others arrested include National City insurance man Franklin Agustin, 47; his wife, travel agent Julie Agustin, 46; Frank’s brother Edgardo, 45, of New York, and Saeid Asefi Inanlou, an Iranian national living in London.

Nielsen ruled that bail should be set for all defendants except Franklin Agustin, who federal authorities say was the ringleader in the case. Nielsen’s ruling has no bearing on Inanlou, who was arrested by English authorities and already has posted bond in London.