Navy Worker Admits Stealing F-14 Jet Parts

A Navy civilian warehouse worker has turned government witness and confessed to stealing more than $300,000 worth of sophisticated F-14 jet fighter parts from the North Island Naval Air Station here as part of a smuggling ring that allegedly sent millions of dollars of stolen equipment to Iran, court documents revealed Tuesday.

Pedro M. Quito, 60, told prosecutors that he was paid between $10,000 and $14,000 to deliver the stolen parts to Frank Agustin, a local insurance agent and the man prosecutors say ran a San Diego-based smuggling ring by placing orders for stolen parts with sailors and U.S. Navy civilian personnel. The sailors and Navy employees allegedly violated the military supply system by manipulating computers or simply swiping items from supply depot shelves.

Quito confessed to the thefts and described his participation in the alleged ring in a 19-page sworn statement he made to federal prosecutors Tuesday in lieu of appearing before a federal grand jury.

Although federal prosecutors say the document was to remain confidential until Quito testifies in court, it was given to The Times by Quito’s attorney, Walter Lundstein. Court documents unsealed or filed Tuesday show that the warehouse worker pleaded guilty to three charges in connection with the thefts.

Quito’s cooperation with the government was hailed by prosecutors as a “significant” break in the highly publicized case, which has underscored the vulnerability of the military supply system to theft and espionage. In all, eight people have been arrested, including Agustin, 47, and his wife, Julie, 46, both of San Diego.

Besides Quito, other Navy personnel arrested include a 17-year veteran storekeeper aboard the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, a 16-year veteran storekeeper aboard the amphibious assault ship Belleau Wood, and a civilian employee at the Naval Air Rework Facility North in Norfolk, Va.

According to his sworn statement, Quito said he first began stealing from the North Island supply depot after he met Frank Agustin in June, 1982, through Julie Agustin, a travel agent who sold Quito round-trip tickets to the Philippines. At first, Frank Agustin asked Quito to help him to legally purchase surplus military equipment but, a month later, handed him a list of stock and part numbers for F-14 equipment that he wanted Quito to steal from the Navy.

Quito said in the document that initially he was unable to locate the equipment on the supply shelves and by December, 1982, was told by Julie Agustin, “Pete, you are the only one who haven’t (sic) scored yet.”

The warehouse worker was given a second shopping list by Frank Agustin in January, 1983, and Quito responded by stealing circuit cards and a jet engine vane assembly, which he simply took off the shelves, put in a paper bag and drove without question past guards, Quito told prosecutors. Agustin rewarded Quito with $250, an amount the warehouse worker said was smaller than he expected.

3rd Shopping List

Frank Agustin’s third shopping list, given to Quito in mid-1983, was 10 pages long and contained 200 items. In November, 1983, Quito stole a $77,000 F-14 part called a gimbal assembly, a theft that netted him $3,000.

Quito subsequently stole three more gimbal assemblies. By the time he was arrested in July, the confession said, he earned $10,000 to $14,000--money he said he lost at the race track, the document says.

Prosecutors allege that Frank Agustin shipped the parts to Iran.

Walter Lundstein, Quito’s attorney, said his client decided to turn government witness because “the evidence they had was overwhelming” and because the 60-year-old civilian employee “literally wants to repent.”

Lundstein speculated that Quito, a retired sailor who began working at North Island to supplement his military pension, began stealing to counter a depression he felt after leaving the Navy.

“You’re deprived of an entire emotional support system that makes you the person you are,” Lundstein said. “Anything that relieves depression is something that stimulates emotion. . . .”

For his cooperation, prosecutors dropped a 61-count indictment against Quito and allowed him to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the government, one count of theft of government property and one count of exporting defense articles. Sentencing is set for March 10. Quito faces up to 17 years in prison and a maximum $600,000 fine.