2nd Man Guilty in Scheme to Send Jet Parts to Iran

A Massachusetts man charged by a federal grand jury with stealing sophisticated U.S. aircraft parts for shipment to the Iranian air force pleaded guilty Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Daniel G. Wheeler, 33, of Leominster, Mass., pleaded guilty to single counts of conspiracy to defraud, theft of government property and illegal exportation of defense equipment, a statement released by the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego said.

Wheeler, who was indicted in San Diego along with seven co-defendants, is the second person charged in the case to plead guilty before going to trial. Prosecutors said he faces a maximum term of 17 years in prison and a $600,000 fine.

A production controller at the Naval Air Rework Facility in Norfolk, Va., Wheeler stole more than $500,000 worth of combat aircraft parts and sold much of the equipment to Franklin P. Agustin, the alleged head of the parts smuggling ring, prosecutors said.

Agustin, who owns a National City insurance business, allegedly forwarded the parts to Saeid Asefi Inanlou, an Iranian living in London. Inanlou sent the parts to Iran, prosecutors said.

Pedro M. Quito, a civilian warehouse worker at North Island Naval Air Station, was also named in the indictment and pleaded guilty last month. Quito also faces a 17-year term. Quito and Wheeler have agreed to cooperate with investigators in the case and are awaiting sentencing.

The others named in the indictment include Inanlou; Edgardo P. Agustin, Franklin’s brother; Julie R. Agustin, Franklin’s wife; Antonio G. Rodriguez, and Primitivo B. Cayabyab. Rodriguez and Cayabyab are sailors on active duty. The Justice Department has petitioned British authorities for Inanlou’s extradition.