Fine for Rockwell to Aid Charities

A federal judge accepted a $1.2-million plea bargain Friday in Rockwell International’s fraud case, but with an attempt to give what he called a “slap on the wrist” some social punch.

U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer said he reluctantly accepted an agreement under which the nation’s second-largest defense contractor promised to repay money that employees reaped in a fake overtime scam.

But a $200,000 fine will go toward 19 Dallas-area charities instead of government coffers.

“This is the most effective sentence I can impose under the circumstances,” Buchmeyer said after a lengthy diatribe against corporate crime. “A corporate fine going into the U.S. Treasury does little good.”

A two-year federal probe uncovered $480,000 in mischarges by the Pittsburgh company, which included falsified time cards, padded travel expenses and discount prices not passed on to the government, Assistant U.S. Atty. Ron Eddins said.

Buchmeyer had two choices in Friday’s sentencing hearing: Either accept or reject the plea bargain under which Rockwell agreed to pay $1 million for double the amount of mischarges and the government’s investigation costs, plus up to $200,000 in fines.

“Neither alternative is acceptable,” Buchmeyer said. “If I accept it, it’s a slap on the wrist. If I reject it, the government would have to start all over again.”

He then said he would “reluctantly” accept the plea bargain, imposing the full $200,000 fine, if Rockwell agreed to spreading the fine money among the charities, including a retarded children’s day-care center, an academy that aids black artists and several groups that feed the poor.