The Region - News from May 20, 1986

A former Hughes Aircraft Co. engineer was ordered to serve four months in jail and to repay $90,000 in overcharges on Pentagon and NASA contracts that he pocketed. Joseph Montross, 56, pleaded guilty April 14 to charges of filing more than 1,000 false expense and auto mileage vouchers during a four-year period that ended when he was fired in February from his job with the engineering services department at Hughes Space & Communications Division in El Segundo. U.S. District Judge Richard Gadbois could have given Montross up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. “Sir, I’m acknowledging that you’re a crook,” Gadbois told Montross. “(You) will live with that a lot longer than . . . four months in jail.” Montross, of Port Hueneme, admitted stealing blank invoices from legitimate parts suppliers and then submitting phony bills. He also admitted fabricating bills from non-existent suppliers.