Former Jet Air Owner Indicted in Fraud Case

George T. Straza, the flamboyant East County businessman whose contracts with NASA and the Air Force previously resulted in criminal indictments, was charged Tuesday with defrauding the Navy and a jet-engine manufacturer by double-dealing in engine parts.

A 46-count federal grand jury indictment charged Straza and two of his employees at now-defunct Jet Air Inc. of El Cajon with conspiracy and making false statements in connection with a subcontract from Pratt & Whitney to build engine parts for Navy A-4 Skyhawk and A-6E Intruder attack aircraft.

Conspiracy Alleged

The indictment alleges that Jet Air charged Pratt & Whitney for 90 burner cans it manufactured under the subcontract when in fact it sold the engine parts to a Manhattan Beach firm for more than $239,000, Assistant U.S. Atty. George Hardy said. Jet Air misused Pratt & Whitney blueprints in the conspiracy, the grand jury charged.

Besides Straza, who owned Jet Air and served as its president during the alleged conspiracy in 1984 and 1985, the indictment charges Joao Jaime Costa, a former vice president of the firm, and Alice Skinner, Straza’s former personal secretary.

The indictment is the latest produced by three years of on-again, off-again investigation of Straza’s activities by the federal government.

Straza and Costa were charged Aug. 14 with conspiracy, theft and making false statements in a 31-count indictment tied to the performance of a $250,000 Jet Air contract to refurbish engine air seals on Air Force F-15 and F-16 jets. They are scheduled to be tried on the charges June 2.

In May, 1984, Straza pleaded guilty to making false statements to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in connection with a $2.4-million contract to manufacture parts for the space shuttle. He served six months in prison and agreed to pay $690,000 to NASA under a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in that case.

NASA forced Straza out as an officer of Jet Air, allowing him to serve only as a consultant to the company if it wished to continue competing for contracts. Last fall, though, prosecutors alleged in court that Straza was again trying to run the company.

Jet Air went out of business earlier this year when its assets were sold to a St. Louis firm.

The latest charges emerged from an investigation by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Hardy said the new indictment concludes the federal investigation of Jet Air contracts.