‘Cluster Bomb’ Scheme Leader Pleads Guilty

The president of a small Diamond Bar consulting company pleaded guilty Friday to masterminding a scheme to market stolen plans for the nation’s most sophisticated “cluster bomb” weapons system to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Richard H. Schroeder, 55, became the last of three defendants to plead guilty in a case that government prosecutors said represented a “global danger” because of the nature of the powerful weapon.

Schroeder and two co-defendants were accused of stealing plans for the weapon from Schroeder’s former employer, Aerojet Ordnance Co. of Downey, which has a contract to manufacture the weapon for the Air Force.

Technology Not Classified

In a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Pamela Ann Rymer, Schroeder admitted to exporting an inert component of the weapons system, a mock-up of a “bomblet” and various photographs and diagrams to a Saudi Arabian businessman in March of last year.

Though technology for the bomb is not classified, federal law requires licenses from the State Department before it can be exported, which Schroeder failed to obtain, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael W. Emmick. “This is a very serious weapon, one we haven’t permitted to be exported,” Emmick said.

Anthony George Cenci, 61, of Costa Mesa and Richard P. Nortman, 59, of Venice have already entered guilty pleas in the case.

The three are scheduled to be sentenced July 27. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison and $2 million in fines.