Local News in Brief : Trade Secret Guilty Plea

A Redondo Beach engineer has pleaded guilty to grand theft, theft of a trade secret and attempted extortion in a case involving three of his former employers.

According to court records, Jack Edward Paris, 37, has agreed to a three-year prison term at his sentencing scheduled Dec. 15 in Torrance Superior Court.

Paris was charged with stealing more than 100 computer disks from ESC Inc. of Hawthorne, and an engineering manual from Electro Adaptors Inc. of Chatsworth. He was also accused of attempting to extort money from Matrix Science Corp. of Torrance after he threatened to sell to a competitor a prototype aircraft part that the company had recently patented.