Official Admits Fraud on Weapons Test Data
A former top official for a Southland aerospace contractor pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court Monday to charges that he conspired with others to supply the military with inferior or untested guidance parts for key weapons systems.
Without the tested parts, the High-Speed Anti-Radar Missile (HARM) and the Navy Underwater Systems, including the MK-49 torpedo and the MK-27 Mobile Underwater Target Device, could not hit their targets, federal authorities said.
Werner Brinkschulte, 50, former general manager for a subsidiary of the Carson-area Genisco Technology Corp., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of submitting false statements that the HARM missile parts and the Navy components had been properly tested.
The prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attys. David A. Katz and Brian J. Hennigan, said Brinkschulte has agreed to testify against two subordinates at Genisco’s Transducer Products Division--Daniel K. Evans, 34, of Simi Valley and Robert L. Kersnick, 51, of Sepulveda--who are also charged in the case.
Evans, who was a supervisor at Transducer, and Kersnick, a quality assurance manager there, face trial Oct. 11 on related charges. Transducer, located in Simi Valley, also is a defendant in the case.
Officials said transducers perform several functions on military systems. In addition to providing altitude guidance information on the HARM missile, they measure oil pressure data on the Coast Guard Dolphin search-and-rescue helicopter and report the depth of Navy torpedoes during testing.
Investigators charged that Brinkschulte, in 1986 and 1987, specifically ordered that the transducers not be subjected to high- and low-temperature tests as required under government contracts, and instead directed that test data be fabricated to show that such tests had been conducted.
Brinkschulte faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines when he is sentenced Nov. 21 by Senior U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk.
