Local News in Brief : Anaheim : No Bail for Fraud Suspect in Hughes Case

A man who claimed several birthplaces and dates and allegedly fabricated a college degree to land a job with Hughes Aircraft Co. was held without bail Friday on charges that he defrauded his employer of $177,000.

Brad Charles Thomas, 36, of Anaheim was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles for allegedly pocketing payments by Hughes for equipment it never received.

Thomas worked as a manager for Hughes in Fullerton until last year, when he resigned, prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Thomas initiated purchase orders for a Hughes unit in Alabama through a dummy firm he created. In his position, he reported that the equipment had been delivered and ordered payments made to the fake firm, which operated out of a mail drop in Anaheim, the indictment said.

The alleged scheme was unmasked when tax collectors in Alabama complained to Hughes that no sales taxes had been paid on the purchases of the equipment.

Thomas was indicted July 29 and arrested Aug. 19 at an Anaheim motel where he had been hiding under a fake name, authorities said. FBI agents seized $30,000 in cash, $15,000 in blank travelers’ checks and $28,000 in blank money orders.

A routine fingerprint check this week showed that Thomas is Kevin Michael Ward, who was convicted of mail theft in 1974 in Los Angeles and auto theft in Orange County the same year. Ward also has been sought by authorities to answer charges of receiving stolen property, forgery, and violating probation for mail theft.

When he was arrested, Thomas claimed to have been born in Norfolk, Va. In his application with Hughes, he claimed a birthplace of Norwich, Conn. In fact, according to the FBI, he was born in Minnesota.