5 Plead Guilty in Pentagon Bribery Case

A former Navy engineer today pleaded guilty to taking $475,000 in bribes from two defense contractors in return for providing confidential bid information about a computer maintenance contract.

Garland L. Tomlin Jr., 59, was among five people who entered guilty pleas today in U.S. District Court in connection with the Justice Department’s continuing investigation of Pentagon procurement fraud.

Tomlin admitted receiving $400,000 from Sperry Inc. and $75,000 from Honeywell Corp. between 1982 and 1984 while he was a branch head at the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command outside Washington. The two companies were competing for work on a computerized electronic maintenance system for the Navy.

Had Swiss Bank Account

Tomlin, who retired from the Navy and is now living in Florida, admitted that he received the payments that were funneled to an offshore company he had set up in the Bahamas and later deposited in a Swiss bank account.

Another former Navy official, Jerry L. Manning, 52, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. Manning admitted that in 1987 and 1988 he provided defense consultant Thomas Muldoon with confidential bid information on a $20-million electronics contract.

In return Muldoon had offered to pay him $1,000 a month, but prosecutors said they had no evidence that Manning ever received the money. The government has not charged Muldoon.

Political Contributions

In addition, a former marketing manager for Sperry and its successor, Unisys Corp., pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to evade campaign financing laws governing political contributions to members of Congress.

Dennis Mitchell admitted that he participated in a scheme to conceal illegal political contributions that were made by defense consultants to the campaigns of Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and two other House members. These people were then reimbursed by Sperry for consulting contracts.

Mitchell also admitted arranging donations to the campaigns of Rep. Robert A. Roe (D-N.J.) and former Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) an Armed Services Committee member who retired last year.

In addition, Joseph S. Zuba, 67, and Gerard J. Scarano, 74, consultants who worked for Sperry, pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme to pay illegal campaign contributions.

There was no indication that the congressmen named in the charges knew they were receiving illegal campaign donations.