Mission Viejo Man Guilty in Parts Conspiracy
A Mission Viejo man has pleaded guilty in Seattle federal court to conspiracy charges involving kickbacks to former Boeing employees in exchange for inside bidding information.
Richard Ohlman, 70, told U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein that he received $14,500 from New York-based Rice Aircraft and passed two-thirds of the money to Boeing employees in 1982 for information that allowed Rice to outbid competitors for a shipment of surplus aircraft fasteners.
By pleading guilty, Ohlman, a parts broker, avoided a formal indictment and waived his right to a trial, authorities said.
The maximum penalty on the charges of commercial bribery, wire and mail fraud would have been five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. But with his guilty plea to conspiracy, Ohlman faces a sentence of not more than nine months in jail.
Phony Certification
The prosecution recommended that there be no fine. Ohlman is the second defendant in two weeks to plead guilty in Seattle federal court to charges brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Clark, who is heading a task force investigating kickbacks and the sale of counterfeit parts in the airplane fastener industry.
Rice Aircraft President Bruce Rice pleaded guilty last week to fraud in connection with the kickback scheme. Rice was also accused of buying undocumented surplus parts from companies such as Boeing and then selling them as newly produced parts with phony certification.
Besides getting bid information, Rice Aircraft was also supplied with test reports that indicated that the counterfeit parts had met safety specifications even though they had not, prosecutors charge.
Government prosecutors said officials at Hi-Shear in Torrence and Deutsch Fastener Corp. in Lakewood, both parts manufacturers, allegedly accepted kickbacks from Rice.
Although counterfeit fasteners, ball bearings, valves and circuit breakers have surfaced in many of the nation’s nuclear plants, commercial airlines, missiles and school buses, no accidents have been attributed to the parts, according to U.S. attorney Clark.
Among the airlines that purchased the used parts were United, American, Air France, TWA, Pan Am and Varig. The fasteners are used for a variety of purposes, including ensuring the integrity of the aircraft’s structure to keep panels inside the aircraft secure.
Rice, which has yet to be sentenced, also faces a maximum prison term of five years and payments of up to $1.75 million in fines and restitutions. Ohlman’s sentencing date is set Oct. 20.
