San Diego
A San Diego salesman and the chemical firm he represented pleaded guilty Tuesday to a bribery-related charge, a federal prosecutor said.
Harold Irwin Levine, 31, and Polytech Industries Inc. of Los Angeles pleaded guilty to one count of offering illegal gratuities to employees at the Navy Public Works Center, Assistant U.S. Atty. George Hardy said.
The action signals the nearing conclusion of a bribery case that rocked the Public Works Center, the maintenance arm of the Navy. The case follows a one-year investigation by the Naval Investigative Service. The center’s commanding officer, Capt. Tim Kelley, called in the NIS after an employee told him that other workers were being bribed by salesmen.
As a result of detective work that included agents going undercover, four civilian Navy employees pleaded guilty to accepting gifts and another pleaded guilty to soliciting bribes after being indicted by a federal grand jury.
On Monday, San Marcos salesman Jacob Lubarsky, 51, and his Escondido-based company, Las Palmas Distributors, also pleaded guilty to offering illegal gratuities. The crime is punishable by up to two years in prison, Hardy said.
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