Worker Indicted Over Kickbacks at Naval Station

A civilian Navy employee at the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu was indicted Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles on suspicion of soliciting and accepting up to $2,000 in kickbacks in exchange for a government painting contract, authorities said.

Jammie Lee Nash, 38, was arrested early Thursday by agents of the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service, said Assistant U.S. Atty. David A. Sklansky, who is handling the case.

Nash was released on a $10,000 signature bond after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Joseph Reichmann in Los Angeles. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 19.

Daniel Lynn Becraft, 43, of Lovelock, Nev., and Eugene Baxter, 43, of Long Beach, both former contractors at the Naval Air Station, were also charged Thursday with providing Nash with kickbacks, Sklansky said. Becraft and Baxter have not been arrested.

The arrest followed a three-year joint investigation by the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service, said Lt. Cmdr. Gene Okamoto, a Naval Air Station spokesman.

He said that although Nash is still employed at the base, he was reassigned from his job as a contract inspector to another post when the investigation began. He said he does not know what Nash’s present job is.

The indictment alleges that in 1987, Nash, while a contract inspector at the base, solicited and accepted from Baxter and Becraft 10% to 20% of a $17,262 government contract to paint 15 housing units, Sklansky said.

If convicted, Nash faces a maximum sentence of seven years in federal prison and a $350,000 fine. Baxter and Becraft each face a maximum sentence of one year and a $100,000 fine.

Over the last three years, the U.S. attorney’s office has prosecuted more than 100 defendants, including corporations and individuals, in a variety of defense fraud cases, including bribery, false representation and overbilling, said William Fahey, chief of the government fraud division of the U.S. attorney’s office.

Last month, Northrop Corp. pleaded guilty to 34 criminal fraud charges and agreed to pay the government $17 million to end a massive criminal case, Fahey said. A year ago, a $5.5-million fine was imposed on Rockwell International Corp. for fraudulently overbilling the Air Force on a satellite navigation system.

Fahey said more than $70 billion in defense contracts are awarded to contractors in Southern California every year.

“It’s very big business,” Fahey said. “We take all bribery and fraud cases seriously because protecting the integrity of the process is important to us.”

Fahey said his office has 20 investigators and 12 prosecutors who spend a majority of their time on fraud cases.