Swedlow Inc. Admits Lying to Air Force : Aerospace: The Garden Grove firm will pay a $400,000 fine because of flawed B-1B bomber windshields.

Swedlow Inc., a Garden Grove maker of aircraft windows, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to one charge of lying to the Air Force about flaws in windshields that it made for the B-1B bomber and agreed to pay a $400,000 fine.

Under a plea bargain agreement, U.S. District Court Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler in Santa Ana dismissed three other fraud charges against the company.

The government also agreed to drop its case against Swedlow Vice President Norman Gene Nixon if, after one year, he is not convicted of any other crime, Asst. U.S. Attorney Edward R. McGah Jr. said.

Nixon and the company were indicted for lying to the government in connection with an alleged scheme to misrepresent the seriousness of defects in four windshields the company produced under a 1988 contract with the Air Force.

Dennis Kinnard, a Los Angeles attorney for Swedlow, said the company believes that the charges were unfair because the flaws were not serious and the windshields were perfectly fit for flight. McGah declined comment.

Government officials confirmed that the windshields, used as spares, were approved for installation but said charges were brought against Swedlow because it falsified reports and made unauthorized repairs on the windshields.

“We’re glad to put this behind us,” Kinnard said. “We stand behind the integrity of the windshields but acknowledge this is a compromise. I don’t think this will hurt the company’s business.”

Swedlow faced a maximum of $2 million in fines and five years probation. Nixon faced $1 million in fines and 20 years imprisonment.

The Swedlow investigation began after an employee contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Santa Ana, alleging that Nixon was instructing workers to cover up the extent of the defects. The defect in the windshields is known as “delamination,” a separation between layers of transparencies.

In a related case, former Swedlow engineer John A. Trepl II, sued the company in December for allegedly forcing him to quit the firm because he blew the whistle on the scheme involving the windshields. The case is pending in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Trepl’s suit alleges that Nixon told employees to “misrepresent” the defects, and when Trepl objected he was relieved of his new assignment, told he had no future with the company and eventually forced to resign.

Kinnard said the company still denies Trepl’s charges and said Trepl was fired because he was incompetent. Trepl’s attorney did not return calls for comment.

Swedlow is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of military aircraft windows. The company employs about 700 people in Garden Grove and has annual sales of $55 million.

The company was acquired for $42.3 million in December, 1986, by a subsidiary of British conglomerate Pilkington Bros. PLC. The acquisition ended a 16-month effort by Chairman David A. Swedlow and his former wife to sell their 49% stake in the company.