Ventura : Man Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge
Ventura businessman Erwin E. Mueller pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of defrauding Point Mugu Naval Air Station and Unocal Corp., and one count of filing a false federal income tax return, authorities said.
Mueller was charged with two counts in a 29-count indictment accusing him and two other men of bilking between $881,000 and $1.5 million from the naval station and Unocal, said Assistant U. S. Atty. Patricia Beaman.
The fraud count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the false tax statement count carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Beaman said. Mueller is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 4.
Mueller operated two fictional businesses, Mueller Service Co. in Ventura and M&M; enterprises in Thousand Oaks, that were established to provide false invoices to his accomplices in the bilking scheme between 1984 and 1986, Beaman alleged in the indictment. The inflated invoices were used to charge Unocal and Point Mugu for overpriced industrial supplies, authorities charged.
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