Naval Base Seeks to Bar Company From Jobs : Point Mugu: A Camarillo business owner pleads guilty to conspiracy and tax fraud. Navy officials want to prohibit him from federal work for three years.

Point Mugu Naval Air Station officials have recommended that a Camarillo businessman be prohibited from doing business with the government for three years for conspiring to defraud the base, a Navy spokesman disclosed Monday.

In response to an inquiry by The Times, spokesman Harry Lee said the recommendation was forwarded to the Pentagon after the Oct. 28 guilty plea of Bill M. Frazier, owner of Camarillo Tool and Supply Co., to federal fraud and conspiracy charges.

Frazier is considered an important information source for the government in a continuing investigation into suspected corruption in purchasing practices at the base, the home of the Pacific Missile Test Center.

Frazier, 45, pleaded guilty in federal court in Los Angeles last month to one count each of conspiracy, mail and tax fraud.

He has agreed to cooperate with government investigators in the ongoing inquiry into alleged fraudulent purchasing practices involving base personnel and off-base suppliers.

Frazier was indicted along with two others last August on the conspiracy charges which, according to court papers, included bribes, kickbacks and the submission of false or inflated invoices for nonexistent merchandise supposedly bought by the base.

Frazier’s firm has supplied Point Mugu with non-weapons items, such as plumbing and building materials, for a number of years.

A government official who requested anonymity said Monday that in addition to Frazier, two other Ventura County suppliers to the Navy base are under investigation for possible involvement in bribery and kickback schemes. The firms were not identified.

“Everyone’s cooperating,” the source said, referring to interviews by government investigators of off-base suppliers and purchasing agents and others who work at the big Navy base.

The recent indictment of Frazier and two others on allegations that they defrauded the base has sent shock waves through the base, the source said.

“Everyone’s scared to death,” the source said.

In commenting on the scope of the investigation, the source said that not only are current Point Mugu employees being questioned, but also those who have left the base for other jobs or taken retirement.

Investigators from the Naval Investigative Service, the Postal Inspection Service and the criminal investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service are conducting the inquiry.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which is coordinating the investigation, has said that another indictment is expected next spring.

Base spokesman Lee said the procedure to prohibit Frazier from doing business with the base for three years--called “debarment”--could take about six weeks.

The process, which can be initiated only after an individual has been convicted, must be reviewed by a special Pentagon debarment committee. Then approval is required by the assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition, Lee said.

Frazier’s name would then go on a debarment list sent to government procurement and contracting officials--not just the military, Lee said.

Until then, he said, Frazier could continue to do business with the Navy.

“It’s a fairly complicated process,” Lee said. “We cannot arbitrarily stop doing business.”

Frazier, reached at his office in Camarillo, said he had no knowledge of Point Mugu’s recommendation. He declined further comment.

His lawyer, Rick Flam of Encino, could not be reached for comment.

Of the ongoing fraud investigation, Lee said, “Everyone is happy this is out in the open. Life goes on.”