Two Plead Guilty To Paying Rohr Agent Kickbacks : Probes: Another investigation concentrates on possible criminal activity at Rohr’s Riverside plant.
Two parts suppliers have pleaded guilty in federal court to paying kickbacks to a Rohr Inc. purchasing agent in return for favorable treatment.
The guilty pleas stemmed from an ongoing investigation into possible kickbacks at the aerospace manufacturer by the FBI and the federal Defense Criminal Investigative Service.
However, investigative service spokesman William Landreth said Wednesday in San Diego that the convictions were not connected to an independent investigation being conducted out of Los Angeles by the Defense Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. That investigation focuses on possible criminal conduct at Rohr’s Riverside plant, according to Rohr executives.
Garry Easton and David Kudija, who provide fasteners for the aerospace industry, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego to giving a $1,000 check to Milton Dean Grable, a Rohr purchasing agent in Chula Vista. In return, Grable steered business to the two Paso Robles men, according to to Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie K. Pierson.
Grable, who is no longer employed by Rohr, pleaded guilty in January to accepting a kickback and received three years’ probation. Easton and Kudija are scheduled to be sentenced in May.
On Tuesday, the investigation also produced a federal grand jury indictment in San Diego which alleges that Walnut-based businessman Norman Reinberger served as a conduit for kickbacks paid to Grable.
According to the indictment, Reinberger conspired with Michael Berlant, a California businessman, to make kickback payments to Grable. Berlant, who last September pleaded guilty to paying a kickback to Grable, received a four-month sentence and was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
Federal agencies began investigating possible criminal activity at Rohr in late 1990 after the company alerted Pentagon officials to suspected illegal dealings by Grable. Federal investigators used information supplied by Rohr to begin a criminal investigation that “is pretty much culminating with (Tuesday’s proceedings),” Landreth said.
Guilty pleas prompted by the investigation were among the first obtained in Southern California under the Anti-Kickback Act of 1986, which requires businesses to alert federal officials of possible kickbacks. “This was a case where Rohr did exactly that,” Landreth said. “We pursued it and prosecuted.”
Rohr, which closed down $2 at $18.125 on Wednesday, had traded as low as $15.50 early in the day. Trading evidently was driven by Rohr’s Tuesday announcement of “new developments” in the federal investigation into possible criminal activity at its Riverside plant.
Federal officials have declined to comment on that investigation. Rohr officials said Tuesday that the investigation is centered on “production of parts, the recording of information which is a part of the product process and the company’s testing practices.” Rohr’s Riverside plant manufactures engine parts for three military aircraft.
