3 Charged With Conspiracy in Point Mugu Fraud Case

Three people--two from Camarillo and one from Oxnard--were charged by the U.S. attorney on Thursday with conspiracy to defraud the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station.

At least one of the defendants is expected to plead guilty at his arraignment later this month.

The charges are the latest in a purchasing scandal that involves bribes, kickbacks, bid rigging and the creation of bogus companies between 1984 and 1989, the government says.

Three other people already have pleaded guilty in the case.

“We’re looking at other vendors as well,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Patricia A. Beaman, who is supervising the investigation, said in Los Angeles.

The Camarillo defendants are Joseph Martin Vach, 50, a civilian planner and controller in the public works section of the base between 1977 and 1988, and Charles Beckman, 43, an off-base supplier to Point Mugu between 1984 and 1989.

The Oxnard defendant is Gary Dale Roberson, 39, a civilian who worked in the base’s public works section between 1988 and this year.

Vach and Roberson are the first base employees to be charged in the case.

According to government papers filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, Beckman, Vach, Roberson and others received $777,739 in payment for “569 . . . false and fraudulent invoices” submitted to Point Mugu between April, 1984, and August, 1989.

According to the papers, Beckman owned and operated several businesses in Ventura County, including B & B Industrial Supply and Union Supply Co., which “did little or no legitimate business but (were) established for the primary purpose of supplying bogus invoices to Point Mugu . . . in a scheme to defraud Point Mugu.”

Also, Beaman said Vach and Roberson were considered important defendants because “they are insiders. You had to have insiders at Point Mugu to effectuate the scheme.”

All three defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false federal income tax return.

Vach and Roberson also were charged with one count of accepting cash bribes while employed by the government.

The three are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles on Sept. 28.

Los Angeles attorney John Martin said that his client, Beckman, will enter a guilty plea at that time.

“He is extraordinarily remorseful for his actions which caused him to lose a career he had built up over many years,” Martin said.

Neither of the two other defendants nor their attorneys could be reached for comment.

Sources close to the investigation, however, said they expected Vach and Roberson to also plead guilty.

If convicted, Vach and Roberson face maximum penalties of 23 years in prison each and fines of $1 million each. Beckman faces a maximum sentence of 13 years in prison and a maximum fine of $750,000.

Two other defendants, suppliers Bill M. Frazier, 45, of Camarillo and Martin S. Anderson, 44, formerly of Oxnard, pleaded guilty to the fraud scheme last October and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Another defendant, Erwin H. Muller, 49, of Camarillo, another off-base conspirator, pleaded guilty. In April, he was given a five-year suspended prison sentence and confined to his residence for six months, fined $100,000 and ordered to make $90,000 restitution to the government.

The charges resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Naval Investigative Service.