Worker Barred From Navy Base in Fraud Inquiry

A civilian purchasing agent at the Point Mugu Navy base has been barred from working there amid a continuing government investigation into purchasing fraud, authorities said Tuesday.

Linda Katz, 44, of Oxnard, who began her employment at the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station in 1969, was ordered off the base Monday by Capt. Paul J. Valovich, the commanding officer.

“Her employment is being terminated because it has been alleged by those who pleaded guilty that she has been deeply involved in the scheme,” Valovich said.

Five civilians, two of whom worked on the base, have been convicted and sentenced to two years in federal prison. The case stems from a government investigation of kickbacks, bribes and bid-rigging at the base.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Katz recounted Monday’s events during which, she contended, she was humiliated by base officials who forced her to empty her desk in front of her colleagues.

“I emptied my belongings into four boxes,” she said. “It was very humiliating. Several employees were standing around. Without the full facts, I’m sure they were saying, ‘She is gone.’

“One employee came up to me and said she believed in me and wished me good luck. She was crying.”

Katz said that she was then ordered to turn in her base identification credentials, and that a security guard scraped a parking sticker off her car windshield before she drove away.

Katz has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing by the U. S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which has been directing the three-year investigation.

Valovich said Tuesday that he made his decision “in the best interests of the government.”

“I’m the guy responsible for the security of the base,” he said. “I determine who is allowed on the base.

“I just wanted her off the base because of the whole general situation. It was for the well-being of her co-workers and the fact that the investigation is still ongoing.”

In a letter filed in Los Angeles federal court, one of the convicted defendants, Joseph Vach, alleged that Katz “got a kickback of cash or merchandise” on every fraudulent or inflated order that was placed with an outside contractor.

Vach, 50, of Camarillo, was a civilian planner and controller in the base’s public works section.

Katz said she never did anything illegal on the base.

“I have not ever taken any kickbacks and I will continue to say that,” Katz said. “I feel I’m being attacked unfairly.”

Katz said she had returned to the base on Monday after a monthlong vacation. At 2:30 p.m., her supervisor suddenly ordered her to appear before Karen Windeler, the base’s associate head of procurement.

Katz said Windeler gave her two documents: a one-page letter from Valovich ordering her off the base for “your alleged involvement in procurement fraud,” and another, longer letter outlining the reasons for her proposed termination and a civil service appeal process.

Windeler declined to comment on the action.

Katz said the Navy will allow her to keep drawing her $500-a-week paycheck for another month.

A government official, who requested anonymity, said no decision has been made on what direction the investigation would take this year.