OXNARD : Officials of Defense Contractor Indicted

A federal grand jury has indicted three officials of an Oxnard defense contracting firm for alleged double-billing in a scheme to defraud the government out of more than $3 million, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers said the 15-count indictment, including charges of theft of government property, money laundering, false claims, obstructing a government audit and perjury, stems from a scheme by three employees of Del Manufacturing Co. to defraud the government through false claims.

Richard Ceniseroz, 41, of Oxnard is charged with three counts of theft of government property, two counts of money laundering, seven counts of false claims and one count of obstructing a federal audit. Ceniseroz, who was chief financial officer for the company, faces up to 90 years in prison if convicted on each of the 13 counts.

Paul Delgado, 40, of Oxnard is charged with obstructing a federal audit and perjury. Delgado, who was general manager of the firm, faces up to 10 years in prison.

Teresa Delgado, 65, of Ojai is charged with perjury and faces up to five years in prison. She was a government-contracts administrator for the company.

Federal authorities said Del billed the U.S. Army twice for an undisclosed item and received payment for each invoice. The indictment also says that money was transferred to different bank accounts to thwart detection of the double payments.