Jury Convicts Aircraft Firm Officers of Fraud

An aircraft industry contractor and its top officers--a mother and son--were convicted in federal court Tuesday of performing shoddy work and falsifying quality control reports on components used in a wide array of military and commercial aircraft.

After a two-week trial, a federal jury returned guilty verdicts against West Coast Aluminum Heat Treating Co. of La Mirada and its president, June Fitch, 60.

Fitch’s son, Eugene Fitch Jr., 32, entered a guilty plea soon after the jury verdicts were announced. He was to begin his trial later in the day.

West Coast Aluminum operated furnaces at its La Mirada plant where parts for everything from Boeing jetliners to the Space Shuttle were toughened by exposure to 900-degree temperatures.

The process, which can take eight to 36 hours, alters the property of the metal, making it stronger and more resistant to corrosion, cracking and fatigue.

But according to a federal indictment, West Coast treated aircraft parts for shorter periods of time than required, allowing the company to boost production and profits at the expense of consumer safety.

The government issued alerts to all aircraft manufacturers after a whistle-blower tipped off Boeing Aircraft Co. and the Defense Department’s criminal investigative service.

The informant said he was fired from his job as a shift foreman after complaining that aircraft parts were rushed through the hardening process.

At the height of the fraud, West Coast operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with about 40 employees.

The company treated components used in the Navy’s Phalanx close-in air and missile defense system and F/A-18 and P-3 aircraft, the Marine Corps’ AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, the Army’s Kiowa Warrior and Apache attack helicopters, the Air Force’s Titan IV launch vehicle, AWACS aircraft and UH-1 Huey helicopters.

It also worked on NASA’s Space Shuttle and Space Station; Boeing Aircraft Co.’s 737, 747, 757, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-11, MD-80 and MD-90 airplanes, and Bell commercial helicopter models 22B, 22U, 230, 430 and 412.

There have been no reports of any in-flight equipment failures as a result of West Coast’s substandard work, but replacing the components could prove expensive.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Lawrence S. Middleton said Tuesday that the government expects to have a “pretty solid” cost estimate when the Fitches appear for sentencing June 24 before U.S. District Judge Richard A. Paez.

Eugene Fitch Jr., who served as vice president and general manager, faces a maximum 20 years behind bars for making false statements, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

June Fitch faces up to 35 years in prison on six counts of making false statements to the Defense Department and one count of conspiracy.

In remarks to the jury, June Fitch’s lawyer, Richard Marmaro, portrayed her as an unwitting player in the case, a housewife who was thrown into running the company after her husband, Eugene Fitch Sr., was murdered in 1991. The slaying has never been solved.

After his death, his son assumed responsibility for running day to day operations while his widow sat in an office and just “signed the checks, signed the payroll and signed the certifications,” the mother’s lawyer said.

While stopping short of blaming her son, Marmaro said Eugene Fitch Jr. had a “bad management style.”

Government prosecutors denied that June Fitch had been duped, arguing that she was fully aware of what was going on in the plant.

Although mother and son were named in the same indictment, their trials were separated because of opposing defenses.