Three Deny Rigging Military Contracts

An Anaheim Hills businessman, an Army colonel and his wife all pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that they rigged military service contracts in South Korea, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

During an arraignment in federal court in Santa Ana, Col. Richard J. Moran, 56, denied charges that he pocketed $850,000 in cash kickbacks from contractors hired to build barracks and provide security guards early this year and last year. Moran and four others were indicted July 3 after an investigation by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Korean National Police.

Gina Cha Moran, 44, also denied charges that she helped solicit contract bribes for her husband and that she tried to hide the cash from investigators. The couple are out on bail but must wear electronic monitors and are confined to the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Los Alamitos from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. John Hueston.

Richard Moran, who was stationed at Yongsan Army Base in South Korea, oversaw 17,000 contracts with an annual value of more than $310 million. He and his wife probably face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charges, which include bribery, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and money laundering.

Authorities say a portion of one alleged bribe was funneled through Joseph Kang Hur, 57, of Anaheim Hills, allegedly recruited by the colonel as a middleman. Hur is free on bail.

As for the remaining two defendants, Ronald Adair Parrish, 49, a civilian who was chief of the Army’s contract support division in South Korea, pleaded not guilty Monday to illegally releasing bid information to Indiana businessman Richard Lee Carlisle, 31, who will be arraigned Aug. 5.