Pelican Parts Forums - Falsifying Test Reports Of Metals For Use In Space Program

POMPANO BEACH MAN SENTENCED FOR FALSIFYING TEST REPORTS OF METALS FOR USE IN SPACE PROGRAM
United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, June 22, 2007

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John Corbett, Special Agent in Charge, Central Field Office, NASA Office of Inspector General, Adrian Gallegos, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Department of Energy, Office of Inspector General, Central Investigations Operations, Christopher Amato, Special Agent in Charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office, and John W. Long, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, announced today that Russ B. Cohen, 48, of Pompano Beach, was sentenced on June 20, 2007 to thirty-three (33) months’ imprisonment by United States District Court Judge James I. Cohn, in Ft. Lauderdale.

Cohen had pled guilty on January 19, 2007 to a two-count Superseding Indictment, which charged him with conspiracy to make material false statements concerning aircraft and space vehicle parts, to make material false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and to commit wire fraud; and with making a material false statement to the United Space Alliance, NASA's contractor for the Space Shuttle Program.

Cohen was the sales manager of M & M International Aerospace Metals (M & M Metals) of Ft. Lauderdale, a metals distributor to the aerospace industry, including NASA. M&M Metals was owned by defendants Timothy Muldoon, 54, and Tina Muldoon, 47, both of Lighthouse House Point, Florida. In March, 2007, defendant Timothy Muldoon was sentenced to twenty-seven (27) months’ imprisonment, and defendant Tina Muldoon was sentenced to twenty-five (25) months’.

The evidence presented during the trial established that Cohen and the Muldoons conspired with several of M & M's administrative employees, including defendants Ella Hernandez, 49, of Hollywood, and Leonor C. Mora, 30, of North Miami, to alter test certificates from metals testing laboratories, to alter the mill reports of metals manufacturers, and to alter the certificates of compliance from metals distributors, when the test results and specifications listed on these documents did not conform with the customers' purchase order requirements, including metals specifications. Hernandez and Mora were also sentenced in March, 2007, and received a term of probation.

M & M's customers included aerospace contractors within the jurisdiction of NASA, including the United Space Alliance, NASA's contractor for launching and processing the space shuttle fleet, and Teledyne Brown Engineering, a NASA subcontractor for the International Space Station Program, the United States Department of Defense and its military components, the Department of Energy, including its missile manufacturing divisions, and the Department of Transportation, including the FAA. Based on the charges in the Indictment, and evidence presented during the trial which concluded in Cohen's guilty plea, Cohen and his co-conspirators, through the false reports, induced the United Space Alliance/NASA to unwittingly purchase, receive and place into serviceable stock for use on the orbiter fleet and critical ground support equipment, substandard and non-conforming metals.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the NASA Office of Inspector General and all the other investigative agencies involved in this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose A. Bonau of the Economic and Environmental Crimes Section.