Ex-AF contractor sentenced for obstructing justice

[David]

AP


PENSACOLA, Fla. – A former defense contractor for Eglin Air Force Base was sentenced to four years' probation Tuesday for obstructing justice as part of wider fraud scheme by contractors and defense lobbyists with ties to a powerful Pennsylvania congressman.

U.S. District Judge Lacey Collier sentenced chemical engineer Theodore Sumrall to probation instead of prison after noting his cooperation with federal agents investigating kickbacks taken from federal funds earmarked by Congress for high-tech defense research at the Eglin lab.

Sumrall is among several defendants cooperating with prosecutors investigating alleged wrongdoing by contractors and lobbyists with ties to U.S. Rep. John Murtha. The Pennsylvania Democrat is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Murtha has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

"This sentence is below the guidelines because of your timely and useful assistance in the prosecution of others," Collier told Sumrall.

Sumrall had faced up to 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines after pleading guilty in June to two counts of destroying records and helping hide a lab supervisor's connection to Schaller Engineering, a company that employed Sumrall.

Jim Jenkins, Sumrall's attorney, said Tuesday his client would continue to cooperate with prosecutors. Jenkins said Sumrall, a research engineer involved in designing high-tech battlefield systems, did not play a major role in government's case.

"He was a technical scientist," Jenkins said.

Sumrall's case is linked to that of his employer, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Richard Schaller, who was convicted in July by a federal jury of destroying records and lying to a grand jury about defense contracts awarded by the Eglin Lab.

Schaller was convicted of helping a lab supervisor, retired Air Force Col. Mark O'Hair, steer contracts to Schaller's company.

O'Hair previously pleaded guilty to federal charges of false statements and conflict of interest. Schaller and O'Hair are scheduled for sentencing in October.

Sumrall pleaded guilty to helping hide O'Hair's financial stake in Schaller Engineering from the Air Force while O'Hair steered millions of dollars in lab research projects to the company.

Also involved in the Eglin case is Richard Ianieri, the former chief executive of a defense contractor with ties to Murtha. Ianieri pleaded guilty July 20 to defrauding the Air Force and has been cooperating with federal prosecutors.

His sentencing is not yet scheduled.

At Schaller's trial, Ianieri testified his company, Coherent Systems International Corp., received an $8.5 million congressional earmark to improve communications on the battlefield. O'Hair was responsible for approving the project for the Air Force.

Instead of approving the project for Ianieri's company alone as the Air Force had intended, O'Hair flew to Coherent's Pennsylvania office's on a plane rented by Schaller's company and visited a lobbying firm connected with Schaller's company. He then approved numerous invoices dividing the $8.5 million among Ianieri's company and four smaller companies including Schaller engineering, Ianieri testified.

Executives at Coherent and two other companies named in court papers in Ianieri's Florida case have donated over $95,000 to Murtha's re-election campaigns and his political action committee since 2002, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Ianieri, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors, also worked closely with others who have been linked to Murtha.

The Justice Department investigation focuses on the campaign donations from defense contractors that have fueled the process of congressional earmarks — specific projects that lawmakers direct to particular contractors — for many decades.