FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 26, 1998
Contact: Jeff Nelligan
(202) 366-6312
OIG 16-98

PROCESSOR OF KEY AIRCRAFT PARTS INDICTED
FRAUDULENT QUALITY CONTROL ALLEGED

The president and vice-president of a California aircraft parts contractor have been indicted, along with the firm, on charges of improperly processing and falsely certifying the quality of its products, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General announced today.

West Coast Aluminum Heat Treating Co. of La Mirada, California and its two top officers – June Fitch, president, and Eugene Fitch Jr., vice-president and general manager – were indicted May 20 by a federal grand jury. They are charged with one count of conspiracy to make false statements to the federal government and nine counts of submitting false statements to the Department of Defense.

The case was jointly investigated by the inspectors general of the Transportation Department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Logistics Agency.

West Coast Aluminum’s business is strengthening aluminum components used in military and commercial aircraft. It is alleged that the firm improperly heat-treated parts used in Defense Department programs and falsified quality-control testing of those parts, either by omitting the testing or altering the required quality of the tests.

Heat-treatment gives aluminum parts strength and corrosion resistance. Improperly treated parts may crack or prematurely fail and have reduced strength and corrosion resistance.

Parts made by the firm have been used in programs including:

• Boeing Aircraft Co.’s 737, 747, 757, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-11, MD-80 and MD-90 airplanes;
• Bell commercial helicopter models 22B, 22U, 230, 430 and 412;
• the Navy’s Phalanx air and missile defense system, F/A-18 jet and P-3 aircraft;
• the Marine Corps’ AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter;
• the U.S. Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and Apache attack helicopters;
• the Air Force’s Titan IV missile;
• the Air Force’s C-9, C-17, KC-10, F-15, F-16, F-22 and AWACS aircraft; UH-1 Huey and V-22 helicopters, and
• NASA’s space station.

All government agencies and private companies that contracted with West Coast Aluminum Heat Treating Company were issued a safety alert by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service in April.

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