Summary

On December 6, 2012, Dennis Romero, Shop Supervisor, Aircraft Transparencies Repair (ATR) and Transparencies Engineering Group (TEG), was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for his role in an aircraft parts conspiracy. Romero was sentenced to 45 months incarceration, three years of probation, and ordered to pay $11,149.76 in restitution. In addition, he was prohibited from working in the aviation industry while on probation.

On March 22, 2012, a multi-count indictment was filed against 16 employees of ATR and TEG for conspiracy to sell and falsely certify the airworthiness of aircraft cockpit windows. The investigation revealed that from August 2009, to August 2010, ATR's employees continued repairing aircraft cockpit windows despite ATR having its repair station certificate revoked in July 2009. As part of the scheme, ATR/TEG purchased "as removed" aircraft cockpit windows in the open market and backdated documents, to make it appear that the windows had been retrieved from  inventory prior to the repair station certificate revocation. Additionally, serial numbers on the windows sent to ATR by customers were changed to make it appear that all work had been done prior to the revocation.

This investigation is being worked jointly with the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with substantial assistance from the FAA.