Summary

Between July 18-20, 2012, Diego Garcia, Ivonne Portales, and Chabela Aneiros, former employees of Aircraft Transparencies Repair (ATR) and Transparencies Engineering Group (TEG), were sentenced in U.S. District Court, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to mail and wire fraud charges in conjunction with a scheme involving the false representation that aircraft windows were overhauled properly when they were not.  On July 18, 2012, Mr.Garcia was sentenced to two years probation; 100 hours of community service; and was ordered to pay a $500 fine, $5,440 in restitution, and a $100 special assessment. On July 19, 2012, Mr. Portales was sentenced to three years probation, 150 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $9,550 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.  On July 20, 2012, Chabela Aneiros was sentenced to three years probation, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $6,300 restitution, and a $100 special assessment. 

Garcia, Portales, and Aneiros, pleaded guilty in May 2012, to the charges.  The three, along with 13 others employees of ATR and TEG had been charged with conspiring to sell and falsely certify to commercial aviation customers the airworthiness of aircraft cockpit windows knowing that they were not authorized by the FAA to certify the airworthiness of these windows.  The investigation revealed that from approximately August 2009 to August 2010, ATR's employees continued repairing aircraft cockpit windows despite ATR having had its repair station certificate revoked.  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 were from ATR or TEG's inventory prior to the repair station certificate revocation.  Additionally, serial numbers on the windows that had been sent to ATR by customers were changed to disguise the source of the windows and to further make it appear that all work had been performed prior to the repair station 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.