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ete seo | fist GALETTE 1 Defense contractor tied to Murtha By Dennis B. Roddy Pittsburen Post Gazette: a, A fornier defense conttactor with ties to U.S. Rep: John P. Murtha entered a plea of guilty in a Florida courtroom yester- day to- accepting $200,000 in kickbacks from a Pennsylvania subcontractor: in. a case that reaches from Pensacola beaches to Somerset County’s-hills. Richard Janieri, former CEO pleads guilty to taking kickbacks _ of Coherent. Systems Interna-' tional, is now expected to coop- - - erate in a wider case involving |. a: former Air Force. contract © ‘ supervisor accused of hiding.. his financial ties to a Florida ': engineering firm that did mil-. lions of:dollars in defense work. He entered guilty pleas to-two-- separate criminal complaints: - charges filed in Pittsburgh for : a SEC MURTHA, PAGE B-2 - i 7-15-84 |. Pl — | me nr LHP T1123 | mex. Contractor ted to Murtha pleads guilty ‘MURTHA, FROM PAGE B-1” accepting kickbacks, and'a on: ger list of accusations in Florida ° that he defrauded the Air Force in a$6 million contract. : While prosecutors did not outline full details of the agree - ment, what they described. as _kickbacks matched two cons sulting agreements Mr. Janieri had with Kuchera Industries, a defense contractor based’ in ’ Windber, Somerset County, just’ outside Johnstown. Kuchera . has received millions in defense .. spending: earmarks sponsored ; by Mr. Murtha. the, Defense Criminal Inves- tigative Service, FBI and IRS: raided the Kuchera plants © in. Windber as- “well ‘as the ~ homes of Ronald.and William Kuchera, brothers’ ‘who own ’, the company.’ The. raid was .part.of'a probe into allega- ’ tions of overbilling arid fraud on defense contracts, and the Navy. earlier this year sus- ‘pended the Kucheras from. furthér defense contracts: Among defense - outlays being scrutinized by pros- ectitors. was an $8 million ‘earmark written into a 2005 . bill for tsunami relief. The Air Force had not requested the earmark, and Mr. Murtha’s . spokesman yesterday said the Ih January, agents from — ‘congressman had no recollec- Housé Appropriations defénse subcommittee, Mr. .Murtha wields broad powers to allo- cate billions of defense dol- Matthew Mazonkey, spokes- man for Mr. Murtha, yesterday said the congressman had-no control over the contractors. “This case isn’t about ear- marks, it’s about individuals ‘ within.the defense industry and the Defense Department accused of defrauding the gov- _ ernment,” Mr. Mazonkey said. “Tf they broke the law then they should be held account- able for their actions.” be b7C tion of how the earmark was ‘Dennis B. Roddy can be placed in the tsunami bill. reached at droddy@post-ga- . As-the chairman of the zette.com or 412-263-1965. TMS STS S roemeon ! Stow TE ME Sees wer Semeo seers noe = SMOw wor toons? - Fo am - Mer see reerse Lo oDTOVICE £ DEES Werroeninn = omeecen: cos -— DIE - ae I NK