THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170433
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
A Fort Eustis project manager pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to accepting $260,000 in illegal gratuities in exchange for helping a South Carolina company win Army contracts.
John A. Irons of Newport News faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced early next year.
Irons was the ``public official'' named in a plea agreement last week by Richard O. Kneece, president of Custom Training Aids Inc. of Swansea, S.C. Kneece and the company also pleaded guilty to the same charge.
Irons, a midlevel manager, was a government training-aid specialist in charge of a project that produced thermal images of enemy vehicles used in target practice in bases nationwide. In 1988, Irons told Kneece that ``he was tired of making money for other people and not for himself,'' court records show.
Kneece and Irons made a deal, federal prosecutors said. Irons used his influence at the Army Training Support Center to ensure that Custom Training Aids won contracts. In exchange, Kneece agreed to give Irons one-third of the company's gross profits from any contract he received. Kneece's company realized at least $675,000 in profits. Irons got $260,000 in gratuities. The payoffs ended when the two got caught in a joint investigation by the Army's Criminal Investigation Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Federal officials have said the case, which is still under investigation, is the biggest in recent memory involving payoffs by defense contractors and local military officials.
The case included a $1.6 million contract awarded in June 1991 - the Army's largest contract to date for the purchase of materials used to make targets that would show up on the heat-sensitive sights of tanks, court records showed.
Irons dubbed the targets the Irons Targets, Army records show. Yet the project ultimately failed when the targets caught fire or failed to pop up quickly, The Daily Press reported Saturday.
Irons started receiving payoffs in 1988, when Kneece met him at Patrick Henry Airport in Newport News and paid him $10,000 in cash in return for a promise of ``general favorable future consideration,'' records show.
In 1989, Iron received $25,000 for helping Kneece win a $192,990 contract. In 1990 and 1991, he got $200,000 for steering the $1.6 million contract in Kneece's direction and another $25,000 as a ``goodwill gesture,'' records show. by CNB