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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Inspector General
Washington, D.C. 20546

April 21, 2003

RELEASE 2003-032: CONTRACTOR PLEADS GUILTY IN AIRCRAFT PARTS SCHEME

On April 7, 2003, Gary Key, Chief Executive Officer of Key
Enterprises, Inc. (KEI) in Oilton, Oklahoma, pled guilty in U.S.
District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma, to nine counts of
false statements and one count of mail fraud.  This plea was in
response to a criminal Information filed on March 5, 2003.

A joint task force investigation involving suspected unapproved 
aircraft parts disclosed Key knowingly allowed KEI, a Federal
Aviation Administration Certified Repair Station, to improperly
repair and certify repair work on Pratt & Whitney (P&W) JT8D
combustion chambers, which were subsequently provided to the
commercial airline industry and the Department of Defense (DOD).
NASA and other government agencies procure these combustion chambers
and other flight critical aircraft parts from the DOD to overhaul
their fleet of aircraft.  Key intentionally did not follow P&W
specifications when repairing the combustion chambers by failing to
apply the proper hardened coating to the repaired equipment.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 5, 2003. 

Special Agents from the NASA Office of Inspector General, the Defense 
Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Department of Transportation 
Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Postal Service Office of 
Inspector General conducted this investigation.  Assistant U.S. 
Attorney Neal B. Kirkpatrick, Northern District of Oklahoma, Tulsa,
is handling the prosecution.

For more information on this release, please contact Joseph Kroener, 
Acting Executive Officer, NASA Office of Inspector General, at
(202) 358-2558.

Previous Release:  

2002-092, 9/20/2002 - Two Companies Indicted In Aircraft Parts
Schemes http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/press/pr2002-092.html

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