By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced that a Costa Rican surnamed Cabalceta, 53 years old, living in New Jersey, was sentenced to 42 months in prison for defrauding the U.S. Department of Defense, know as DoD, by providing military equipment parts that were not what he had contracted to provide and illegally accessing technical information as a non-United States citizen.

According to the rule, Cabalceta, of Atco, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act. Judge Hillman imposed the sentence today in Camden Federal Court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Cabalceta was the owner of two companies in West Berlin, New Jersey.

Cabalceta admitted that between August 2004 and March 2016, both companies obtained contracts with the DoD by falsely claiming that the military parts it contracted to provide would be the exact product provided by authorized manufacturers.

The DoD contracts specified that the military parts were critical application items for military equipment, including aircraft.

Contrary to the contract, Cabalceta either used his companies to contract with local manufacturers to supply non-conforming parts or made the parts himself at a significantly reduced cost.

The non-conforming parts were shipped from New Jersey to various DoD locations around the country. DoD paid $1,890,939 to Cabalceta companies for those parts.

Cabalceta also admitted he was a native of and citizen of the Republic of Costa Rica who overstayed his tourist visa in 2000 and was not a United States citizen or lawfully in the United States.

To further his fraud on the DoD, in August 2005 and November 2010, Cabalceta caused his brother-in-law, a man surnamed Sobrado, to submit to the DoD a fraudulent application for access to export controlled drawings and technical data on behalf of the company.

In 2015, Cabalceta caused an accomplice to submit to the DoD a fraudulent application for access to export controlled drawings and technical data on behalf of his company.

Cabalceta acknowledged that access to the controlled drawings and technical data was limited to citizens of the United States and those lawfully in the United States.

“He admitted that on July 28, 2011, and at various times between January 2013 and November 2015, while unlawfully in the United States, he accessed or downloaded drawings that were sensitive in nature that required special access,” said the U.S. Attorney in its statement.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hillman sentenced Cabalceta to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution. He will also be deported to Costa Rica upon completion of his sentence.

On Oct. 11th, 2018, Sobrado pleaded guilty before Judge Hillman to three-counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act, and income tax evasion. He was sentenced Sept. 4th, 2019, to three years in prison.

More information about this case can be found at U.S. Attorney's site here.*




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