A Jackson woman and her son have admitted to a years-long scheme to defraud the US Department of Defense by providing unauthorized military equipment parts through their family-owned company, Monmouth Marine Engines, Inc.
From March 2016 through April 2020, Linda Mika, 73, and Kenneth Mika, 53, conspired with each other and others to defraud the DoD and one of its combat logistic support arms, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), by engaging in a pattern of unlawful product substitution. The Mikas were employees of Monmouth Marine Monmouth Marine Engines Inc. (Monmouth Marine), a maritime equipment and servicing facility, which, as an approved federal contractor, also entered into contracts with DLA to supply DoD contracting entities with replacement hardware for DoD’s military branches.
The Mikas, on behalf of Monmouth Marine, obtained contracts with the DoD by falsely claiming that the military parts they contracted to provide would be exact products furnished by authorized manufacturers or suppliers. Once awarded the contracts, however, the Mikas sourced non-conforming substitute parts at a significantly reduced cost to fill the contracts. They did this to maximize their profit margin while also suppressing fair competition in the bidding of federal contracts. Upon receipt by Monmouth Marine, the non-conforming parts were then shipped to DLA or various military purchasers in packaging disguising the parts’ identities in an effort by the Mikas to deceive DLA and its unwitting downstream purchasers.
The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.