Businessman, Company Charged With Bribing Navy Center Workers

A San Marcos salesman and the Escondido company he represented were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges they bribed employees of the Navy Public Works Center.

Jacob Lubarsky, 51, and Las Palmas Distributors Inc. were named in the five-count indictment and charged with offering trips, television sets and other merchandise to mechanics at the Public Works Center, located at the 32nd Street Naval Station.

In return for the travel and the goods, the mechanics were supposed to recommend that the Navy buy chemicals from Las Palmas, Assistant U.S. Atty. George D. Hardy said Tuesday. Las Palmas could supply chemicals the Navy uses to maintain its air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, Hardy said.

The charges marked the third time in three months an indictment has been returned that detailed charges of bribery by contractors at the Public Works Center, a facility that repairs and maintains vehicles, machinery and parts.

Four Navy mechanics already have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of receiving unlawful salaries, Hardy said. U.S. Magistrate Roger McKee sentenced the four on Sept. 7 to probation of two or three years and fines of $1,000 or $2,000, Hardy said, adding that three of the four also were ordered to perform community service.

The charges and pleas are the product of a Naval Investigative Service probe that, in turn, occurred because “the Public Works Center brought things to our attention,” Dennis E. Usery, NIS regional director, said Tuesday.

“The press makes it look like (the center is) a hotbed of criminal activity but, in fact, the center is cooperating fully,” he said.

In a separate but related case, a Public Works Center purchasing agent pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to three counts of soliciting bribes, the result of a joint NIS and FBI investigation, Hardy said. Rodrigo Plata Montefalcon, 59, of Chula Vista, who faces a maximum of 45 years in prison plus fines, is due to be sentenced Jan. 8, Hardy said.

Lubarsky and Las Palmas were charged Tuesday with one count of conspiracy to bribe and four counts of bribery.

Lubarsky allegedly offered the mechanics television sets, microwave ovens, industrial vacuum machines, videocassette recorders and trips to Hawaii, according to the indictment. Las Palmas allegedly would offset the costs of these items by reducing the quantity of the chemicals it delivered to the Navy, Hardy said.

If convicted, Levine faces a maximum of five years in federal prison on the conspiracy count and 15 years apiece on each of the four bribery charges, or a total of 65 years, Hardy said.

He also faces a fine of $250,000 on the conspiracy charge and fines of up to three times the amount of the bribes alleged in the four other charges, he said.

Hardy did not disclose the value of the alleged bribes.

Las Palmas faces a fine of up to $500,000 on each count, Hardy said.