Valencia Firm Accused of Selling Faulty Plane Parts

A Valencia company and two of its officers were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges of lying about the quality of electrical parts the company sold for military and civilian aircraft.

RAM Enterprises Inc. sold government contractors inferior and counterfeit electrical connector pins that cracked or corroded after being installed in airplanes.

A safety alert was issued when the problem came to light, and all of the defective pins were removed from affected aircraft and inventories, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

A prosecution spokesman said the pins were installed in a variety of planes, including the F-16 fighter jet, the KC-135 air tanker and the C-130 transport plane.

Named in the three-count indictment were RAM Enterprises; Richard A. Monstein, its president; and Timothy Gordon, the company’s quality director.

Monstein, 50, of Agua Dulce said Thursday, “This comes as a complete surprise to me.”

He declined to comment further.

Monstein and Gordon, 57, of Canyon Country face maximum sentences of 15 years in prison plus fines of up to $750,000 if convicted. The company could be fined up to $1.5 million.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned later this month in Los Angeles federal court.

According to the indictment, RAM Enterprises bought electrical pins of varying quality from different suppliers. It also manufactured some pins.

If the company did not have government-requested brands in stock, it would substitute those of lesser quality and lie about the source, the indictment said.