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PHILADELPHIA -- The US government has sued Plummer Precision Optics Co. and several
top managers for knowingly manufacturing and
shipping millions of dollars of defective optical
lenses and components to the military. The
government alleges that the Pennsburg, Pa.-based
optics maker also falsified quality inspection
reports and reshipped rejected parts in batches
with other components over a 10-year period ending
in 1997.
The charges have
not disrupted manufacturing, according to Jack
Hornberger, president and chief executive officer.
This includes orders from defense contractors
General Dynamics of Falls Church, Va., and Hughes
Aircraft of Arlington, Va., which were cited in
the civil complaint as having received defective
parts. Company founder John L. Plummer said in a
prepared statement that the company has no
knowledge of unresolved customer product defects
or warranty claims on the optics cited under the
civil complaint. Pending an extension, the company
has until Dec. 1 to file a legal answer to the
charges. The civil complaint was unsealed Sept. 30
in US District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania under the federal False Claims Act.
Charged with various counts of fraud and
conspiracy are John Plummer; his wife, Jutta B.
Plummer, a member of the board of directors;
Walter Lagger, executive vice president for
operations and manufacturing; Max Haskins, vice
president for manufacturing; the Tomilda Trust,
located in Liechtenstein and controlled by John
Plummer; Plummer Precision Optics, founded in
1944, and its Singapore subsidiary, Plummer Optics
Ltd., founded in 1981. The allegations were
originally filed in March 1997 by former marketing
director Robert Basore under the False Claims Act.
The so-called whistle-blower law allows
individuals to sue on behalf of the government,
which investigated and joined the case. Under the
False Claims Act, the government would be entitled
to recover treble damages, plus up to $10,000 in
civil penalties for each false reimbursement claim
submitted by the company in compensation for the
alleged defective optics components. Assistant US
Attorney Seth Weber said each false invoice
constitutes a claim, and hundreds are involved.
Government contracts account for about 20 percent
of Plummer's $7 million in annual sales, the
company said. Basore, who is employed by Coherent
Auburn Group of Auburn, Calif., cooperated with
the government investigation of Plummer. He said
he was first alerted to quality problems after
receiving numerous complaints from customers. "I
learned [that the alleged violations] were being
approved by senior management. I was told to mind
my own business,'' he said. Hornberger, former
vice president of marketing and sales for Rollins
Environmental Services of Wilmington, Del., joined
Plummer Precision Optics in 1997, about nine
months after the government investigation had
begun. He said he found no gross neglect in
company operations. Since taking charge, however,
he said he has instituted new work standards,
tightened quality control and even added a
whistle-blower procedure to the company's
operations policy.
by Gaynell Terrell
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