S. Jersey Man Charged With Providing Substandard Truck Parts to Pentagon
By David Madden
MOORESTOWN, N.J. (CBS) -- The former owner of a defense contracting firm in Burlington County, NJ is facing charges in federal court, accused of ripping off the government to the tune of $3 million.
Richard Melton, 44, of Moorestown owned and ran the Partz Network in Burlington. He is accused of a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly providing replacement parts for trucks and trailers used by the military that did not meet Defense Department specifications, nor those on the contracts he signed with the government.
The Pentagon, upon noticing the problem, demanded Melton provide documents tracing just where those parts came from.
The US attorney for the region claims the documents Melton provided were altered or outright fakes, and that the parts came from unapproved sources as far away as India.