FAA Repair Station Owner Sentenced for Issuing Fraudulent Airworthiness Certificates

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Marlies T. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General (“DOT-OIG”), Miami Field Office, John F. Khin, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (“DCIS”), Commander Laura DeJong, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 802 (“AFOSI”), John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), Office of Investigations, Miami Field Office, and Carol Kisthardt, Special Agent in Charge, Southeast Field Office, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (“NCIS”), announced that defendant Willie McCain, 52, of Miami, was sentenced yesterday, May 24, 2010, on four counts of fraud involving aircraft parts, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 38.

Specifically, U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley sentenced Willie McCain to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Additionally, the judge ordered McCain to pay $21,750 in restitution to the United States Air Force.

Defendant Willie McCain, owner of McCain Research Labs, a Ft. Lauderdale-based FAA certificated Repair Station, completed more than 100 FAA Form 8130’s (Airworthiness Approval Tags), certifying that he was authorized to inspect and test certain aircraft parts that had been provided to him for inspection by John Falco, of Falcon Aviation. In fact, however, McCain was not authorized to inspect and test these aircraft parts because they were not within his FAA rating or on his FAA-approved capabilities list.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. DOT-OIG, DCIS, AFOSI, FBI, ICE’s Office of Investigations, and NCIS. As well, Mr. Ferrer thanked the Federal Aviation Administration for their assistance during the course of the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.