Spring Break
Former FAA employee accused of stealing plane and yacht
Adam Lynn
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: News
McClatchy Newspapers
TACOMA, Wash.- As a technician with the Federal Aviation Administration, Steven B. Smith was paid to work on equipment used to keep the flying public safe.
Federal prosecutors contend the Southern California resident also used his position to steal nearly $3 million in public property, including a 50-foot yacht, a Cessna airplane and a 44-foot yawl once used by Navy ROTC students at the University of Washington.
A federal grand jury in Tacoma indicted Smith and his half-brother, Bradley A.G. Garner, earlier this month on one count of wire fraud and theft of honest services.
Smith and Garner, who splits time between California and his native Canada, are to be arraigned Feb. 27 at the U.S. District Courthouse in Tacoma, Wash. Efforts to reach their attorneys were unsuccessful.
The case is being prosecuted in Tacoma because some of the stolen merchandise came from federal agencies with offices in Western Washington, or was processed through Fort Lewis, Wash.
In essence, prosecutors say, Smith used the government's excess-property stockpile as his personal shopping mall, only he rarely paid for his merchandise. Garner helped Smith sell or move some of the illegally obtained property, according to court records.
Prosecutors contend the brothers defrauded the government of more than 200 items over a four-year period.
"It was part of the conspiracy that Smith, Garner and others would obtain millions in proceeds during their conspiracy, including motor yachts, sailboats, fishing boats, ski boats, trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, tools and other valuable items," federal officials wrote in charging documents.
The brothers kept some of the items for their own use and sold others including as many as 20 Apple computers on eBay, prosecutors contend.
In the aftermath of Smith's alleged fraud, the FAA and the U.S. General Service Administration, which oversees the government's excess property, worked together to "identify weaknesses" in the government's property-disposal system, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
TACOMA, Wash.- As a technician with the Federal Aviation Administration, Steven B. Smith was paid to work on equipment used to keep the flying public safe.
Federal prosecutors contend the Southern California resident also used his position to steal nearly $3 million in public property, including a 50-foot yacht, a Cessna airplane and a 44-foot yawl once used by Navy ROTC students at the University of Washington.
A federal grand jury in Tacoma indicted Smith and his half-brother, Bradley A.G. Garner, earlier this month on one count of wire fraud and theft of honest services.
Smith and Garner, who splits time between California and his native Canada, are to be arraigned Feb. 27 at the U.S. District Courthouse in Tacoma, Wash. Efforts to reach their attorneys were unsuccessful.
The case is being prosecuted in Tacoma because some of the stolen merchandise came from federal agencies with offices in Western Washington, or was processed through Fort Lewis, Wash.
In essence, prosecutors say, Smith used the government's excess-property stockpile as his personal shopping mall, only he rarely paid for his merchandise. Garner helped Smith sell or move some of the illegally obtained property, according to court records.
Prosecutors contend the brothers defrauded the government of more than 200 items over a four-year period.
"It was part of the conspiracy that Smith, Garner and others would obtain millions in proceeds during their conspiracy, including motor yachts, sailboats, fishing boats, ski boats, trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, tools and other valuable items," federal officials wrote in charging documents.
The brothers kept some of the items for their own use and sold others including as many as 20 Apple computers on eBay, prosecutors contend.
In the aftermath of Smith's alleged fraud, the FAA and the U.S. General Service Administration, which oversees the government's excess property, worked together to "identify weaknesses" in the government's property-disposal system, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
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