Defense Contractor Must Pay $1.3 Million After Providing Fraudulent Parts To Military

A defense contractor must pay $1.3 million in restitution and serve a three month prison sentence after supplying the U.S. military with faulty and fraudulent parts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio said Tuesday.

Timothy W. Foley, operator and co-owner of Parts Source International Inc. in Goleta, California, worked as a contractor for the Department of Defense (DOD), providing a variety of military-grade parts for use on weapons systems, some of which were critical application items. The 72-year-old Foley admitted, however, that from 2012 to 2019 he supplied the military with non-conforming parts, placing the substitutions in fraudulent packaging, a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office stated.

Despite supplying the military with faulty and fraudulent parts, Foley invoiced the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) in Columbus, Ohio for payment, receiving approximately $1.36 million for the unauthorized supplies. (RELATED: A Single Defense Contractor Lost More Than 1 Million Spare F-35 Parts, Watchdog Report Finds)

“Behavior such as this, from individuals putting profit over the safety of the dedicated men and women in our military, will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker stated in the release. “When we find individuals supplying fraudulent items to the U.S. military, we will address these illegal acts as the serious crimes they are,” Parker continued.

Patrick J. Hegarty, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Northeast Field Office, stressed the risks Foley imposed on military readiness through his actions.

“The introduction of defective parts into the DoD supply chain endangers the lives of American service members and threatens our military readiness. The DCIS is committed to working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio, the Defense Logistics Agency, and our law enforcement partners to ensure that individuals who engage in fraudulent activity, at the expense of the U.S. military, are investigated and prosecuted,” Hegarty stated in the release.

Foley’s co-conspirator, 52-year-old Jimmy Daryl Thomas, was sentenced in May 2023 to two months in prison and ordered to pay more than $219,000 in restitution for assisting Foley in procuring cheaper, non-conforming parts on at least 29 contracts, the release stated.