Feds raid St. Petersburg defense contractor

Feds raid St. Petersburg defense contractor

Feds raid St. Petersburg defense contractor

Federal officials have not said why they raided the company, which employs about 200 people locally and manufactures automatic inflation devices, life rafts and pyrotechnical valves used on spacecraft, among other products.

The raid involved agents from six agencies, including the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the offices of inspector general with the Air Force, NASA and the defense department.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 16-7-2009 by Frogs]

The big question is "Why?". The employees claim not to have any idea and the feds aren't talking.

However, with six agencies involved I would think it has the potential to be something farily major.

I haven't seen this pop up on the national sources yet, but it has been covered by local sources.


Feds raid St. Petersburg defense contractor

(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 16-7-2009 by Frogs]

interesting.I live in tampa. Worked in the defense contract industry.I have heard of these guys before. Wonder what this is about.

Maybe the alphabet agencies are going on a fishing trip? Maybe they just threw darts at a bunch of company names and went for the one they hit

Just a bit of an update around this. The search warrant for the raid has been revealed now.

Search warrant for Conax raid focuses on parachute safety devices

TAMPA — A federal raid last week of a St. Petersburg defense contractor focused on products used in parachuting devices during emergency ejections and internal documents about their components, performance and inspection, according to a search warrant provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
......

Agents seizing property at Conax also sought information about manufacturing the MA-16, an inertia reel that a pilot or other military aircraft occupant uses as a safety device to attach to a parachute.

According to the search warrant, investigators were to seize "any and all MA-16s that contain or appear to contain broken teeth, sheared teeth and bent shafts. Any and all SEAWARS and/or UWARS that contain or appear to contain counterfeit/nonconforming resistors" or switches that were or appeared to be damaged."

Agents also sought to seize all documents, written or electronic, authorizing the substitution of used, counterfeit or commercial components in lieu of new parts that are required by more than a dozen federal agencies serving as clients.

Hmmm... from this it would appear they were suspected of providing faulty equipment. In this case faulty equipment that should help save lives if working properly. If this was indeed the case then I'm glad they went after them.