PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A new trial date has been set for a Coos Bay defense contractor accused of supplying phony truck and helicopter parts to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Federal court records show Harold Ray Bettencourt II will go to trial Aug. 21 in Portland. Several family members and other employees are co-defendants also going on trial.
A December 2011 indictment from a grand jury in Eugene alleges that Bettencourt’s Kustom Products Inc. supplied defective and counterfeit parts to the U.S. Department of Defense in at least 392 separate contracts valued at $7.5 million.
The defendants have all pleaded not guilty.
The investigation began when Army National Guard mechanics found defects in a critical nut that secures the rotor on the Kiowa armed scout helicopter in 2008.
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