I'm not sure if I can recall a previous conviction for this activity, although it has reputedly been going on throughout the industry for years. I seem to recall a story here on PPRuNe about someone selling a 206 data plate and records on eBay recently.
British man pleads guilty to attempted aircraft parts fraud
A British man, who owned a helicopter sales and repair facility in Bristol, Tennessee, has pleaded guilty after authorities said he tried to fraudulently sell a damaged helicopter.
Richard Paul Harper, 67, pleaded guilty Tuesday and will be sentenced in October in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He faces up to 10 years in prison on a charge of attempted aircraft parts fraud.
Harper owned and operated Apple Helicopter International, which had offices in Bristol and Great Britain. He was charged following a lengthy investigation by the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At one time, Apple held a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Harper was engaged in purchasing, refurbishing and selling used helicopters and helicopter parts. Apple International’s American office was located on Industrial Drive in the Bristol Industrial Park.
Harper was born and grew up in Norwich, United Kingdom, ran a haulage company in the 1980s, but a love of flying helicopters led him to develop a business buying and selling Bell helicopters, according to a 2012 article in the British newspaper Eastern Daily Press.
When his business took off, Harper moved to the U.S., but later returned to the U.K. by 2012, the newspaper said.
In his plea agreement, Harper admitted to obtaining a Bell helicopter with significant underbelly damage. Instead of performing necessary, costly repairs, the fuselage of the helicopter was switched with the fuselage of another helicopter that previously crashed in New Jersey, the agreement states. The original data plates were affixed to that helicopter.
A criminal complaint says Harper coordinated the fraudulent combination of the fuselage from one damaged helicopter with the nose and tail from the other damaged helicopter.
When doing so, Harper switched or caused the switching of the data plate from one damaged helicopter to the fuselage from another damaged helicopter, the complaint states.
Harper attempted to sell the fraudulently altered helicopter to a fictitious client of a broker, who was actually an undercover federal agent.
The complaint said Harper also sent a fraudulently obtained airworthiness certificate and documentation that misrepresented facts, such as the true age and actual hours of service of the helicopter. The complaint also says Harper used the names of FAA-issued mechanic’s licenses to provide the impression that work on the helicopter had been certified and inspected.
In connection with the attempted sale, Harper solicited the wire transfer of proceeds from the sale to a bank account in the U.K., the complaint states.
“Fraudulent activity of any kind is reprehensible and detrimental, but fraudulent activity of this kind that poses a particular danger to those who fly the aircraft and are on the ground is particularly egregious,” said U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey. “I want to commend our law enforcement partners in this case for bringing the perpetrator of this fraud to justice.”
https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/l...3df68f581.html