Oh look, here's another group of innocent people doing nothing wrong!
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/...d51ba57a9.html Helicopter fraud defendants answer to new federal charges
HANSEN: The office and warehouse of Hansen Helicopters Inc., a Guam-based helicopter transport company, were searched in 2016 as part of a criminal case against the company. John Walker, Marvin Reed, Kenneth Crowe, Phillip Kapp and Randall Rogers of Hansen Helicopters, and Frank Litkei Sr. of Spares Inc. were indicted on numerous charges on Jan. 8. Post file photo
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The defendants in a federal fraud case involving Hansen Helicopters Inc. answered to the charges filed against them in a second superseding indictment in the District Court of Guam on Thursday.
Defendants John Walker, Marvin Reed, Kenneth Crowe, Phillip Kapp and Randall Rogers of Hansen Helicopters, and Frank Litkei Sr. of Spares Inc. were indicted on numerous charges on Jan. 8.
They appeared for arraignment before Magistrate Judge Michael Bordallo.
The charges include multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board; destruction, alteration or falsification of records; false statement; aircraft parts fraud; employing a mechanic without a mechanic's certificate; employing a pilot without a pilot's certificate; registration violations involving helicopters; bribery; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; wire fraud; money laundering; and a notice of forfeiture allegation.
The defendants were initially charged in May 2018 and a superseding indictment adding more charges against the group was filed in December 2019, Post files state.
In September 2020, Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood dismissed multiple counts that charged the defendants with employing a mechanic without a mechanic's certificate, as the defense argued the charge was "duplicitous," or joined two or more offenses in the same count.
Federal prosecutors then told the court they were working to file a second superseding indictment.
On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Leon Guerrero requested that the court hold a hearing to remand defendants Walker, Crowe, Kapp and Reed.
Hansen operated aerial tours and tuna-spotting services for international fishing operations, and provided charter services for federal agencies to locations in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands otherwise inaccessible by air.
The men are accused of obtaining aircraft that had been deregistered because they were destroyed, scrapped or deemed not airworthy, and then falsifying documents and records submitted to government agencies to obtain airworthiness certificates for those same aircraft.