California aircraft parts employee gets prison for selling military defective helicopter bolts

Calif man gets prison for defective military bolts

SAN DIEGO — A judge has sentenced a San Diego County aircraft worker to two years in federal prison for selling the military defective bolts for its helicopters.

U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy says 57-year-old Joel H. Potter pleaded guilty and admitted he put troops at risk. He was sentenced Monday.

Duffy says the U.S. Department of Defense discovered the problem after a bolt’s head broke off as it was being installed on a Sikorsky CH-53E helicopter, prompting a worldwide alert to the Navy and Marine Corps.

The former employee of Mackenzie Aircraft Parts Inc. in Vista, Calif., from 2004 to 2008 sold more than 16,000 noncompliant aircraft parts to a supplier contracted by the Defense Department.

He also must pay $244,660 in restitution.