New Jersey Defense Contractor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Accessing ITAR-Controlled Data

A New Jersey defense contractor pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Department of Justice said in a news release. Oben Cabalceta owned two New Jersey companies, Owen's Fasteners Inc. and United Manufacturer LLC. Cabalceta admitted to defrauding the Department of Defense by "providing military equipment parts that were not what he had contracted to provide and illegally accessing technical information because he was not a United States citizen," the DOJ said.

Defense contracted with Cabalceta's companies for military parts that "would be the exact product provided by authorized manufacturers," the DOJ said. In addition to defrauding the DoD, Cabalceta in 2005 and 2010 "caused his brother-in-law, Roger Sobrado, to submit to the DoD a fraudulent application for access to export controlled drawings and technical data on behalf Owen’s," the DOJ said. "In 2015, Cabalceta caused an accomplice to submit to the DoD a fraudulent application for access to export controlled drawings and technical data on behalf Owen’s." Sobrado pleaded guilty in October 2018, the DOJ said.

According to the charging document, Cabalceta never applied for nor received a license "or other authorization from the [Directorate of Defense Trade Controls] to export directly or indirectly [International Traffic in Arms Regulations]-controlled technical data from" the U.S. "It was the object of the conspiracy to willfully export ITAR-controlled technical data related to the design and manufacture of defense hardware items and spare parts without the requisite license or other written approval from the United States Department of State for financial gain," U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.