Firm Expected to Plead Guilty to Criminal Indictment : Rockwell Overcharging Alleged

Rockwell International is expected to plead guilty within the next few days to a criminal indictment alleging that the firm overcharged the Pentagon for electronics work at a factory in Texas, a Justice Department spokesman said Tuesday.

The indictment could be made public as early as today. Pittsburgh-based Rockwell, the nation’s second-largest defense contractor, will be charged in a 20-count indictment alleging that six employees falsified time cards at a Dallas plant in 1981 and 1982. The phony time cards resulted in $300,000 in overcharges, according to the Associated Press.

Rockwell was prepared to admit the irregularities as soon as the Justice Department announced the results of its investigation, a source told the Associated Press.

“This is not that big of a deal,” the source said. “Rockwell does $6 billion worth of work for defense, and we’re talking about $300,000.”

The Associated Press said it was not free to specify whether the source was with Rockwell or the Justice Department.

In Washington, Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott denied a newspaper report that top Justice Department officials had overruled a recommendation that individual Rockwell officials be charged.

A Justice Department spokesman said the decision to not charge individuals at Rockwell was made by the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas.

Rockwell’s defense electronics arm includes the Collins Communications Systems division, which has a factory in Dallas. The division is based in Richardson, Tex.