Substandard Bolt Supplier Sentenced

A businessman who supplied substandard bolts for NASA’s space shuttle and U.S. military submarines and helicopters was sentenced in federal court in Orlando, Fla., to five years and four months in prison. U.S. District Judge Patricia Fawsett also ordered Danny Ray Swartzbaugh, 48, operator of Military Industrial Supply Co. of Palm Bay, Fla., to pay nearly $17,000 in restitution and serve three years’ probation. Swartzbaugh had pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy and 18 counts of fraud and making false statements. His firm was fined $50,000. The prosecution charged that Swartzbaugh and his company falsified records and supplied below-grade bolts, costing the government in excess of $1 million.