Crime & Safety

Shoreham Defense Contractor Sentenced to Prison for Bribery

President of defense contracting firm, Thanomsak Hongthong, of Shoreham, sentenced to two years in prison Thursday.

After previously pleading guilty to bribery charges, Thanomsak Hongthong, 57, of Shoreham, was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison.

Hongthong, President and CEO of VDH Precision Machining Corp., a manufacturer of electrical and mechanical component parts in Bohemia, pleaded guilty to U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson and on Thursday, Thompson announced sentencing in Trenton federal court.

According to court statements and documents filed in the case, Hongthong's company was awarded a contract worth more than $1.7 million in November of 2009 to provide spare parts to the U.S. Army. Shortly after, Hongthong contacted the Department of Defense contracting officer at Fort Monmouth who was responsible for the contract.

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At the end of a meeting that took place at Fort Monmouth on Feb. 5, 2010, Hongthong made a statement to the contracting officer that was took as an offer of a bribe. Officials at Fort Monmouth were contacted and began the investigation.

Law enforcement directed the two meet again, which they did on March 17, 2010. During this recorded meeting, Hongthong offered the contracting officer $100,000 if the contracting officer would increase the price of the contract, as well as $10,000 in cash up front. In another recorded telephone conversation, Hongthong again offered the contracting officer $10,000 cash up front.

The contracting officer and Hongthong then agreed to meet again days later. During this meeting, recorded by law enforcement, Hongthong gave the contracting officer $10,000 in cash.

Hongthong was also sentenced to three years supervised release, fined $5,000 and ordered to forfeit $10,000.

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