A U.S. defense supplier pleaded guilty last Friday (Dec. 18) in U.S. District Court in Maryland to illegally selling Chinese-made body armor and other items to U.S. federal government agencies.
Arthur Morgan, 67, of Virginia. could be sentenced after he pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of wire fraud and unlawful possession of a firearm brought by prosecutors. The court has scheduled his sentencing for March 15 of next year.
Morgan is the president of Surveillance Equipment Group Inc. He contracted to provide bulletproof vests, helmets, riot gear and other supplies to federal agencies.
A press release from U.S. Attorney Robert Hoar’s office said Morgan falsely claimed he was selling products from Hong Kong and the United States when in fact he knew he was violating trade agreement laws by supplying products made in China to federal agencies.
Between September 2014 and August 2019, about six federal government agencies ordered 11 shipments of equipment from his company, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Government investigators searched his Virginia home last December and confiscated several guns. Hoar’s office said Morgan is prohibited from owning guns because he was charged and convicted of second-degree murder in Maryland in 1982.
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