BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Two executives at a Boynton Beach-based company have been sentenced to less than a year in prison after prosecutors say they sold cheap body armor to the U.S. government, putting service members in danger.
That's far from the up to 20 years they could have faced.
The Washington Post says back in February, jurors found Tactical Products Group owner Dan Lounsbury, 50, and VP Andres Lopez-Munoz, 35, guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy and making false claims to the government.
In 2012, they were sub-contracted to provide unidentified government workers with 10 sets of hard body armor plates. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the duo worked together to procure cheaper substitute plates, then stuck phony labels on them to make the government think the body armor was nicer than it was.
"Some of these cheaper substitute plates were far outside their warranty period and were not as protective as the false labels claimed," the Department of Justice said.
According to the Palm Beach Post, prosecutors argued the men “endangered the lives and safety of our country’s heroes who are courageously serving overseas to protect the United States ... "
Lounsbury was sentenced to 10 months in prison, and Lopez-Munoz got a four-month sentence, the newspaper reported.
According to the Palm Beach Post, their company also hired former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja as a salesman.
As 10News reported back in March, Raja was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted murder for shooting and killing a stranded black driver, becoming the first Florida police officer to be convicted of an on-duty shooting in three decades. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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