IDAHO WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MAIL FRAUD CHARGES IN ALABAMA

BIRMINGHAM, AL - DEBRA KEITH SNODGRASS, 53, of Boise, Idaho, pled guilty today in U. S. District Court to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and Mail Fraud which occurred in Alabama.

SNODGRASS and her sister-in-law ALICE VETTER were indicted in November 2005. Specifically, the indictment charged that from January 1992 until August 2003, SNODGRASS and VETTER, participated in a scheme in which false invoices were submitted to NASA through Boeing Computer Support Services and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Based on the submission of the false invoices, SNODGRASS and VETTER received approximately $1.3 million from CSC through their respective businesses, i.e. T & D Audio (later known as Tri Co Audio) and Vetters Distributors through the U.S. Mail. In a separate case, CSC agreed to settle and reimburse the United States Government $1,275,000 after an investigation revealed a lack of control in the purchase requisition system at CSC.

“NASA has important critical missions, and any fraud costs important tax payer dollars, ” states U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. “Those who defraud will be met with prosecution.”

SNODGRASS now faces a sentence of five years in prison on conspiracy to commit mail fraud and twenty years in prison for mail fraud. Additionally, she faces a fine of up to $250,000 on both Counts. VETTER was convicted by a jury in April 2006, and awaits sentencing, but faces the same penalties.

The case was investigated by Special Agents of the NASA, Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Angela Redmond Debro is prosecuting the case on behalf of the U.S. Government.