Businessmen convicted of supplying used circuit breakers to nuclear power plants.

Businessmen convicted of supplying used circuit breakers to nuclear power plants

Two Southland businessmen pleaded guilty last month to a counterfeit-labeling scheme in which used circuit breakers were fraudulently resold to nuclear power plants in California and Arizona.

Carlos Trevino, 39, and his brother, Isidro Trevino, 37, were convicted on two felony counts by a U.S. District Court April 30 in connection with the sales of the falsely-labeled switches. The Trevino's -- joint owners of North Hollywood-based California Breakers Inc. and ATS Circuit Breakers of Burbank -- were ordered to pay $1.3 million in fines and restitution and sentenced to three years probation and 100 hours of community service.

"This was a serious matter in that they (the Trevinos) were selling used parts to sensitive, important installations including nuclear power plants and NASA," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Eglash, who prosecuted the case for the Justice Department. "Although nothing serious happened, the potential for an accident was real."

The scam started in the mid-1980s, when the Trevino's directed their workers to take labels off switches made by General Electric, Westinghouse and Square D and apply them to used circuit breakers California Breakers and ATS had purchased, the U.S. Attorney charged. After reconditioning the switches, the companies would then sell them without informing the buyers the parts were used, Egalsh said.

The convictions centered on the Trevinos' guilty plea on two specific sales: a February 1985 sale of General Electric switches to the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona and a February 1988 sale of circuit breakers intended for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power facility in San Luis Obispo. The switches sold for roughly $600 apiece.

U.S. District Judge Consuel B. Marshall ordered the brothers to pay fines of $5,000 each and $1.3 million in restitution to Palo Verde. The $1.3 million was set to cover the costs and lost revenues incurred by the plant in removing the parts.

The reconditioned circuit breakers used at Palo Verde were installed for years in a safety system designed to shut the plant down in case of an accident. If an emergency had occurred, and the used circuit breakers had failed to work, the result could have been "catastrophic," Eglash said.

The switches sold to Diablo Canyon were never installed at the plant.

The convictions were the result of a joint investigation by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Both ATS and California Breakers are still in business. Company officials could not be reached for comment.