BY TIM WILLERT twillert@opubco.com
A former Tinker Air Force Base item manager who purchased replacement parts for military aircraft was arrested Thursday, accused of accepting large cash payments from government contractors in return for favorable treatment.
James Lee Loman, 70, of McCloud, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and accepting bribes as a federal official, according to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City.
He also faces a conflict-of-interest charge.
He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the charges and $838,200 in fines, money federal prosecutors allege Loman obtained from the bribery scheme while buying parts for the U.S. Air Force.
He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The indictment alleges that between 2002 and 2006, Loman accepted cash payments from the owner of Daytona Aerospace of Deerfield Beach, Fla., in exchange for the purchase of Boeing 707 replacement parts.
Loman, the indictment alleges, drove to Florida on several occasions to pick up the cash and deposited some of it into an Oklahoma bank account in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid detection.
He also is accused of sending faxes to the unidentified owner which calculated payments based on a percentage of aircraft sales to the Air Force and tracked the amount of bribes due and already paid, prosecutors allege.
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