BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
U.S. District Judge Herman J. Weber sentenced a second Delhi man on Monday for rebuilding aircraft engines with used and - or faulty parts.
Monday, George Geisz, 55, of Farm House Lane, received a year and a day in prison and was ordered to repay more than $100,000 to customers.
Last week, Douglas Walters, 30, of Delhi Pike, received 90 days of home detention, four years of probation, and was ordered to repay about $45,000 to defrauded customers.
Both admitted making false statements to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about engine repairs from October 1996 through early 1997.
Mr. Geisz was the owner of Cleves-based Aero Power Inc., and Mr. Walters was his chief inspector. The company was an FAA-certified firm repairing and overhauling aircraft engines from 1990 until it closed in 1997.
Despite Mr. Geisz' paperwork saying repairs complied with FAA rules, FAA inspectors found used or defective parts in two engines where new parts were required.
The engines were not airworthy, FAA said, but Aero Power certified them for flight.
Mr. Walters was charged with falsely certifying the rebuild of a third engine although the "engine and parts had not been . . . overhauled, inspected, repaired and approved."
Court-ordered restitution covered those and engines owned by at least four others.
As part of the agreement, Mr. Geisz and Mr. Walters will no longer repair or overhaul aircraft engines.
At least one engine apparently was flown after an Aero Power rebuild. It belonged to Wings for Christ in Indiana and was grounded as soon as FAA became aware of the fraud.
Richard Hermanns, air worthiness inspector for FAA in Cincinnati, said the probe began after a customer noted the serial number on his engine's new crankshaft did not match the crankshaft design he had ordered.
Mr. Hermanns said "about a dozen" engines were rebuilt improperly and all had been located.
