BRIBERY TRIAL Will the real Detore please stand up

Lawyers questioned witnesses who had very different views of the defendant.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- What matters, the government says, is not whether an aircraft guidance system was good or worthless, but whether Richard E. Detore took part in the gift-giving that "thanked" the congressman who promoted the technology.
During the government's case against Detore, a 43-year-old Virginia engineer and pilot, the jury in U.S. District Court has heard witnesses testify that, in the late 1990s, he masterminded the plot to grant now-expelled U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr.'s every wish.
Detore's co-worker, Albert Lange Jr., said he participated in the conspiracy to "keep Traficant happy," as did their boss at USAerospace in Virginia, J.J. Cafaro, who said he paid for the gifts.
In 1998 and 1999, Cafaro's gifts to Traficant included repairs to his 37-foot rotting wooden boat and attempted purchase of the boat; purchase of a welder and generator; a Jeep that Traficant borrowed but never returned; Corvette rental; and more.
Defense, prosecution cases
As the defense began its case Monday, Detore's team of lawyers offered witnesses who criticized Lange and Cafaro, extolled Detore's character and abilities and spoke in glowing terms of the laser lights landing technology that USAG owned. The witnesses minimized Traficant's role in promoting the technology with the Federal Aviation Administration, saying certification takes five to seven years and Cafaro ran out of money for testing the technology long before then.
Matthew B. Kall, an assistant U.S. attorney, said when the trial began June 16 that the case isn't about good or worthless technology but rather Traficant's receiving things of value in return for official acts.
With that in mind, Kall questioned with verve those who praised the technology and spoke disparagingly about the prosecution's star witnesses -- Lange and Cafaro. Lange, 47, of Virginia, testified last week with immunity; Cafaro, 50, of Liberty, a shopping mall multimillionaire and felon on probation, testified Friday and Monday as a condition of his plea agreement.
Detore's friend
Defense witness Serge Bovy of Maryland, a Boeing 747 pilot for Korean Airlines and former employee of the CIA, described himself to the jury as Detore's best friend. Bovy called Detore a very special and very gifted man -- "Mr. Rules and Regulations" -- with an outstanding reputation.
Bovy said he worked "at will" -- 10 to 15 days a month -- at USAG for about one year, leaving in the fall of 1999, not wanting to waste his time anymore because of Cafaro. Bovy said Cafaro ran the operation "on a shoestring."
While at USAG, Bovy said he came to the conclusion that Lange wanted to "run the company." At the time, Detore was Lange's boss; Lange took over when Cafaro fired Detore in March 2000, in part because of things Lange said Detore alleged about Cafaro's 25-year-old daughter.
Bovy said Lange wanted to buy Traficant's boat and fix it up to go fishing and have parties. Bovy said Detore was "absolutely not" involved in the repairs.
Lange has testified that his buying the boat was a cover story Detore thought up to conceal Cafaro as the true buyer. Lange said Detore once passed on to him $8,000 that Cafaro sent for the repairs, which, in the end, totaled nearly $27,000.
Bovy said he left USAG after a $6,000 dispute with Cafaro over his expense account.
Cafaro, Bovy said, would land in a private jet and arrive at USAG in a limo but had no money to reimburse those who had used their own credit cards to buy things the company required.
USAG went bankrupt in 2000 and folded. It lost about $13 million and never did obtain FAA certification for the laser lights technology.
Government questioning
Kall, when he questioned Bovy, established that Bovy quit USAG in August 1998, not the fall of 1999, and kept getting paid for three months afterward, apparently because Detore neglected to tell Cafaro that Bovy left. Bovy acknowledged that he was sued for the pay and a laptop computer missing from USAG and settled out of court with Cafaro for $7,000-plus.
Kall said Bovy, while at USAG or after he quit, had no way of knowing what Detore was doing with the boat repairs or about a memo dated November 1998 to Cafaro asking for more money to complete the work.
Bovy also wouldn't know why USAG bought a welder in April 1999 or a generator in May 1999, Kall said.
Bovy agreed.
The welder and generator were two more gifts the government said Detore arranged for Traficant. The ex-congressman, convicted of racketeering, bribery and tax evasion, is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
Lonnie Czekalski of Virginia, a pilot and 28-year veteran of the FAA, said she worked at USAG from February 1998 until January 2000, trying to market the laser technology, especially at foreign air shows. She said Cafaro would OK certain air shows then not provide the money to go because the budget was always an issue.
Detore, Czekalski said, was very knowledgeable and tried to keep USAG viable. She said her meetings with Cafaro were rare.
Praise for technology
Czekalski called the laser landing device the "greatest thing since sliced bread" and brought along about 25 marketing diagrams. The jury saw on a large projection screen a few diagrams that explained how the lasers lights can be used to prevent aircraft crashes.
When Kall asked, Czekalski agreed that all she knew about the welder and generator were what Detore told her -- when he told her the FBI was investigating the items.
The defense said two men who invented the laser lights technology would testify today, and possibly Walter Ellison of the Virginia area. There's been testimony about a $12,000 check Cafaro sent to Detore, of which Detore kept $11,800 cash, saying it was to pay Ellison for security manuals that no witness so far has testified seeing.
Detore will then take the stand in his own defense. He is charged with conspiracy to violate the federal bribery statute. If convicted, Detore likely faces 24 to 36 months in prison under the federal sentencing guidelines.
Cafaro cross-examination
Cafaro was cross-examined by Thomas W. Mills Jr., Detore's attorney, on Monday. Cafaro acknowledged that he didn't know if Lange was pocketing the money sent for the boat repairs. Cafaro said he didn't check; he left it in Detore's hands.
Mills accused Cafaro of firing Detore as a way of getting rid of someone who wanted to do things the right way.
"That's your statement," Cafaro answered.
"True?" Mills asked.
"No," came the answer.
Mills said the only reason Cafaro wrote an $8,000 check to Detore for boat repairs was to get Detore involved in the tangled mess.
Cafaro rejected the assertion, saying the only reason the check was written to Detore was because he asked for it in a memo to pay for boat repairs.
When questioned by Kall on Friday, Cafaro said USAG couldn't continue because of his illegal activities with Traficant, which became widely publicized by early 2000.
Cafaro said Traficant still has the boat, never paid for nearly $27,000 in repairs and didn't give back $13,000 Cafaro said he slipped to the congressman as they drove around Youngstown State University on Nov. 14, 1998. Cafaro said Traficant wanted $13,000, half the purchase price of the boat, for Christmas shopping.
meade@vindy.com