Earlier in the trial, Marvin Reed, formerly Hansen’s executive v-p and a defendant in separate, related proceedings, acknowledged that the company had been using unapproved parts for years. “Yes, that’s correct,” he told Marie Miller, the special assistant U.S. attorney leading the prosecution.
Reed, along with Hansen’s operations director Kenneth “Rufus” Crowe and maintenance director Phillip “Turner” Kapp had their cases severed in March and are expected to plead guilty to reduced charges during proceedings now scheduled for mid-June. Charges against another co-defendant, Frank F. Litkei Sr., owner of Spares Inc. in Florence, Oregon, were dropped after he died before the trial.