August was a bad month for Triad International Maintenance (Timco) of Greensboro, N.C. The FAR 145 repair station learned on August 9 that one of ts former aircraft mechanics, Hugo Obregon, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Greensboro to two years probation and assessed $100 for making false statements to the FAA on an application for an A&P certificate. Obregon falsely represented he met the training and experience requirements.

The next day Timco employee larcon Dias was sentenced to four months in prison and assessed $100 for falsifying documents stating that he was a U.S. citizen. Deportation proceedings are pending. Dias was detained on March 8 as part of a large-scale federal arrest operation of alleged illegal aliens; he pled guilty on May 4.

During the week of August 15, two former Timco aircraft mechanics were sentenced in an ongoing investigation involving contract employees of the company, and on August 25, Jorge Leiva-Lopez, another former employee of Timco who worked as a non-certified mechanic, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem, N.C., to four months in prison, two years supervised release, and ordered to pay $100 for falsifying an immigration employment eligibility verification document (Form I-9) to reflect that he was a U.S. citizen. Leiva-Lopez was also detained last March during the alleged illegal alien arrest operation. In all, the government has prosecuted 13 Timco employees. Leiva-Lopez pled guilty in May to one count of making false statements on Form I-9. Deportation proceedings are under way.