A former Carson Helicopters vice president is facing a federal prison sentence for his role in falsifying helicopter performance charts. The fraud was discovered during a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the crash of a company Sikorsky S-61N that killed nine and injured four in 2008, while on a firefighting mission in California.

Steven Metheny faces sentencing on June 15 after pleading guilty in December to one felony count of filing a false statement and of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Forest Service. The federal government charged that Metheny deliberately falsified the charts to exaggerate the helicopter’s performance and thereby fraudulently obtain up to $51.7 million in Forest Service contracts. In a sentencing memo, the U.S. Attorney’s office also noted that Metheny stole and sold parts from Carson, using the funds to remodel his home and buy jewelry.

In 2010 the NTSB concluded that the falsified charts deliberately understated the helicopter’s weight and were a contributory factor in the crash. Carson voluntarily surrendered its Part 135 charter certificate shortly after the crash to concentrate on its helicopter modification business.