Wife, Son Of Family-Owned Brielle Marine Supply Store Plead Guilty

BRIELLE, NJ — The family that owns a marine supply store in Brielle is accused of running a scheme where they supplied cheap or knock-off manufactured parts to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The store is Monmouth Marine Engines, Inc. (known as Monmouth Marine), located in Brielle. It is owned by Paul and Linda Mika, of Jackson. Their son, Kenneth Mika, 53, of Ewing, worked at the store.

The indictment against all three was unsealed Tuesday by U.S. federal prosecutors. You can read it here.

Linda Mika pleaded guilty Tuesday in Trenton federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Her son pleaded guilty on June 25 to the same.

The case is still pending against Paul Mika.

All three were previously indicted for five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Kenneth Mika was additionally charged with two counts of lying to federal agents.

All three are facing up to 20 years in prison and fines.

Monmouth Marine is an approved federal contractor, and has contracts with the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to supply replacement hardware such as gaskets and hose for the U.S. Navy's boats and submarines.

However, once they got the federal contracts, prosecutors say the Mikas sourced non-conforming substitute parts at a significantly reduced cost, and which did not come from authorized Dept. of Defense manufacturers.

"Once awarded the contracts by DLA, the DEFENDANTS knowingly and intentionally sourced unauthorized and cheaper replacement parts," read the indictment. "By furtively substituting cheaper replacement parts, the DEFENDANTS increased Monmouth Marine's profit margin; unfairly suppressed fair competition for the award of DLA contracts; and deceived the downstream purchasers of the replacement parts, who believed they were receiving the parts explicitly identified in the DLA contracts."

This went on from 2016 to 2020, say federal prosecutors.

Feds say they even shipped the cheaper parts in disguise packaging to hide what they looked like from the Dept. of Defense and Defense Logistics Agency.