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By Alexis Weisend
The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
VANCOUVER, Wash. — A Vancouver man was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in federal prison for intentionally selling low-quality ballistic protective equipment produced in China to dozens of domestic law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military.
Jeffrey Meining, 42, operated a ballistic equipment business from 2016 to 2022 called BulletProof-IT, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. He sold equipment, including helmets, body armor and shields to state, local and federal agencies that included law enforcement agencies, fire departments and the military.
He told buyers the products were from the United States when they were actually from China. For instance, Meining purchased 600 helmets from a Chinese company in 2017 for about $50,000 and sold them for $90,000 to a reseller. That reseller sold them to the U.S. Department of State for $107,994, according to the news release.
Meining also lied about safety testing, the news release said, claiming his products met certain safety standards. However, he did not test them to meet the advertised levels, or he altered reports to reflect inaccurate results, court records show.
Customers relied on Meining’s false statements and falsified product testing results when deciding to purchase his products, the news release said.
Meining was charged with wire fraud in November 2022. On March 23, 2023, he pleaded guilty to the single charge.
After serving time in prison, Meining will have three years of supervised release.
“In the shadow of deceit, Jeffrey Meining orchestrated a scheme of betrayal, defrauding not only law enforcement agencies but the very fabric of trust woven into our nation’s armor,” said Robert Hammer, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Seattle Field Office.
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