The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are Jerry Scott Smith and Triton Aerospace. They get the award for the following.

TAMPA -- The president of a St. Petersburg aerospace company will spend two years in prison for selling the Defense Department used parts that he passed off as new.

Former Triton Aerospace Inc. president Jerry Scott Smith, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court in June to wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors said the government paid him $202,510 for 91 fraudulent contracts.

U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara on Friday ordered him to repay the money in restitution. Smith told the judge that he received only about $65,000 in profit after costs and splitting the money with a business partner.

"This past year and a half has been a nightmare," Smith told the judge. "I apologize for wasting the court's time. It's an embarrassment to my family."

Smith could have received 20 years in prison, but as part of a plea agreement, prosecutors recommended a reduced sentence.

Some of the parts the government bought from Triton Aerospace wound up in Navy and Air Force planes, including the B-52 bomber, court documents said.

Mr. Scott is right, he is an embarrassment for profiting by endangering military people's lives. That's why Jerry Scott Smith and Triton Aerospace are today's Knuckleheads of the Day.

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