The owner of the Northern Carolina Society pleads guilty to the attempt to sell technology to China

Raleigh, NC – On Friday, the owner of a Northern Carolina company pleaded guilty before a Federal Court for trying to sell electronic devices that have military requests in China without having a required US government license, authorities announced.

David C. Bohmerwald, who was officially charged in October to have violated the law on the reform of export control and other parts of the federal code, pleaded the advocacy before a count before the American district judge Terrence Boyle in Raleigh. Bohmerwald, 63, has a provisional sentence for mid-May, according to the judicial archives. He could incur up to 20 years in prison, according to a press release from the Ministry of Justice in the United States.

Bohmerwald, owner of Raleigh Components Cooper Inc., bought 100 accelerometers from an electronic company based in the United States, then tried to export the aircraft to a company in China, according to the press release, citing legal documents and information presented in court.

An accelerometer, which measures the vibrations, the inclination and the acceleration of a structure, can be used in aerospace and military applications, such as aid to missiles more precisely and measuring the precise effect of ammunition.

The electronics company informed the law enforcement for the Bohmerwald purchasing request. After receiving the accelerometers, Bohmerwald filed two packages – a addressed to a company in China – in a shipping store, the statement said. A federal agent held the package and found the 100 accelerometers inside.

Bohmerwald falsely listed the value of the content of the package at $ 100, when the real value was nearly $ 20,000, according to the government, and he admitted to the agents that he had acquired technology in the name of a Chinese company while knowing the export restrictions.

“The disruption of this program to illegally export sensitive technology means that accelerometers and other articles will not be used by unauthorized people or for opponent purposes,” said Cardell Morant, a special responsible agent who oversees internal security surveys within the Ministry of Internal Security, in Caroline.

Lawyers identified in judicial archives as a Bohmerwald representative in the case did not respond to an email on Friday asking for comments.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.