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Federal raid on plant has residents worrled Documents seized: from company in Somerset County By Dennis B. Roddy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WINDBER, Pa. - Federal agents swarmed over the Kuchera Defense Systems plant, taking trucks full of documents, disks full of computer records and names of employees, then vanished, leaving this town of 4,000 confused, wondering and a bit fearful. “This may turn out to be nothing and it may turn out to . be something,” said J. Ted Hol- lern, one of the businessmen who count brothers William and Ronald Kuchera as civic’ | assets — men who staked every- thing in 1985 to create a high., . tech business that has grown into Windber’s second-largest - employer. Be it something or nothing, this Somerset County town wor- ries about the damage. The Jan. 22 raid shut down the plant for a day. In a place that saw unemployment top- ping 20 percent in the 1980s in the region’s last big recession, when the local steel and mining industries collapsed, there was a collective sigh of relief when Kuchera reopened for business the following morning. “Windber and Somerset © County certainly doesn’t want to lose — what is it, 300 jobs?” __said Dan Miller, a local car - |:' salesman. Agents from the FBI, IRS and the Defense Criminal Investiga- tive Service, rushed the plant on the edge of this former coal town as Kuchera’s 300 employ- ees showed up for work on a Thursday morning. Agents also searched the brothers’ homes as _ well as the LBK Ranch, a private hunting preserve owned by Wil, liam Kuchera in Croyle, about 20 miles away from the plant. By day’s end, agents were gone ahd: in the ensuing days even the local grapevine has been devoid ofa plausible theory for what prompted theraid.. _ Much of the speciilation cen- ters on the company’s multi- ~ million dolla? federal defense ° . contracts, among the hundreds of millions: steered into :this region by its powerful congress: ° man, John P. Murtha, a. Demo: - crat from. neighboring John: stown. Kuchera began as a med- - est, computer-based business in 1985 and has'since grown into a major contractor that does work * on ‘weapon guidanee systems ’ and recently.developed’a bomb- . searching robot for the defense department: .. The Kucheras have been.’ supporters. of.. the: congress- man, with the family donat- ing roughly: $24,000 over the - past five years — an amount not. unusual fer .a defense contrac- tor. Mr. Murtha has received far ’ niore from firms-such as Grum- man and Johnstown-based Con- current Technologies Corp. | Mr. Murtha's office said it has "not been contacted by any inves-. tigative agencies and notéd.that 36 of the firm’s. 37 defense con- ‘ tracts were won on open bids. “These are two of thie: best | men‘I can: think of,” ‘said. one . Kuchera manager who escorted: areporter from the property. — : Neither -of the. broth- ‘ers. responded ‘ to. interview - requests, SEE MUCHERA. PAGF R.9 4437 LA ETI E Vl ' = B-/ B-2 | [pet / _ Abe T2b6 TI. =. ==: | Semen g Cz | | ft | | : | | IMS SP=me 5 remmen — Sow en toe Crome they = — we SCOW Gis) IME. meee me|s s2meo ot ektiod on were | meee OT - 1 ST. MEP poe imese-