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Federal j- 3j 07 raid on B-/ B-2 plant has residents worried Documents seized from company in Somerset County By day's end, agents were gone and in the ensuing days even the local grapevine has been devoid of a plausible theory By Dennis B. Roddy for what prompted theraid. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Much of the speculation cen ters on the company's multi- WINDBER, Pa. - Federal million dollar federal defense agents swarmed over the contracts, among the hundreds Kuchera Defense Systems plant, of millions. steered into this taking trucks full of documents, region by its powerful congress- disks full of computer records man, John P. Murtha, a Demo and names of employees, then crat from. neighboring John- vanished, leaving this town of stown. Kuchera began as a mod- 4,000 confused, wondering and est, computer-based business in a bit fearful. 1985 and has'since grown into a "This may turn out to be major contractor that does work nothing and it may turn out to on weapon guidance systems be something," said J. Ted Hol- and recently developeda bomb- b6 lern, one of the businessmen searching robot for the defense who count brothers william b7C department. and Ronald Kuchera as civic The Kucheras have been assets-men who staked every- supporters.of.thecongress- thing in 1985 to create a high. man, with the family donat- tech business that has grown ing roughly. $24,000. over the into Windber's second-largest past five years-an amount not employer. unusual for a defense contrac Be it something or nothing, tor. Mr. Murtha has received far this Somerset County town wor- more from firms such as Grum- ries about the damage.. man and Johnstown-based Con- The Jan. 22 raid shut down current Technologies Corp. the plant for a day. In a place Mr. Murtha's office said it has that saw unemployment top- not been contacted by any inves- ping 20 percent in the 1980s in tigative agencies and noted that the region's last big recession, 36 of the firm's.37 defense con- when the local steel and mining tracts were won on open bids. industries collapsed, there was "These are two of the: best a collective sigh of relief when men I can think of," said one Kuchera reopened for business Kuchera manager who escorted the following morning. a reporter from the property. "Windber and Somerset Neither of the... broth- County certainly doesn't want 'ers. responded : to. interview to lose - what is it, 300 jobs?" requests. said Dan Miller, a local car salesman. SEE KUchera. PArF R.? Agents from the FBI, IRS and the Defense Criminal Investiga- tive Service, rushed the plant Sac. su s9 mcus on the edge of this former coal town as Kuchera's 300 employ- Wm mOus 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 46A-86773-57 20 miles away from the plant.