San Diego

A $100,000 fine and 30 months in federal prison was the sentence handed down Tuesday to the owner of a ship repair firm who was convicted of 80 counts of defrauding the Navy by inflating the repair bills.

U.S. District Judge William Enright did allow Stephanie Cardoza, 36, owner of Marine Boiler Repair Inc., to remain free on appeal if she can post $25,000 bail.

He fined the firm, which is doing business under another name and with a new owner, $350,000.

Both Cardoza and the company were convicted March 10 of conspiracy to defraud the United States and 79 counts of presenting false documents, which included falsified labor hours, time cards and time sheets.

“There must be many nights when you lay awake, wondering if it was worth it,” the judge told Cardoza.

“You just have to look at the mirror to see the cause of your troubles. Here you knew the stakes. I assume you knew there would be a day of reckoning.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. William Braniff said a five-year prison term was not unreasonable.

According to the April 18, 1985, indictment, the Navy was defrauded of $1.5 million.

Braniff said Cardoza instructed her employees to make false entries on time cards and time sheets.

In a brief statement before the judge, Cardoza insisted she was innocent.

Her attorney, Mark Topel, made a motion for a new trial at the start of her sentencing.

Cardoza has been in custody since the March 10 verdict by the jury after three days of deliberations.