Ex-Reserve General in Plea Deal

A retired U.S. Air Force Reserve brigadier general pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice Tuesday in connection with a probe into allegations that he had taken illegal gratuities from a hotel manager.

Robert Leigh Tate, 67, faces six to 12 months in prison under terms of a plea bargain reached just hours before the case was to go to trial in U.S. District Court.

Tate, who lives in Irvine, headed the Western regional office of the U.S. Defense Systems Management College in El Segundo, which provides training to military officers and civilians responsible for acquiring weapons systems.

In 1998, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service launched an investigation into a report that a local hotel manager had paid Tate for information about students scheduled to attend the college. The hotel allegedly used the information to solicit their business.

The obstruction of justice charge stemmed from a conversation in which Tate told the manager to destroy a check register showing he was paid for student names. The manager, who was cooperating with investigators, wore a concealed tape recorder.

Tate had acknowledged receiving about $4,000 from the manager, but denied it was in exchange for lists of students who would be attending the college.

Tate’s attorney, Scott Furstman, said his client plowed most of the money back into the college.

The general was originally indicted on additional charges of accepting illegal gratuities, but those allegations were dropped by the U.S. attorney’s office last month.

Assistant U.S. Atty. David Vaughn said that if the case had gone to trial, the hotel manager was prepared to testify he paid Tate about $20,000 for student information between 1996 and 1998.

Tate, who is free on bond, will be sentenced Nov. 18.