From his home in rural Texas, a would-be defense contractor spun a web of fake companies and testing reports to pass off Chinese-made body armor as American equipment that met rigorous standards for use by the State Department and U.S. law enforcement partners in Latin America.

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       Tanner Jackson, 32, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Alexandria federal court to one count of wire fraud, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

       According to the court record, Tanner claimed to have a factory in Texas where he produced products that had been tested at a local laboratory for their ability to stop bullets. In fact, he admitted, his company had only two employees — himself and his wife — and its only office was in their home. The testing done by Texas Ballistics Laboratory was fake; the lab did not exist beyond the website he created.

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       Tanner also admitted using other people’s names to order equipment from China, including that of an actual U.S. embassy official and a Honduran police leader. He posed as employees of his company and as ballistics experts. To explain delays in shipping from China of products he claimed he produced himself, he admits inventing truck accidents and covid outbreaks.

       Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told Jackson in court Tuesday that he got a “very beneficial plea agreement,” given that he was not charged with identity theft.

       The actual charge hinges on a single email. In 2017, Jackson’s company made the lowest bid on a contract — to supply vests and helmets that could withstand handgun bullets — to the State Department for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. According to court records, he falsely told a contracting officer in Virginia via email that his company was manufacturing the equipment, which had passed necessary ballistics tests. He admitted sending the officer a falsified ballistics report as proof.

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       He said he was not subcontracting body armor because he wanted to maintain “quality control” over the processing of raw steel. In fact, he admitted buying the parts from China and having them shipped to Texas after winning the contract.

       According to the court documents, Jackson created false email exchanges between himself and a shipping company employee to explain delays actually caused by the challenges of international transport of thousands of pounds of equipment from China.？

       The body armor made it to Iraq and was used by embassy personnel, until concerns arose about its quality. Jackson’s business folded in December.

       A Virginia-based contractor pleaded guilty to the same crime in Maryland last year; he was also passing off Chinese-made body armor as American. Prosecutors in that case are asking for 37 months in prison.

       Jackson will be sentenced Feb.？22. As part of his plea, he agreed to repay $184,000 to the U.S. government.

       An attorney for Jackson did not immediately return a request for comment.

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