Former Huntington Beach engineer sentenced for selling nuclear

triggers

Paul Clinton

A former Huntington Beach engineer has been sentenced to 40 months in

federal prison and fined $20,000 for selling devices that could be used

as nuclear triggers to Israel in 1982.

Authorities extradited Richard Kelly Smyth, 72, from southern Spain,

where he lived in hiding since fleeing from a 1985 indictment.

On Monday, federal Judge Pamela Rymer ruled that Smyth could be

released on parole due to his age and frail health.

In December, Smyth admitted shipping 50 of the triggers, known as

“krytrons,” from his his Huntington Beach electronics company, Milco

International Inc., to Heil Trading Co. in Israel in 1982. He also

pleaded guilty to making false statements about the shipments.

By shipping about 800 of the two-inch-long krytrons during the early

1980s, Smyth violated the U.S. Arms Export Control Act.

At the time, the devices were on the United States Munitions List,

meaning that anyone wanting to export the devices was required to have a

license or written approval from the State Department.

Smyth was arrested in Malaga, Spain last year, after he tried to open

a bank account and the 16-year-old indictment surfaced. He was brought

back from Spain on Nov. 16.

Smyth was the president of Milco International Inc., a Huntington

Beach electronics supplier. Smyth abandoned the company when he fled to

Spain in 1985.

Smyth and wife Emelie spent “15 idyllic years in Spain,” Rymer said on

Monday.