History & Operations

Met-Con, Inc., founded in 1979, specializes in the fabrication and erection of structural steel. The company also has a crane division and a precision machine shop in Cocoa, FL. The company’s leadership includes President Billy Sheffield, Vice-President Jeffrey Gibson and Secretary Sally Sheffield.

The Sheffields are partners in Sheffield Real Estate, LLC, formed in October 2010, and have real estate interests in North Carolina and South Carolina. More information on these interests will be provided in a future update.

Dun & Bradstreet estimates Met-Con’s annual revenues as $43 million, and the ABC Florida East Coast Chapter lists the company in the $20 million - $50 million range. Most sources list approximately 250 employees at Met-Con.

Federal Contracts

The federal government’s USA Spending site shows over $40 million in federal contracts awarded directly to Met-Con in the past five years. The company has also acted as a subcontractor or partner in many more federal contracts, such as the $400 million Constellation space program ground support equipment contract awarded by NASA to seven Florida firms in 2008.

Federal Conviction

Met-Con has managed to continue its robust federal contract business, primarily at Kennedy Space Center, despite the company and President Billy Sheffield pleading guilty to filing a false claim against the US Government ten years ago. This criminal plea was part of a wide ranging contracting corruption scandal which led to a series of indictments against Lockheed subcontractors and suppliers.

In a plea agreement, Billy Sheffield and Met-Con pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of filing a false claim with the government, which resulted in a sentence of one year probation, $16,518 in restitution and $250 in fines. Charges against former Met-Con co-owner Stephen B. Long were dropped after he completed a pre-trial diversion program.

An overview of the scandal is provided in the October 2000 article below (click the title to see the full text of the article):

CASE ISN'T CLOSED ON KSC KICKBACKS
DESPITE FOUR GUILTY PLEAS, SOURCES SAY THE PROBE CONTINUES -- AND MOST OF THE RESTITUTION HAS YET TO BE PAID.

Also available on the Orlando Sentinel website is an article written before the disposition of the Sheffield, Long and Met-Con case. According to this article, Met-Con and its executives were charged with twice paying kickbacks to a Lockheed procurement manager (click the title to see the full text of the article):

SUBCONTRACTOR FACES CHARGES IN NASA CASE
MET-CON INC. EXECUTIVES ARE ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN A KICKBACK SCHEME WITH AN EX-LOCKHEED MARTIN MANAGER.

Litigation – Federal

As mentioned above, Met-Con and President Billy Sheffield pled guilty to federal charges in 1999, and were sentenced to fines and probation. Originally charged with felonies, the defendants pled to “False or Fraudulent Claims (aiding and abetting in making and presenting a false claim upon or against the United States).”

According to an 18-page Plea Agreement available below, a contractor approached Billy Sheffield with a scheme to overbill NASA, and Sheffield agreed. Met-Con submitted an inflated invoice of $96,969.71, which overbilled the agency by $16,518.90.

The following filings are available from this case. Additional filings are being obtained and will be posted in a future update:

Superseding Indictment 09/29/1999
Plea Agreement 09/29/1999
Notice Regarding Entry of Guilty Plea 09/29/1999
Report and Recommendation 09/30/1999
Order Accepting Guilty Plea 09/30/1999
Criminal Sentencing Minute Order 02/07/2000
Judgment and Sentence 02/10/2000

CLICK HERE for a docket sheet listing of all filings in the case.

Florida Convicted Vendor List

In 2002 Met-Con fought efforts by the State of Florida Department of Management Services to place the company on a “Convicted Vendors List,” which would have banned Met-Con from bidding on state contracts for three years. Met-Con fully admitted to the state that the company pleaded guilty and were adjudicated guilty of the crime of filing a false claim against the United States, but the company pointed out that the conviction was two years prior to the state’s action, and that Met-Con had disclosed its conviction to the state in a timely fashion.

In September 2002 the State of Florida and Met-Con reached a settlement in which Met-Con and Billy Sheffield were placed on the Convicted Vendors List for three years, but the time period began retroactively, running from April 2000 to April 2003.

The following filings have been obtained from the Florida Department of Management Services:

Met-Con and Sheffield Petition for Hearing 07/29/2002
State Notice of Public Entity Crimes by Met-Con and Sheffield 07/29/2002
Pre-Hearing Stipulation 09/04/2002
Joint Exhibit List 09/04/2002
Stipulation (Settlement) 09/06/2002
Final Order 09/19/2002

Litigation – State

Pope v. United Space Alliance and Met-Con
Brevard County, Florida
Filed July 13,2010

The Plaintiff, an employee of SDB Engineers & Constructors, was declared “totally incapacitated” by a court order after an accident while sandblasting at Kennedy Space Center in 2006. The plaintiff’s workers’ comp case was settled for over $1.2 million in 2010, and his legal guardian has now sued NASA contractors United Space Alliance and Met-Con. Court records do not include a filed answer to the complaint.

Docket Sheet (Index of Filings)
Complaint 07/13/2010
Notice of Worker’s Comp Settlement 09/16/2010
Other filings coming soon.

Met-Con v. Laser Photonics
Seminole County
Filed May 18, 2009

Met-Con won a $10,833.36 default judgment against the defendant. According to the complaint and attached invoices, Laser Photonics failed to pay for aluminum tube assemblies manufactured by Met-Con. Met-Con won the judgment when the defendant did not respond to the lawsuit several months after it was filed.

Complaint 05/18/2099
Default Judgment 09/01/2009

Met-Con v. The Sharon Companies
Orange County, FL
Filed February 13, 2008

Met-Con sued over a dispute arising from a condo construction project in Orlando known as 55 West on the Esplanade Met-Con was a subcontractor to PCL Construction on this project. Met-Con alleged in the complaint that the defendant (also known as Sharon Stairs) supplied steel stairs that were defective and/or not in accordance with the project specs, and Met-Con refused to pay certain costs billed by Sharon. The defendants filed a lien against the property. Sharon Stairs filed a counterclaim for $26,542 in allegedly unpaid invoices. According to a joint stipulation for dismissal, the parties entered into a Settlement Agreement and Release fifteen months after the case was filed. Included in the Exhibits to the Complaint are a Supplier Agreement between the parties, lien documents and correspondence from Met-Con's attorney.

Complaint February 13, 2008
   Exhibits to Complaint February 13, 2008
Answer April 1, 2008
Counterclaim April 1, 2008
Answer to Counterclaim April 21, 2008
Met-Con Motion to Strike April 21, 2008
Met-Con Reply to Defenses April 21, 2008
Sharon Reply to Defenses May 12, 2008
Joint Dismissal May 29, 2009

OSHA

Met-Con has been the subject of six OSHA investigations files in the past ten years. During this time period, OSHA has fined Met-Con $19,675 for 17 safety violations. CLICK HERE for summaries of OSHA investigations.

Worker's Comp

According to the Florida Division of Workers Compensation “Loss Run” database, the following claims have been filed against Met-Con since 2000 (claimant names have not been reproduced in this table):

Employee Benefits

Multiple sources show Met-Con having as many as 250 employees, but only a small percentage of this number have account balances in the company's retirement plans on file at the US Department of Labor. An unknown number of Met-Con employees may participate in a union-sponsored plan. The company's contributions to its own plan are extremely low, with an employer match of just 17 cents on the dollar in 2009 and 16 cents on the dollar in 2008. The following is from Met-Con's most recent 401k plan filings:

Met-Con does not have a healthcare plan on file at the Department of Labor, and the company's website does not indicate whether health benefits are offered to employees.

UCCs

According to publicly available loan documents, Met-Con has long term relationships with two lenders, Wachovia and IKON. Wachovia (which took over First Union Bank) is Met-Con's main lender for equipment and general operating expenses, while IKON and its subsidiary Ios Capital are listed as the secured parties in office equipment leases. Business loans with Wachovia have been renewed twice. Click on the links for copies of the UCC filings.