A New Jersey business owner who has been living in the country illegally for nearly 20 years admitted Tuesday he defrauded the U.S. military out of nearly $1.9 million by selling it the wrong parts for critical equipment, including airplanes, federal authorities said.

Oben Cabalceta, 53, of the Atco section of Waterford, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act, the U.S. Attorney’s office for New Jersey said in a statement. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the first count and five years on the second count when he is sentenced Aug. 2 in federal court in Camden.

Cabalceta’s co-conspirator and brother-in-law, Roger Sobrado, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act, and tax evasion. Sobrado awaits sentencing.

Cabalceta, the owner of two manufacturing companies in the West Berlin section of Berlin Township, obtained contracts with Department of Defense to provide specific parts for military equipment from authorized manufacturers. Instead, Cabalceta obtained the equipment from local manufacturers or produced the parts himself at a much lower cost, authorities said. He won the contracts on multiple occasions between 2004 and 2016 and was paid $1,890,939 for the fake parts.

Among the military sites to receive the “non-conforming” parts were Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, Hill Air Force Base in Utah and Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, according to court documents.

Cabalecta arrived in the United States from Costa Rica on a six-month visa in June 1999 and never left, authorities said. As a result, Cabalecta broke the law when he had his brother-in-law submit an application to accessed restricted technical data that can only be viewed by U.S. citizens or people here legally.

He is the owner of Owen’s Fasteners Inc. and United Manufacturer.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.