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by Tommy McIntyre
01/18/03
Staff Writer, Venice
Gondolier Sun
The state attorney's
office has filed criminal fraud charges against Huffman Aviation Inc. CEO
Rudi Dekkers.
"I don't know if the
clerk will be able to process the paperwork today," assistant state
attorney Jonathan Greene said early Friday afternoon, "but I have
definitely filed."
Greene's signature
appears on the information, a copy of which was provided to the Gondolier
Sun Friday afternoon.
In the information
Dekkers is accused of the third-degree felony of fraud involving a
security interest.
"The fraud involving a
security interest charge is like somebody giving a mortgage on something
they do not own," Greene said.
The state statute
under which Dekkers was charged (817.562 2b) states: "A person is guilty
of fraud involving a security interest when ... having under the security
agreement no right of sale or other disposition of the property, he or she
knowingly secretes, withholds, or disposes of such property in violation
of the security agreement."
A person convicted of
the charge can be sentenced to state prison for up to five years,
according to the statute.
Greene said the
information will get processed through the system, which could take two
weeks, and a judge would be asked to then sign a capias, or warrant, for
Dekkers' arrest.
Dekkers: 'Wow, I'm
surprised.'
Dekkers was reached
for comment on the charges late Friday.
"Wow, I'm surprised,"
Dekkers said. "I can't believe it, I've talked to my attorney Charles
Bartlett and he can't believe it either. He said it is highly unusual he
was not notified, and wanted to know, 'How the hell can the newspaper know
about it before I do?' "
Dekkers said the
difficulties he and the parties named in the Venice Police Department
Probable Cause Affidavit (PCA) arose from "many financial transactions,"
and all have been resolved.
"We're drawing the
paperwork as we speak that resolves the deal," Dekkers said. "We have a
deal, we know about it, everybody knows about it except the state
attorney. We don't have problems anymore."
The charges
According to a Venice
police PCA, Dekkers, acting as president of Dekkers Aviation Group Inc.,
entered into a loan agreement with Kenneth Jossart on Oct. 17, 2001.
The deal was brokered
by a mutual business partner, Wallace Hilliard. Dekkers obtained $200,000
from Jossart and signed a promissory note indicating that this amount was
due and payable on Jan. 15, 2002.
To secure the loan,
Dekkers, still acting as president of Dekkers Aviation Group, entered into
a mortgage agreement on property at 220 E. Airport Ave., Venice. The
mortgage indicated that Dekkers Aviation Group is the mortgagor and
Jossart is the mortgagee.
In August 2002,
Dekkers sold the building at 220 E. Airport Ave. to Triple Diamond
Enterprises. As of Oct. 2, 2002, the date the PCA was signed by
investigators, Dekkers had not repaid the loan to Jossart. Jossart did not
received any proceeds from the sale despite having a security interest in
the property under the mortgage executed by Dekkers.
No interest, no
security
The property involved
in the agreement is located at the Venice Municipal Airport and is leased
from the city of Venice.
Hilliard discovered
that although the mortgage was completed by Dekkers for Dekkers Aviation
Group, the actual lease with the city was with another company belonging
to Dekkers, Huffman Aviation Inc.
Hilliard was unable to
record a lien on the property because Dekkers Aviation Group did not have
a legal interest in the property. That left Jossart with no security for
the original loan agreement -- no way to get repayment of the loan through
the sale of the property, according to the PCA.
No city agreement with
DAG
The PCA also states
that Venice Airport Manager Larry Heath said the city had never had any
business agreement with Dekkers Aviation Group. That was confirmed by
Venice City Attorney Bob Anderson.
According to the
affidavit, Anderson told investigators he had recently worked with the
attorney for Triple Diamond, Steven Macris, regarding the sale of this
property and the subsequent reassignment of the lease with the city.
Anderson said Macris
had originally prepared a document to assign the property from Dekkers
Aviation Group and Huffman Aviation to Triple Diamond, but Anderson
rejected it because the city had had no dealings with Dekkers Aviation.
The assignment was redone to indicated only Huffman Aviation was the
assignor.
Blank piece of paper
Dekkers told
investigators he had never seen the details of the original mortgage. He
said that Hilliard came to him and had him sign a blank piece of paper
that Hilliard told him was for a collateral agreement.
Dekkers further stated
that he just found out at the closing for the building that the lease with
the city was with Huffman.
Dekkers said he did
not think Dekkers Aviation had an obligation to repay the loan because the
money had gone into another company run by Hilliard, Florida Air.
According to the PCA,
Hilliard said Dekkers had signed the completed paperwork and was aware of
the loan agreement and the mortgage. He said the money had gone to Florida
Air, a company that Dekkers had been involved in at one time.
Hilliard told
investigators that Dekkers Aviation Group's payroll had been paid by
Florida Air.
"I'm surprised,
because Wally and I made a deal that everything was canceled," Dekkers
said.
International
attention
Dekkers drew
international attention shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when it was learned
that the two terrorist ringleaders who flew jetliners into the World Trade
Center Twin Towers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, took part of their
flight training at Huffman.
Critics had lambasted
Dekkers, claiming he had not followed procedures and regulations in
allowing Atta and Al-Shehhi to train at Huffman.
However, Dekkers
claimed vindication of any wrongdoing in March 2002, when it was shown by
Immigration and Naturalization Service documents that he followed
government rules in allowing the terrorists to enter his flight-training
program in September 2000.
You can e-mail Tommy
McIntyre at: tmcintyre@venicegondolier.com.
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