Montana attorney general launches investigation into Hardin jail
(1/1)
Eckhart Tolle:
The logo on a Mercedes SUV brought to Hardin, Mont., by a California security company that wants to take over Hardin's empty jail is seen in this Sept. 24, 2009 photo. Michael Hilton pitched himself to the city as a military veteran turned private sector entrepreneur - a California defense contractor with extensive government contracts who promised to turn the rural city's empty jail into a cash cow. But now a much different picture of Hilton is emerging from public documents and interviews with his associates and legal adversaries. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown) (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
Montana attorney general launches investigation into Hardin jail
By the Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, October 1, 2009 5:30 pm | No Comments Posted
http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_f9deb95a-aee3-11de-98ca-001cc4c002e0.html
* Entrepreneur behind Mont. jail has checkered past
Related Stories
* Related: American Police Force official has extensive criminal record
BILLINGS - Montana's attorney general has launched an investigation into a California company's plan to take over the city of Hardin's $27 million jail, following revelations that the company's lead figure is a convicted felon with a history of fraud.
Michael Hilton, who formed Santa Ana, Calif.-based American Police Force in March, came to Hardin last month promising to fill the city's never-used jail and build an adjacent military and law enforcement training center.
Hilton has a decades-long track record of fraudulent activities and spent several years in a California prison on grand theft charges. The native of Montenegro uses at least 17 aliases.
Attorney General Steve Bullock said Thursday he is asking Hardin officials for all documents related to their dealings with Hilton and American Police Force.
Eckhart Tolle:
Montana AG launches probe of jail deal
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifOx0LPKy5B_0KAyPHyNTEqdQz6QD9B2KQ8G0
By MATTHEW BROWN (AP) 17 minutes ago
BILLINGS, Mont. Montana's attorney general launched an investigation Thursday into a California company that wants to take over an empty jail in the rural city of Hardin, following revelations that the company's lead figure is a convicted felon with a history of fraud.
Michael Hilton, who formed Santa Ana, Calif.-based American Police Force in March, came to Hardin last month promising to fill the city's never-used jail and build a large military and law enforcement training center.
Hilton has a decades-long track record of fraudulent activities and spent several years in a California prison on grand theft charges. A native of Montenegro, he uses at least 17 aliases.
Citing "significant concerns" about the city's dealings with American Police Force, Attorney General Steve Bullock asked Hardin economic development officials to produce by Oct. 12 all documents related to their dealings with the company.
His office made a similar demand of American Police Force, including information that would back up Hilton's claims of multiple defense contracts with the U.S government and other agencies.
The launch of the investigation came as some Hardin officials began backing away from American Police Force. The city's Two Rivers Authority reached a 10-year deal on the jail with the company last month.
But that was never ratified by US Bank, the trustee on the construction bonds used to pay for the 464-bed facility.
Attorney Becky Convery, who helped negotiate the deal, said Hilton overstepped his bounds when he showed up in Hardin last week with three Mercedes SUVs marked with fictitious "Hardin Police Department" logos.
He pledged to donate the SUVs to the city and also offered to provide law enforcement for Hardin for $250,000 a year. That prospect has stirred suspicion among critics that rural Hardin, population 3,500, could be transformed into a privately run police state.
Convery said Two Rivers director Greg Smith had a tentative deal with Hilton's company to provide law enforcement service, but she said it was never finalized and she was uncertain whether it would be legal.
"We are not at all pleased with American Police masquerading as if they were the police for the city of Hardin," she said.
Yet other Hardin officials remained loyal to American Police Force despite knowing little of its origins beyond what they've been told by Hilton.
"I don't know that his background has affected his position or his ability to do his work," said Carla Colstad, a member of the Hardin City Council. "I don't consider it relevant to what's going on today."
Hilton who came to Hardin last week in a black, military-style uniform portrayed his company as an international player in the security industry. No records have been found of the extensive U.S. government contracts he claims.
Instead, documents and interviews with Hilton's associates revealed a history of fraud and criminal activity. That includes outstanding judgments against him in three civil cases totaling more than $1.1 million.
"Such schemes you cannot believe," said Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif., doctor and co-defendant with Hilton in a real estate fraud case that resulted in a civil judgment against Hilton and several others.
Carella, described in court documents as a "pawn" in the scheme, said he was never a willing participant. But he acknowledged partnering with Hilton in other failed business deals after being won over by his charm.
"The guy's brilliant. If he had been able to do honest work, he probably would have been a gazillionaire," Carella said.
As for Hilton's military expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, several associates interviewed knew of no such feats, although one said Hilton had talked of being in the special forces in Greece decades ago.
Most who knew him described Hilton alternately as an art dealer, cook, restaurant owner, land developer, loan broker and car salesman.
Hilton did not return numerous calls seeking comment this week. American Police Force attorney Maziar Mafi referred questions to company spokeswoman Becky Shay.
When asked about court records detailing Hilton's past, Shay replied: "The documents speak for themselves. If anyone has found public documents, the documents are what they are."
The three SUVs Hilton brought to Montana have yet to be turned over to the city, which does not have a police force of its own but is considering forming one.
At least one is being driven by Shay, a former reporter who abruptly quit her job at the Billings Gazette to work for American Police Force. She said Hilton offered her $60,000 a year.
The jail deal is worth more than $2.6 million a year, according to city leaders.
His criminal record goes back to at least 1988, when Hilton was arrested in Santa Ana, Calif., for writing bad checks. In 1993, Hilton was sentenced to six years in prison in California on a dozen counts of grand theft and attempted grand theft and other charges including illegal diversion of construction funds.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Eckhart Tolle:
Albert Peterson with the Two Rivers Authority in Hardin, MT, stands outside an empty jail the city built for $27 million, on Friday, September 24, 2009. The authority wants a California security company, American Police Force, to take over the facility. (AP Photo)
Montana attorney general to investigate APF
JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau | Posted: Thursday, October 1, 2009 5:40 pm | (3) Comments
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_84e05838-aee4-11de-8041-001cc4c002e0.html
Matthew Brown
HELENA - Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock launched an investigation Thursday into American Police Force, the California company founded by a Serbian immigrant with a lengthy criminal history that is seeking to run an empty, 464-bed jail in Hardin.
Bullock sent a nine-page demand letter late Thursday afternoon to Becky Shay, the spokeswoman for APF and the company's only Montana employee.
Shay did not immediately respond to phone calls Thursday.
According to the document, Bullock is launching the civil investigation into APF over concerns that the company might be violating the Montana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act.
Among other things, Bullock demanded that the company provide proof for many statements about the company included on APF's Web site. The site says that the company frequently has contracts with the U.S. government and has operations in all 50 states.
Research into the company has turned up no record of APF contracting with the federal government. Bullock has requested that the company provide proof of its federal contracts and operations in other states.
Bullock also requested a copy of the contract between APF and Two Rivers Authority, the economic development arm of the city of Hardin, which built the jail two years ago.
The contract is reportedly a 10-year, multimillion-dollar deal with APF to run the jail.
Although Michael Hilton, the man behind APF, and local officials say the deal is as good as done, US Bank, the trustee for the bonds sold to build the jail, has never signed off on it.
Bullock further requested that the company disclose any lawsuits filed against the company or Hilton and provide the state with any correspondence between APF and any government agency that has accused the company of being deceptive.
Bullock also sent a letter Thursday to Gary Arneson and Al Peterson, leaders of Two Rivers Authority. Peterson could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Both letters were sent the day after The Billings Gazette and Associated Press reported that Hilton has an extensive criminal past with $1.1 million in outstanding civil judgments against him. Hilton, who has a long list of aliases, left his native Serbia in the 1970s and has served time in U.S. prisons.
Hilton uses the military title "captain," but said this week it does not refer to an actual military rank. Hilton has claimed he has military experience, but no record of such experience has been found.
Also on Thursday, Montana's three-man congressional delegation all said they have questions about APF, even as they support Hardin's efforts to drum up jobs for its people.
"Like many Montanans, Max is keeping an eye on the situation in Hardin," said Ty Matsdorf, a spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Aaron Murphy, a spokesman for Sen. Jon Tester, also a Democrat, said Tester has "a lot of questions" about APF. "Hardin and all of Montana need to benefit from whatever's in store for the Two Rivers jail."
A spokesman for Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Republican, said "important questions need to be answered," and added "any deal that creates jobs and economic prosperity without putting Montanans at risk is something Denny would support in any way he can."
Rehberg in May wrote a letter to state officials urging Montana to consider placing its own inmates at the jail if the state needed more prison cells.
Bad Slave:
This may have been brought up before but I have not heard AJ comment on it. This character, Hilton, who leads APF, is a convicted felon. Convicted felons cannot possess firearms unless they have had their civil rights restored by the state in which they were convicted. Does Hilton carry a gun? Does he possess a gun? If so, how did he get his civil rights restored?
Anyone who has been convicted of a felony is banned by federal law from ever possessing any firearm or ammunition." Specifically a person "convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year" cannot possess any firearm in any location. 18 U.S.C. 922(g) is the federal law that prohibits anyone ever convicted of any felony to ever possess any firearm either inside or outside of his home. The federal punishment for felon gun possession is up to 10 years in prison.
The rule prohibiting felon gun ownership has some exceptions. There is specific statutory language providing that the federal criminal firearms possession does not apply to individuals who have had their civil rights restored by the state in which they where convicted of the felony.
Read more: http://peacesecurity.suite101.com/article.cfm/gun_ownership_by_convicted_felons#ixzz0T0des5cO
Navigation
[0] Message Index