by IMRAN GHORI, The Press Enterprise -
San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos announced Monday, March 25 that conspiracy and perjury charges have been filed against former airport developer Scot Spencer and one of his business associates.
He accused Spencer and Felice G. Luciano, an investor in one of Spencer's companies, of stealing more than $1 million from the San Bernardino International Airport Authority and using it as a "personal piggy bank."
“It’s an unconscionable crime,” Ramos said, accusing them of taking advantage of local efforts to try and turn around the struggling airport.
Spencer was arrested in Boca Raton, Florida on Sunday while Luciano is at large and considered a fugitive.
Prosecutors hope to have Spencer brought to San Bernardino County soon if he waives extradition.
The complaint includes two charges of conspiracy to commit grand theft against Spencer and Luciano. Spencer was also charged with two counts of perjury and one count of preparing false documents.
If convicted of all counts, each would face up to five years in prison. Ramos said he also hopes to seek restitution.
Spencer, the airport’s first developer and manager was the focus of a critical San Bernardino County civil grand jury report in 2011 and a FBI-led search that September 2011 looking for evidence of wrongdoing.
Spencer had done time did time in federal prison for bankruptcy fraud.
Spencer first arrived at the airport in 2003 to operate a failed charter airline before being awarded no-bid agreements to oversee the conversion of Norton Air Force Base into a commercial airport. The cost grew from $45 million in 2007 to more than $200 million. It hasn't been finished and there are still no scheduled flights.
The companies' insurance lapses were corrected, but a bankruptcy judge signed two orders Friday, Oct. 19, authorizing the immediate removal of Spencer's SBD Airport Services LLC from the luxury private pilot terminal that had been known as Million Air San Bernardino and his Norton Property Management Services LLC from one of the airport's largest aircraft hangars.
Spencer had been removed from airport property earlier this year after a bankruptcy judge threw out his cases, which he filed to avoid eviction.
Staff writer Richard De Atley contributed to this report.
1 comment:
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