(AK) interesting case involving guy dubbed 'wannabe soldier of fortune'

S

spacemanspiff

New member
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7431266p-7342156c.html
Man called wannabe soldier of fortune denied bail
ROB KANE: Magistrate says man at center of Security Aviation rocket launcher case is a flight risk.
By TATABOLINE BRANT and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 9, 2006
Last Modified: February 9, 2006 at 03:38 AM

After two days of testimony that painted him as a soldier of fortune wannabe, "Commander" Rob Kane was ordered held without bail on a federal weapons charge by a judge who ruled Wednesday that he posed a significant flight risk.

In his ruling at the federal courthouse in Anchorage, U.S. Magistrate John Roberts rejected offers by an Anchorage police sergeant and an active-duty Army officer to supervise Kane if he were released. Both the policeman, Sgt. Ted Smith, and the Army officer, Ray Sleeth, have moonlighted for Security Aviation, the company closely associated with Kane, but testified during the hearing that they knew very little about the man himself.

Kane, 37, was arrested Feb. 2 after a series of raids by armed federal agents on Security Aviation's hangars in Anchorage and Palmer and the company owner's Midtown offices on C Street. Kane is charged with illegally possessing two 16-tube rocket launchers designed to be mounted on the Czech L-39 trainer jets owned by Security Aviation and its related companies. The launchers -- without the rockets -- were seized from Security Aviation's Palmer hangar.

Another Czech jet that Security Aviation sought to purchase crashed in Ketchikan on Jan. 25, killing the pilot who was flying it to Illinois for its owners. Federal officials have said the raids were not a result of the crash.

Security Aviation is an Anchorage-based air-charter company that flies in Alaska, the Lower 48 and internationally.

Kane's attorney, Michael Spaan, told the court Wednesday that he had an expert who could testify that the launchers were not operational and pressed for the court to release Kane on bail.

But assistant U.S. attorney Steven Skrocki said Kane has access to large sums of cash and aircraft, is well versed in traveling the world and cannot be trusted to stay for trial.

"This is a guy who wants to live under and off the radar screen -- and he's doing a pretty good job of it," Skrocki said. "No one knows much of Mr. Kane at all. He will leave at the drop of a hat because the game is up."

Skrocki ticked off the evidence, telling the court that Kane didn't want his name listed on some company documents, on the title to his house or his vehicles, and does not even apply for Permanent Fund dividend checks.

"None of this makes any sense," Skrocki said. "There's no way the court can gamble on him based on these facts."

He added that Kane owns numerous U.S. military medals without ever having been in the service, has "badges galore" claiming to be some kind of official agent, and for years has told stories about working for American and foreign intelligence agencies.

"It is beyond dispute that he is a con man and a fraud," Skrocki said. As he spoke those words, several groans emerged from the side of the courtroom filled with employees of Security Aviation and the related companies.

But Spaan, who is a former U.S. attorney, argued there was nothing illegal about possessing military medals or official-looking badges or documents. He said Kane has a wife and three kids and ties to the community.

But the possible third-party custodians brought before the court admitted they knew almost nothing about Kane, including what he did in his job at Regional Protective Services or what role he played at Security Aviation, which has seen tremendous growth in the last year, adding military aircraft and intercontinental executive jets to its fleet of small airplanes.

Mark J. Avery, a former city and state prosecutor, owns both companies, according to public records. No one could be reached for comment during a visit to his offices at 3230 C St. Wednesday. A woman in the parking lot who would not identify herself said no one in the building wanted to talk.

Several details about the C Street building came to light in federal court Wednesday, including that Kane had two offices inside where he worked for Regional Protective Services. In one of the rooms, agents found semi-automatic assault rifles, handguns and a .50-caliber rifle with a large scope on it, as well as a satellite phone, according to testimony Wednesday.

But none of the weapons was illegal, the FBI agent on the stand said when pressed by Spaan. The defense attorney used that testimony later to argue that Kane is not a danger to the community. "He's had guns which he's allowed to keep," Spaan told the judge.

Spaan also took shots at the prosecution's suggestion earlier in the hearing that a silencer found inside Kane's home was for a .45-caliber weapon. APD Sgt. Ted Smith, who inspected the device, testified that he thought the silencer was a "toy or a prop."

But Smith's testimony showed he was not a disinterested party. He told the court he worked for Avery's company and was friends with Kane's father, a retired Anchorage police officer. Smith said Security Aviation paid him $7,000 to fly two recently purchased Huey helicopters to Alaska from Outside.

In one of the stranger moments during an afternoon of often spellbinding testimony, Skrocki, the prosecutor, demanded that Smith testify about a $20,000 loan he received from Avery and Associates, Mark Avery's law firm, last summer.

Smith said he never got a loan from the company.

Skrocki quickly rifled through copies of documents seized in the raid and marked two as a new exhibit. One was a company check request for a $20,000 loan requested by Kane. The other was a copy of the accompanying check, paid to Smith and co-signed by Kane and Avery.

Smith acknowledged getting the check and cashing it but said the money was actually for bail for Sammy Cohen, an Anchorage police officer charged in June with sexually abusing his daughter and possessing child pornography. Cohen's relationship with Avery's companies is unclear, but Smith said even though the check was in his name, the loan was actually for Cohen.

Smith said he knew Kane had been charged twice with assault, one time paying a $50 fine and serving a day in jail, the other time resulting in dropped charges. Spaan later told the judge the charges were dropped because Kane had been working as a police informant at the time, though no details were offered.

Testimony also showed that Kane had a contract with a man with a license to manufacture silencers and fully automatic weapons to test and sell them.

In making his ruling from the bench, Roberts took note of the unusual courtroom testimony over two afternoons. He said he was tempted to "put down my Sidney Sheldon book and delve into this case" but reminded the participants that this was just a bail hearing, not a full-blown trial.

Roberts said Kane "has a certain clandestine nature." He referred back to testimony that Kane sought to have his name removed from company memos and that he told a Transportation Security Administration official who saw the rocket launchers to keep them secret from the Federal Aviation Administration.

While Kane's behavior may be consistent with that of "an informant or secret agent," Roberts said, it's incompatible with that of "an upstanding citizen."

-------------------------------

note how it takes "pressing" for the witnesses to admit his guns were all legally owned/possessed.

i wonder at what point simply "knowing a person licensed to manufacture/test/sell suppressors and full auto weapons" becomes suspicious.
 
Veellllllllly Interesting-

Ted Smith is the weapons instructor and heads APD SWAT/CERT, 20 grand quickie loan for the baby rapist cop? Hmmmmmmm, APD is pretty much untouchable IMHO after they defeated the Mayors decision to eliminate the overtime money the cops dial in.
This was back when someone drove a truck through the back wall of WWG, the alarms went nuts of course and Jim arrived shortly after, the cops said no biggie, false alarm until Jim poked inside and noticed the HOLE!
APD guys sez to us later that they were so stretched out working 40hrs W/O overtime instead of the OT after 35hrs they just didn't notice the HOLE!
Same deal when, was it Wallyworld/Kmart or Longs they busted in through the roof and got a bunch of weapons...anyhoo.
Laters
 
Spaan later told the judge the charges were dropped because Kane had been working as a police informant at the time, though no details were offered.
Click to expand...


This whole thing may go nowhere -- sounds like too many bodies could be uncovered.

Plea deal in the works, I bet.
 
The defense contends the launchers are deactivated, which makes them paperweights. The local "Daily Worker" has no idea which way to take this. I think it is going to come down to being a money laundering/misuse of trust funds issue with the jet/launcher/gun nut stuff just for flavor.
 
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7475727p-7385950c.html
Security Aviation, official indicted
WEAPONS CHARGES: Federal action against company a surprise.
By LISA DEMER
and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 24, 2006
Last Modified: February 24, 2006 at 08:09 AM

The government's investigation of Security Aviation Inc. and at least one of its officials took a new turn Thursday with the announcement that both the company and the official were indicted on federal weapons charges.

The indictment, handed up by a grand jury Wednesday, was expected against Rob Kane, the company official who calls himself "Commander" and who has been in custody since federal agents raided Security Aviation and related businesses Feb. 2.

But for the first time, the longtime Anchorage air charter and medevac business is a named defendant.

The company faces three charges: possession of unregistered destructive devices, attempted possession of the devices and transportation of them. Kane, 37, is charged with those counts and a conspiracy charge. Kane tried to buy four rocket launchers but ended up with two, the indictment says.

The owner of Security and a string of related businesses, Anchorage attorney Mark Avery, isn't mentioned by name in the indictment. But the indictment's reference to "Businessman A" in many sections -- 100 percent owner of Security, owner of a string of related companies -- is a clear reference to him. Avery is not charged with any crimes, and prosecutors have not said whether he is a target of their investigation.

However, the indictment says Avery paid Kane "for his services in the form of a cash salary, frequent cash withdrawals ... vehicles, and a large motor yacht for his personal use."

The launchers were seized by federal agents along with eight Czech-built L-39 military training jets in raids earlier this month targeting Security's Anchorage and Palmer flight operations, a Midtown office building and Kane's Eagle River home, which is owned by one of Avery's companies. Federal authorities have not accused Kane or Security of possessing any rockets to arm the launchers.

Security Aviation's president, Joe Kapper, issued a statement Thursday evening saying the company "is extremely surprised by the indictment. We are very disappointed that the government has chosen to take this unfortunate and unnecessary step."

The company, Kapper said, "has done nothing wrong. We look forward to our day in court and the chance to prove our innocence."

It was Regional Protective Services and another Avery business, High Security Aviation LLC, that last year bought the eight L-39s and tried to acquire another six, the indictment says. These two-seater jets can be armed with various weapons, including launchers that can carry 16 rockets with a range of 2 to 2 1/2 miles, the indictment says.

The government asserts:

• Security Aviation employees at the company's Palmer hangar had technical manuals that detailed how the launchers could be mounted, loaded with rockets and fired.

• At the company's Anchorage hangar, Security Aviation employees had shooting and bombing tables for the L-39s that included such guidance as "Shooting at a ground target with the gun sight in 'FIXED' mode."

• Company employees collected information on the rocket motors and warheads that could be used in the launchers, including 57-mm high explosive, antitank, or HEAT, warheads and high explosive/fragmentation, or HEAT/FRAG, warheads.

• A Security Aviation consultant prepared a proposal to use the L-39s to train military pilots of an unnamed foreign country.

Kane had power to spend large sums, including buying aircraft for Security and the other businesses, the indictment says.

In an Aug. 10 memorandum on Regional Protective Services letterhead, Avery -- or "Businessman A" -- informed employees of another of his businesses of Kane's high standing. According to the indictment, he wrote:

"My most effective asset is Rob Kane. When he is speaking, he has the same authority as if I were speaking. To make this perfectly clear, if Rob were to walk up to any one of you ... and say, 'You're fired,' you're fired."

Kane's lawyers have argued that rocket launchers were bought through an eBay advertisement that said they were "de-mil'd" or demilitarized. While they were airworthy at high speeds, they also could be turned into a coffee table or hung from the ceiling in a VFW hall, the ad said. Kane's attorney Mike Spaan attached the eBay ad to a court brief trying to overturn the judge's decision to hold Kane.

The court failed to consider that the "alleged weapon in this case was nothing more than a decoration" and misevaluated the nature of the case, the court brief said.

"Mr. Kane was charged not with possessing a dangerous weapon or with committing a crime of violence, but with a failure to file the appropriate form to register a non-operative collection of steel tubes," lawyers Spaan and James L. Kee of Oklahoma wrote.

Joe Griffith, a former fighter wing commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base who is now a consultant to Security Aviation, said in an interview that the manuals at issue came with the launchers.

"Most of it was in a foreign language that no one could read or understand," Griffith said.

The launchers did not have the necessary wiring, firing-timing devices or connecting hardware and it would be impossible to fire a rocket from them in that condition, he said in a sworn statement filed in court by Kane's lawyers. At any rate, the launchers didn't need to be registered with the federal government because they weren't an explosive device, Griffith asserted in an earlier interview.

There's wasn't any concrete proposal to train military pilots from another country, though there had been internal discussions to do so in the Philippines, Griffith said.

Security Aviation has continued to operate. But the indictment may be a blow to its air charter business, Griffith said.

"I think it's going to cause difficulties. It couldn't help but do that for anybody," he said.

Kane is accused of directing Security Aviation workers to buy four launchers from someone in Pennsylvania. Two launchers arrived sometime after Oct. 13, 2005, at Security's hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Kane opened the crates and said, "Now I can go target practice," the charges say. The launchers later were moved to Security's hangar in Palmer. Security Aviation and Regional Protective Services also had equipment that would have permitted mounting of the launchers, the indictment said.

Prosecutors say that Security Aviation faces maximum fines of $250,000 per count. Kane faces prison time and fines. Federal authorities have seized the eight L-39s for forfeiture.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/aviation/story/7485431p-7395578c.html
Mystery man at center of federal investigation
TALL TALES: Wild claims about past fail to hold up; defense says U.S. knows more than it admits.
By LISA DEMER and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 27, 2006
Last Modified: February 27, 2006 at 02:28 AM

He has claimed to be a rodeo cowboy, Navy SEAL, bounty hunter, intelligence operative and terrorist fighter. His name was dragged through a sensational Anchorage trial nearly 13 years ago by a defense attorney who portrayed him as the man who should have been charged with murder.

Now, as he sits in jail in a case the judge likened to a pulp thriller, a key question is far from answered: Who is Rob Kane?

Despite a past littered with debt, minor criminal charges and, as federal authorities tell it, grandiose lies, Kane somehow made it to the top ranks of Anchorage security and aviation businesses owned by a former prosecutor. Both Kane and Security Aviation Inc., an air charter and medevac business, have been indicted on federal charges of illegally possessing and transporting rocket launchers.

He is being held without bail after a federal judge ruled he was a serious flight risk. During the two-day hearing earlier this month, assistant U.S. attorney Steven Skrocki called him "a con man and a fraud."

But in their first interview with reporters, Kane's attorneys said Saturday that Kane is no phony. They told the Daily News that Kane did freelance "contract work" for U.S. intelligence agencies, though they would provide no details.

James Kee of Duncan, Okla., one of four defense attorneys representing Kane, said the government is trying to discredit Kane to mask the weakness of its case. Kane's whole story, he said, will come out eventually, even if Kee and the other lawyers weren't willing yet to provide details.

"The government knows a lot more about Rob Kane than they told the magistrate," said Key, who is in Anchorage to assist in preparing Kane's defense. "Explanations for all that stuff they say was fake will come out."

Kee said he has known Kane for years, but he won't say how. Kane's defense team includes two former Alaska prosecutors and former U.S. Attorney Mike Spaan of Anchorage.

But whether Kane, 37, ever worked for the U.S. government is a matter of dispute, Skrocki told the judge. An FBI agent said in a sworn statement that Kane has claimed to be a Navy SEAL, though a Web site devoted to exposing the many SEAL imposters lists a Rob Kane as a fraud. He has numerous U.S. military medals even though there's no evidence of service, Skrocki said.

Kane was arrested after Feb. 2 raids of Security Aviation hangars in Palmer and Anchorage and the C Street offices of Security's owner, Mark Avery. The authorities also searched Kane's Eagle River home.

The government seized eight L-39 Czech-built military jets configured as trainers, one of them inscribed "Cmdr. R.F. Kane" on the fuselage outside the rear seat. The rocket launchers could have been mounted on the L-39s but lacked firing components and the rockets themselves to be used, according to testimony. Anyway, the launchers were just for show, a Security Aviation consultant has said.

The case against Kane essentially is over a paperwork issue -- failure to register the rocket launchers, his attorneys say. The Pennsylvania man who sold them to Security Aviation didn't register them either, and he hasn't been charged, they say.

"Instead of talking about the law, they are going to talk about stuff from the past to try to discredit Rob," said another of Kane's lawyers, former state prosecutor Paul Stockler.


VEIL OF SILENCE

Weeks after Kane emerged from private life as the sole person arrested in connection with the Feb. 2 raids, he remains a shadowy figure. Kane's wife and his close business associates, including Avery, have declined requests for interviews. Kane's lawyers wouldn't let him be interviewed. Efforts to speak with his mother, stepfather and father were unsuccessful.

Before the raids, Kane appeared to deliberately keep a low profile outside of the circle that heard his boasts. He intentionally tried to keep his name off company paperwork, according to evidence presented at his detention hearing. His $660,000 home in Eagle River is owned by an Avery company, Regional Property Services LLC. Three vehicles in his driveway late one afternoon last week were all registered to another Avery company, Regional Protective Services LLC.

There are large gaps in what is known about where he lived and when.

Kane was a local kid who went to both Bartlett and Service high schools. The last Anchorage School District record shows him as a Service 11th-grader in 1985-86.

While federal authorities called Kane an imposter, he does have some ties to local law enforcement officers and perhaps to the Tampa field office of the FBI.

Kane's stepfather, Lyle Davis, is a retired Anchorage police officer. When Kane was a kid, Davis introduced him to other police officers, said Anchorage police Sgt. Ted Smith, who testified in support of Kane's release at the detention hearing.

For a while, it seems Kane tried to make it as a rodeo cowboy. When he applied for a Visa Gold Card in 1987, he listed Pepsi as his rodeo sponsor and indicated he was making $15,000 a month through Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association events, according to court filings in a 1993 small claims case over a Visa bill.

Those claims are at best exaggerated. Cowboy association records show that Kane held a rodeo cowboy permit -- the first step toward becoming a card-carrying member -- in 1988, said spokeswoman Ann Bleiker. But he never registered winnings, she said.

As a young man in Alaska, he was accused in four unrelated civil cases of racking up bad debts. He also was charged twice in criminal complaints of assaulting women. One misdemeanor assault conviction later was set aside, a common practice for minor offenses. The other was dropped in connection with his role as a police informant, Smith told the judge at the detention hearing.

Then Kane's name came up in the 1993 murder trial of Jon Woodard, a sensational case in which a Loomis security guard was shot and killed during a well-planned 1992 robbery at Carrs Aurora Village.

Defense lawyer Jim McComas told jurors in the 1993 trial that it was Kane and not his client who shot the Loomis guard.

Just five weeks before the robbery, a bank had won a $48,000 judgment against Kane, McComas noted. After Carrs was robbed, Kane was flush with money for a while and paid off personal loans, the defense lawyer told the jury.

There was no evidence that Kane was involved with the robbery, said former state prosecutors Kevin Fitzgerald and Mary Anne Henry, who handled the case together. Henry said she accounted to the jury for virtually all the $50,000 stolen from Carrs.

Fitzgerald is now part of Kane's defense team.

Kane's stepdad, retired police officer Davis, provided an alibi, testifying that Kane was home in bed when the robbery occurred.

The jury didn't buy McComas' theory, and convicted Woodard. He is serving a 66-year sentence for murder and robbery.

For the next few years, private investigators and creditors kept looking for Kane but had no luck, according to filings in civil cases. Judgments against him topped $270,000.

Information about Kane's life during and after the trial becomes sketchy. There is evidence he lived in Oregon. He ventured to the Philippines, where his wife is from. A photo entered as an exhibit in his bail hearing showed a picture of Kane in the white uniform of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary. A government witness who examined the picture identified the ribbons on Kane's uniform as U.S. Navy decorations that he did not earn.

His lawyers say he was a commander in the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary and asserted that he did counter-terrorism training in that country, though they didn't explain his qualifications.

At Kane's detention hearing, testimony by a government witness connected Kane to an FBI agent, Bob Coffin, of the bureau's Clearwater, Fla., office near Tampa. The government witness, who led the search of Kane's home, said Kane's wife told him that Coffin was Kane's case agent.

Repeated calls to Coffin weren't returned.

- continued -
 
- continued -

SECRET AGENT MAN

By the late 1990s, Kane had firmly adopted a secret agent persona, according to a former FBI official who encountered Kane about seven years ago.

Skip Brandon had left the FBI by then and was one of the founding partners of Smith Brandon International, a Washington, D.C., investigations and security consulting company. Brandon's background as deputy assistant director of the FBI, where he had responsibility for national security and counter-terrorism, and his private work with businesses seeking help with overseas intelligence and protection, sometimes led to "strange people" appearing on his doorstep, he said in a recent interview. Kane was one of them, he said.

A mutual acquaintance still in government service -- Brandon wouldn't identify the person or agency -- provided the introduction.

"For some reason, this guy thought we might have something in common with Kane. We didn't really," Brandon said. "One of Rob's big problems is he is a teller of tall tales."

Kane, living in the Pacific Northwest at the time, showed up at Brandon's office in Washington, D.C.

"He was a pleasant fellow but spun some tales that I felt were pretty obviously good stories and kind of interesting but nothing more than that," Brandon said. "If you've been around Rob for more than about 30 seconds, you hear that stuff."

However, Brandon said, a few of Kane's assertions "rang true," such as the possibility he may have helped the FBI somehow.

Over an 18-month period, Kane called him about three or four times, then "dropped off the radar for two or three years." Then, a couple of years ago, Kane called Brandon again.

"He was living in Alaska; he was working with an attorney named Mark Avery." Kane said Avery was interested in setting up a company similar to Smith Brandon in Anchorage that would take advantage of Alaska's connections to Asia, Brandon said.

Avery and Kane were introduced by Kane's mother, a real estate agent who sold Avery a home in Eagle River, according to Stockler, one of Kane's lawyers.

Avery is a former state and city prosecutor, son of a prominent San Francisco tax and estate lawyer, and since last year owner of Security Aviation. Avery rapidly expanded the charter company and started or bought a string of other businesses including a paramedic school.

Avery gave Kane broad authority in the companies he owned. Investigators found an Aug. 10, 2005, memo in which Avery told employees that Kane spoke with Avery's own voice.

Brandon and Avery briefly flirted with the idea of joining forces in an Anchorage office, creating and then dissolving Smith Brandon International--Alaska over a six-week period in 2005, according to state records.


COMPANY POSITION UNCLEAR

In keeping with his man-of-mystery character, Kane's exact position with Avery's various companies is unclear. Kee said he's a consultant. In the indictment, he's described as a "principal with authority, for example, to hire and fire employees, to spend company funds and to purchase aircraft" for Security Aviation, Regional Protective Services, High Security Aviation and Regional Phone Solutions, among others. His wife told a federal agent he was paid $20,000 a month by an Avery company.

He clearly was Avery's trusted aide, friend and adviser. In December, when David Bean -- now Security Aviation senior vice president -- was interviewed for a job, Kane joined Avery for the interview, Bean said recently in court, when he, too, offered to supervise Kane should he be released.

Smith, now training sergeant for the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview that he became reacquainted with Kane -- son of his former colleague -- about a year or so ago and that Kane, along with Avery, seemed to be running the flight business.

Smith said he spoke with them about providing firearms training for flight medics and pilots but hadn't yet done so.

In their searches, federal agents turned up a somewhat menacing vision for the company. In Security Aviation files, they found a logo design for a patch that featured an L-39 jet superimposed over a globe. In one version, the words "Kane's Killers" were inscribed on the edges of the patch, the indictment says.

Kane appeared to have two offices in one wing of the C Street building, FBI special agent Jolene Bronkhorst testified at the detention hearing.

In the main office, with Kane's nickname "Commander" on the door, agents found an account card from the Bank of the Middle East, Bronkhorst testified. They found a blank application for permanent residency in the Bahamas. They turned up business cards from Ukraine, Russia and United Arab Emirates, Bronkhorst testified.

In the smaller office, agents found weapons, including what were described as AK-47-type assault rifles and a .50-caliber sniper rifle with a large scope, the agent said.

Kane is appealing the decision to hold him without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned today in U.S. District Court. Security Aviation, represented by former U.S. Attorney Bob Bundy, is to be arraigned next week.

-------------------------------------------------------------

ironically, the lead story in yesterdays paper attempted to make the reader feel sorry for a car thief who killed a man during his attempt to escape capture by police. the article quoted the car thiefs family as saying, amongst the usual 'he was such a good guy blah blah blah', "he was in fear for his life, thats why he sped through residential neighborhoods at 90mph, striking multiple vehicles, and its too bad that man died but were so glad our good son is alive".

wheres the puking icon? :barf: they paint the car-thieving-killer as a victim-saint, and then turn around and splash mud on a mall-ninja.
 
So if you own an aircraft that makes you a flight risk?

Seriously though it is an interesting story, at least per the media account. The first thing that pops into my mind is that one of these would be pretty cool equipped with rocket launchers, even if they are "just for show".

I guess that IMO the moral of the story is if you are rich and like to buy cool expensive toys that include extremely popular military jets you will attract the attention of the government and if you are really unfortunate the media will write life-is-stranger-than-fiction accounts of your supposed mis-deeds.

Those claims are at best exaggerated.
Click to expand...
Pot, meet kettle.
 
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7488240p-7398362c.html
Kane asserts his innocence
COURT: "Commander" of Security Aviation denies weapons charges.
By RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 28, 2006
Last Modified: February 28, 2006 at 03:00 AM

Rob Kane, the self-proclaimed "commander" of the tiny air force of Security Aviation and Regional Protective Services, pleaded not guilty Monday to four federal weapons charges stemming from the purchase of air-to-ground rocket launchers last year.

Attorneys for Kane, 37, of Eagle River, say the two mail-order, 16-tube launchers that arrived at the Security Aviation hanger were nonfunctional and designed to make some of the fleet of eight Czech L-39 Albatross jets look like attack aircraft rather than two-seat military trainers.

But the government, in charging Kane with conspiracy, possession, attempted possession and unlawful transportation of an unregistered "destructive device," said the launchers must be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record to be held legally.

Kane was arrested Feb. 2 when the FBI led raids of Security Aviation's hangars at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and in Palmer and at the office building at 3230 C St. where the government said Kane had two offices.

The owner of Security Aviation, Regional Protective Services and several other related companies, Anchorage attorney Mark Avery, has his headquarters in the C Street complex. Avery, a former state and municipal prosecutor, has not been charged with anything. He has declined to be interviewed.

Kane was indicted last week along with Security Aviation, an air charter and medevac company. The company has a long history in Alaska aviation. Avery purchased the company last summer and immediately began expanding, purchasing the Czech jets, two long-range Gulfstream executive jets, helicopters and other aircraft.

Security Aviation was scheduled to enter a plea to three federal weapons counts next week, but its attorney, Bob Bundy, said Monday he might try to move up the appearance to this week. Bundy attended Kane's arraignment as a spectator.

Penalties on the charges against Kane range from five to 10 years in prison. Both Kane and the company could face fines of $250,000 for each charge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Skrocki said at the arraignment investigators are still going through evidence seized in the raids, including computer hard drives.

Kane remains in jail following a magistrate's ruling almost three weeks ago that he represented a flight risk. His lawyers are appealing that decision to U.S. District Court, though attorney Kevin Fitzgerald said Monday that Kane may drop the appeal in favor of asking Magistrate John Roberts to reconsider.

Fitzgerald said he'd propose releasing Kane on $100,000 bail in the custody of someone who wasn't an employee of one of Avery's companies -- a change from earlier proposal when all the proposed custodians were associated with Avery. Fitzgerald said Kane would willingly undergo electronic monitoring, the kind of activity performed by Regional Protective Services until its equipment was seized.

Kane, dressed in bright jail clothes, was led handcuffed into court. About two dozen friends and co-workers filled one side of the courtroom, including his Filipino wife. Kane, growing a new beard, firmly said "not guilty" to each of the four charges.

When the arraignment ended and Roberts left the courtroom, Kane's wife's bodyguard, a man with a shaved head and huge bulging muscles, caught Kane's eye and made a clenched-fist gesture.
 
If they don't come up with a firing mechanism or at least a manual on how to build one and some documented intent/ability, the feds are seemingly setting themselves up to get egg on their faces.

As far as I can tell they haven't even charged the seller yet, which you'd think would give them leverage to get info from him about Kane's intent if he had any to offer.
 
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7493486p-7403599c.html
Hearing casts light on Security Aviation man
ROB KANE: Testimony points to man accused of rocket-launcher possession as recent FBI informant.
By RICHARD MAUER and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 2, 2006
Last Modified: March 2, 2006 at 05:09 AM

Rob Kane, the Eagle River man accused of illegally possessing two Soviet bloc rocket launchers, worked as an informant for the FBI as recently as last year, according to testimony at a new bail hearing Wednesday.

Kane, 37, is asking federal Magistrate John Roberts to reconsider his Feb. 8 decision denying Kane bail as a flight risk. Kane's attorneys said Kane was willing to post a $100,000 bond and offered Charles Sandberg, the real estate broker who employs Kane's mother at Next Home Real Estate, as a round-the-clock custodian.

Time ran out on the hearing Wednesday afternoon and Roberts ordered it continued this morning. He said his decision would be a "close call."

While the hearing shed some light on Kane, the self-styled commander at Security Aviation, it also deepened the mystery of what he did for Security owner Mark Avery and raised new questions about the volumes of money that Avery appeared to have been throwing around.

Interviews and prior court testimony have shown that Kane is probably the No. 2 behind Avery, who over the past year has spent millions of dollars building an air charter, medevac and security business anchored to the aviation company. Security Aviation and related companies, like Regional Protective Services LLC, are all registered with the state as wholly owned by Avery, a former municipal and state prosecutor who, as recently as 2004, gave his address as a modest duplex near Russian Jack Park. He now lives off Eagle River Road.

In addition to the most direct evidence to date that Kane was an informant for Robert Coffin, an FBI agent in Clearwater, Fla., the testimony and evidence at the hearing Wednesday did little to cast Security Aviation and related companies as just ordinary businesses.

• For a birthday present, Avery spent $2.4 million to buy Kane a World War II Corsair F4U-4, the fearsome, propeller-driven, 460 mph Navy fighter dubbed "Whistling Death" by the Japanese. Avery had "Rob 'Kandy' Kane" painted on the side of the plane. FAA records list the Corsair as owned by High Security Aviation LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Security Aviation. Kane is not a licensed pilot and has never been in the U.S. military, according to testimony.

• Avery paid $711,000 cash for the Eagle River home that Kane and his Filipino wife of about 10 years, Karen, moved in to. The home is listed in state and city records as being owned by Avery's Regional Property Services LLC.

• A government search of Kane's computers seized Feb. 2 uncovered scanned images of phony government identification cards, including one for the international airport at Cebu, in the Philippines. Other cards licensed the holder to possess weapons in the Philippines.

• Contrary to assertions by defense witness Joe Griffith, a former wing commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base and a prominent Anchorage businessman, that the rocket launchers were "demilitarized," the government presented evidence that they were fully operational. There was no evidence that Kane or Security had obtained rockets, though agents found operation manuals and rocket specifications at Security Aviation for the air-to-ground weapons.

Griffith, the former chief executive of Chugach Electric Association, has been a training and business development consultant to Security Aviation since last fall, shortly after Avery bought the company. In testimony on behalf of Kane, Griffith said he was present when the crates containing the rocket launchers arrived at the Security hanger at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The 16-tube rocket launchers, with Russian lettering, were designed to be fitted to the L-39 Czech military trainer jets Avery had purchased. Federal agents seized Avery's eight jets in the aftermath of the Feb. 2 raids on Security hangers in Anchorage and Palmer and Avery's company headquarters in a former bank building on C Street.

Griffith said the rocket launchers were not operational and might as well have been turned into coffee tables. But under withering cross-examination by assistant U.S. attorney Steve Skrocki, Griffith acknowledged he was basing his assertion on an advertisement from the man who sold the launchers as well as his own "cursory" examination that didn't even include a close visual inspection. Griffith said many of his assumptions were based on the way similar American launchers were designed, not Soviet-era ones.

A federal agent who participated in the search of Kane's house testified that he was told by an expert from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the launchers' wiring was intact, though some terminals were misnumbered in a common mistake of Soviet equipment. Skrocki suggested that the rocket-control wiring in the jets themselves was also intact, even if the actual cockpit controls were missing.

Griffith said Security Aviation had hoped to contract with the U.S. military to use the jets in "opposition air" combat training, where dissimilar planes are used to simulate actual warfare. Griffith said no such contracts had been signed.

He also said that he had come up with a business idea to train Philippine forces using the L-39 jets. The planes, with a maximum 600-mile range, could not be flown there easily, he said, though he acknowledged they could be transported aboard ships. Or the training could take place elsewhere, he said.

Sandberg was the latest potential custodian presented to Magistrate Roberts by Kane's lawyers. At the last hearing, federal prosecutors questioned the propriety of using the prior suggested custodians: two Security Aviation officials and the wife of an Anchorage police officer who moonlighted at the company.

Sandberg said he has known Kane's mother for years and testified he would carefully oversee Kane's every movement as ordered by the court.

But he acknowledged he also had a strong business connection to Avery. His firm earned the commissions on the purchase of Kane's and Avery's Eagle River homes, and he personally stood to earn another $17,000 commission in September if the contracted purchase of Security's Palmer hanger were consummated.

Sandberg said he knew little about Kane, including what he did for Avery besides keeping irregular hours. He said he had little idea what Kane did to support himself during the time Kane spent in the Philippines.

"He said he was there working with the military. He said he was working with the Philippine police," Sandberg said.

As they had in the earlier hearings, Kane's attorneys tried to introduce evidence that Kane had worked for the U.S. government, but they made little progress after Skrocki argued the matter was irrelevant at a bail hearing and was more suited for trial.

Kevin Fitzgerald, one of Kane's attorneys, argued that Kane didn't present a danger to the community and would not try to flee.

After the hearing recessed, another Kane attorney, James Kee of Duncan, Okla., accused the prosecutor of trying "to pull the wool" over the magistrate's eyes by blocking evidence of Kane's U.S. government connections. Kee said that FBI Agent Coffin had copies of the phony identification cards in his Florida files because Kane had used them in his undercover work. Kee declined to elaborate, though he added that he believes Coffin's superiors were preventing him from speaking to Kane's defense team.

Calls to Coffin's office last week were not returned.
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