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(AK) interesting case involving guy dubbed 'wannabe soldier of fortune'
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http://www.adn.com/front/story/7496266p-7406830c.html
Security Aviation bail pegged at $200,000
SECURITY AVIATION: Broker will have 24-hour custody of accused.
By RICHARD MAUER and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 3, 2006
Last Modified: March 3, 2006 at 05:04 AM
A federal judge reversed himself Thursday and set bail for Rob Kane, the Security Aviation "commander" arrested a month ago on charges of possessing illegal Soviet-era rocket launchers.
Kane, 37, of Eagle River, was ordered released on $200,000 bail in the 24-hour custody of Charles Sandberg, the real estate broker who employs his mother. A spokesman for the U.S. Marshal's Service said Kane would probably make bail this morning.
"We should've stood up and cheered," a Kane co-worker said as she left the courtroom when the bail hearing ended shortly after noon.
"It's a good thing you didn't," responded a court security officer, one of many detailed at strategic locations around the courtroom.
As at each of Kane's court appearances, the courtroom was filled with employees of Security Aviation, Regional Protective Services and related companies, all of them owned by Anchorage attorney Mark Avery. Kane worked for Avery and was richly rewarded, though what he did for his employer wasn't any clearer after this two-day bail hearing than it was after earlier court sessions.
In releasing him until his trial, scheduled to start May 3, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts ordered Kane to stay away from firearms, airports, computers and witnesses. Roberts said the only identification he could carry is his Alaska driver's license, not any passport or the many phony ID cards and badges found in his possession by the FBI and other government agents during searches of his home and three businesses Feb. 2.
Kane will move into Sandberg's own upstairs bedroom in his zero-lot line home near O'Malley Road and the New Seward Highway. Roberts said Kane will need special permission from federal pretrial services officers when he goes with Sandberg to the Mat-Su Valley office of Sandberg's company, Next Home Real Estate, or anywhere else out of Anchorage.
As Roberts was numerating the restrictions, the only other sound that could be heard in the courtroom was Kane's loud whispering to his attorneys, his back to the judge. Finally Roberts paused midthought. When the whispering stopped, Roberts scolded the defense table for not paying attention as he issued instructions which, if violated, could send Kane back to jail.
Roberts had ruled Feb. 8 that Kane was a flight risk and denied him bail. But Kane got three new lawyers after that hearing and asked Roberts to reconsider. Before announcing his decision Thursday, Roberts said a defendant generally has the right to bail, leaving a heavy burden on the government to prove otherwise.
Assistant U.S. attorney Steve Skrocki said nothing had changed in the last two weeks to show Kane was any more responsible. Testimony from four potential custodians, including Sandberg, shed almost no light on Kane's character, employment or personal history, aside from a strong connection to the Philippines, where his wife is from and where he still owns property.
"Nobody knows who Mr. Kane is," Skrocki said. Kane has no known U.S. bank accounts, he said, and has left almost no trace in public records. "He runs on a cash basis."
Avery provided Kane with a house, cars, airplanes and a monthly salary of $20,000. Kane's wife, Karen, received an additional $10,000 monthly allowance from Avery, Skrocki said.
That's $360,000 a year, Skrocki said, but no one knows whether the money is invested or buried in the yard.
Though Kane grew up in Anchorage, his only community ties now appear to be through his employment, Skrocki said. Neither his parents, who live in Anchorage, nor his wife testified on his behalf, Skrocki said.
As strange and perplexing as Skrocki tried to portray Kane, defense lawyer Kevin Fitzgerald tried to make him look normal. At worst, Fitzgerald said, Kane is "a man that thinks very highly of himself."
And Kane isn't the only consultant in Alaska of whom little is known of the work performed, Fitzgerald said. "A certain state senator" also shares that distinction, he noted. That obvious reference to Senate President Ben Stevens, who has reported more than $1.5 million in consulting fees since he took office but has refused to describe his work, elicited a rebuke from the judge.
Fitzgerald argued that the public was never in danger from the rocket launchers, which were designed for use on Czech L-39 military planes. Avery owned a small fleet of L-39s, but they were incapable of launching a rocket attack even if Kane possessed rockets, which he didn't, Fitzgerald said.
Kane has no interest in fleeing, Fitzgerald said, because the charges are weak and he wants to return to his work.
Security Aviation bail pegged at $200,000
SECURITY AVIATION: Broker will have 24-hour custody of accused.
By RICHARD MAUER and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 3, 2006
Last Modified: March 3, 2006 at 05:04 AM
A federal judge reversed himself Thursday and set bail for Rob Kane, the Security Aviation "commander" arrested a month ago on charges of possessing illegal Soviet-era rocket launchers.
Kane, 37, of Eagle River, was ordered released on $200,000 bail in the 24-hour custody of Charles Sandberg, the real estate broker who employs his mother. A spokesman for the U.S. Marshal's Service said Kane would probably make bail this morning.
"We should've stood up and cheered," a Kane co-worker said as she left the courtroom when the bail hearing ended shortly after noon.
"It's a good thing you didn't," responded a court security officer, one of many detailed at strategic locations around the courtroom.
As at each of Kane's court appearances, the courtroom was filled with employees of Security Aviation, Regional Protective Services and related companies, all of them owned by Anchorage attorney Mark Avery. Kane worked for Avery and was richly rewarded, though what he did for his employer wasn't any clearer after this two-day bail hearing than it was after earlier court sessions.
In releasing him until his trial, scheduled to start May 3, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts ordered Kane to stay away from firearms, airports, computers and witnesses. Roberts said the only identification he could carry is his Alaska driver's license, not any passport or the many phony ID cards and badges found in his possession by the FBI and other government agents during searches of his home and three businesses Feb. 2.
Kane will move into Sandberg's own upstairs bedroom in his zero-lot line home near O'Malley Road and the New Seward Highway. Roberts said Kane will need special permission from federal pretrial services officers when he goes with Sandberg to the Mat-Su Valley office of Sandberg's company, Next Home Real Estate, or anywhere else out of Anchorage.
As Roberts was numerating the restrictions, the only other sound that could be heard in the courtroom was Kane's loud whispering to his attorneys, his back to the judge. Finally Roberts paused midthought. When the whispering stopped, Roberts scolded the defense table for not paying attention as he issued instructions which, if violated, could send Kane back to jail.
Roberts had ruled Feb. 8 that Kane was a flight risk and denied him bail. But Kane got three new lawyers after that hearing and asked Roberts to reconsider. Before announcing his decision Thursday, Roberts said a defendant generally has the right to bail, leaving a heavy burden on the government to prove otherwise.
Assistant U.S. attorney Steve Skrocki said nothing had changed in the last two weeks to show Kane was any more responsible. Testimony from four potential custodians, including Sandberg, shed almost no light on Kane's character, employment or personal history, aside from a strong connection to the Philippines, where his wife is from and where he still owns property.
"Nobody knows who Mr. Kane is," Skrocki said. Kane has no known U.S. bank accounts, he said, and has left almost no trace in public records. "He runs on a cash basis."
Avery provided Kane with a house, cars, airplanes and a monthly salary of $20,000. Kane's wife, Karen, received an additional $10,000 monthly allowance from Avery, Skrocki said.
That's $360,000 a year, Skrocki said, but no one knows whether the money is invested or buried in the yard.
Though Kane grew up in Anchorage, his only community ties now appear to be through his employment, Skrocki said. Neither his parents, who live in Anchorage, nor his wife testified on his behalf, Skrocki said.
As strange and perplexing as Skrocki tried to portray Kane, defense lawyer Kevin Fitzgerald tried to make him look normal. At worst, Fitzgerald said, Kane is "a man that thinks very highly of himself."
And Kane isn't the only consultant in Alaska of whom little is known of the work performed, Fitzgerald said. "A certain state senator" also shares that distinction, he noted. That obvious reference to Senate President Ben Stevens, who has reported more than $1.5 million in consulting fees since he took office but has refused to describe his work, elicited a rebuke from the judge.
Fitzgerald argued that the public was never in danger from the rocket launchers, which were designed for use on Czech L-39 military planes. Avery owned a small fleet of L-39s, but they were incapable of launching a rocket attack even if Kane possessed rockets, which he didn't, Fitzgerald said.
Kane has no interest in fleeing, Fitzgerald said, because the charges are weak and he wants to return to his work.