California skydiver sentenced for wire fraud related to unauthorized courses
ACAMPO — A California skydiver was sentenced to two years in prison for wire fraud related to running unauthorized tandem skydiving instructor courses after his credentials were suspended, officials said Monday.
In 2015, Robert Allen Pooley, 49, of Acampo, had tandem skydiving credentials he obtained five years earlier suspended but continued running instructor courses anyway, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He kept the suspensions concealed from students who took the courses.
The certifications allowed Pooley to conduct tandem skydiving jumps with people around the world. Some of Pooley's work as an instructor both before and after the suspension occurred at the embattled Skydive Lodi Parachute Center in Acampo.
"[Pooley] hid the fact that he had been suspended, and helped students fill out [U.S. Parachute Association] and [Uninsured United Parachute Technologies] rating paperwork to further the impression that the students would legitimately get their tandem ratings through his courses," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release on the sentencing.
Pooley used a digital image of a signature belonging to an active tandem skydiving instructor to sign off on training courses he conducted, including locations in Mexico, Chile, and Korea. Course candidates would pay Pooley around $1,100 to participate.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said one student who believed they obtained legitimate certification through Pooley's courses conducted a tandem skydive with a customer in 2016, which resulted in both falling to their deaths. Pooley was never charged for those deaths.
Yuri Garmashov, the man whose signature Pooley forged, later sued the U.S. Parachute Association claiming he was wrongly blamed for the two deaths.
Pooley was convicted of wire fraud back in May after a week-long trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A count of aggravated identity theft was previously dismissed.