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Hardin Official To APPF: Tell Us "Where The Money Is Coming From"
Zachary Roth | October 6, 2009, 12:01PM
Al Peterson
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A Hardin, Montana official who has been the public face of the town's controversial prison contract with American Private Police Force (APPF) is now expressing serious concerns about the deal.
Yesterday, Al Peterson of the Two Rivers Authority (TRA), the city's economic development agency, sent an email to Michael Hilton of APPF and to the TRA's board members, declaring:
The TRA board needs to know where the money is coming from (pro forma). Without this financial information it will be almost impossible for the TRA board to support the agreement.
The same day, TRA president Gary Arneson told reporters that the agency had put the deal on hold because of host of concerns raised about APPF. But Peterson, who had been part of a TRA group that traveled to California to meet with Hilton before the deal was signed, had until now strongly backed the agreement -- and Hilton himself -- in frequent comments to reporters.
But Peterson told TPMmuckraker that, in the wake of several apparent discrepancies emerging in APPF's public statements, he now doubts APPF's claim to him and his colleagues that it was backed by a major security contractor. "Everything that's come to light has to make me question the legitimacy of the information" that the company showed him in California, he said.
Peterson has said APPF showed TRA officials documents indicating that APPF was working with a major contractor. But, in keeping with the TRA's stance throughout the controversy, he declined to reveal to TPMmuckraker who APPF had said that contractor was, saying he didn't want to unfairly tar anyone's reputation if it turned out that they weren't in fact associated with APPF.
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nellieh
October 6, 2009 12:17 PM
There is a sucker born every minute!
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Johann
October 6, 2009 2:48 PM in reply to nellieh
You mean that Al Peterson still doesn't know who. or what corporation, is behind, and is financing, this "deal"?
Amazing!
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Nomadinexile
October 6, 2009 1:01 PM
There is a lot more to this than a couple of born suckers nellieh. Bob, I am sorry for all the troubles your town has and will continue to go through due to bad choices of a few people. The people of Hardin for the most part, are good people between a rock and a hard place to due the economics of globalization. It's tough everywhere right now, but Hardin has a big whammy in that jail. But this deal couldn't happen. It was bad for you and bad for any Americans who may drive through your town someday on vacation. It was a bad deal. Al Peterson is going to have to give full and complete disclosure on APF, and it's financial backers, or kiss his job and ability to hold his head up high goodbye. His behavior warrants an arrest as best I can tell. But at least he can keep his pride by providing the information he knows. Becky Shay's actions also warrant an arrest. But again, things may blow over if she can provide information on the backers of APF. I believe needed and will push for arrest warrants, without full disclosure of this Criminal Conspiracy. That's right. Conspiracy charges can be added on to all of their charges. Do I hear RICO investigation? They need to fess up fully and do so now! Arrest Al Peterson and Becky Shay NOW!
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pqowieur
October 6, 2009 8:07 PM in reply to Nomadinexile
So even *if* APPF doesnt really have legit parent company, your saying there is still APPF financial backers somewhere. Yeah it would be nice to know that. I read that CA judge/attorneys are seeking to see if Hilton used any $. I guess they want to sieze it for the judgements against him.
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brillobreaks
October 6, 2009 1:20 PM
Too bad the TRA didn't get to this point earlier with the bunch of scammers that initially got them to build this jail. There was every indication it was a bad deal back then, and they just went right on ahead with it.
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EH
October 6, 2009 1:38 PM in reply to brillobreaks
That's a little unfair, isn't it?
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fkaZk0sm0
October 6, 2009 2:35 PM in reply to EH
why is that unfair???
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EH
October 6, 2009 1:36 PM
I'm betting Michael Hilton is going to stay pretty far out of sight. I wonder if any reporters are going to stake him out at his California court appearance.
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brillobreaks
October 6, 2009 1:41 PM in reply to EH
Who actually thinks he'll show up there, much less back in Hardin?
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Lestatdelc
October 6, 2009 3:21 PM
Peterson from a few days ago:
'But he appeared to think that unlikely. "Has [Hilton] conned us or deceived us?" he asked. "No. He's been pretty up front with us."'
Any bets he wishes he could walk that back (and a lot of other things too I suspect)
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greylox
October 6, 2009 3:53 PM
**Does it say WHERE in California they met? Because NO ONE could have been fooled by that storefront in Santa Ana. If they moseyed on down to San Diego, however, this thing takes on a whole new flavor. Does anyone know for sure where that meeting took place?
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pqowieur
October 6, 2009 8:24 PM in reply to greylox
Here's a clue, "David Gilberts"...
"Convery, who wasn't at the [california] meeting... said ...that she remembers meeting Hilton, one other person who may have been associated with APF but seems to have specialized in wind power, and a man named *** David Gilberts***, whose business card identified him as APF's communications director.
A call to the ***California number*** on Gilberts' business card was answered by a man who identified himself only as Sgt. Martin[heard that name before], who said he was with APF. At first he said no one named David Gilberts worked there, but, when told about Gilberts' purported position with the company, Sgt. Martin said, "He's not here," and then referred all further questions to Shay.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_3819f80a-b23c-11de-9b80-001cc4c03286.html
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pqowieur
October 6, 2009 8:13 PM
"he declined to reveal to TPMmuckraker who APPF had said that contractor was, saying he didn't want to unfairly tar anyone's reputation if it turned out that they weren't in fact associated with APPF." Thats one of the first rational arguements I've heard him publicy state and it makes sense. But forgive us for being a wee bit skeptical if you soon tell us that the parent company Hilton alledged isn't actually legit. Did you not call/visit the parent company yourself? Guess thats on your to do list now.
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Rcon1
October 6, 2009 11:46 PM
Grand Jury NOW !!!!!!
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Kropotkin
October 7, 2009 1:45 AM
I really doubt if Shay has done anything criminal. Being awesomely stupid is not against the law. However, I question her ethics. She's been acting as if she worked for Hardin's Chamber of Commerce for years while taking money for doing supposedly "objective" reporting on the Hardin and TRA beat for the Billings Gazette.
I don't know about Peterson. He is stupendously stupid, of course. He has been completely irresponsible throughout this and previous fiascos.
Being ignorant doesn't mean he isn't a crook, however. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for the state, when it gets the correspondence from the TRA, to audit both the books for that corporation and the Hardin school district of which Peterson is the superintendent.
Meanwhile, news tonight that "Hilton's" cell phone has been cut off.
All the bad news which has been sent to Hardin has been rejected by Peterson and his cronies, to their peril. They have been intolerable to the organization which outed the scheme in the first place, the Private Corrections Institute, with Peterson posting the biographies of staff and board on store windows around Hardin.
Check the website at www.privateci.org for more info on Hardin, Montana, five years worth, and on the mostly Texan players that got Hardin into the current fix with the useless jail in the first place.
Once again the town's "leaders" have made Hardin the laughingstock of the world.
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pqowieur
October 8, 2009 9:48 PM in reply to Kropotkin
"Meanwhile, news tonight that "Hilton's" cell phone has been cut off."
What's your source on that?
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