A candidate for the
airport manager position at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport earlier
pleaded guilty to an amended misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit
theft by deception in 2010.
The Lexington
Herald-Leader (Ky.) newspaper reported in March of 2010 that John Coon,
who now works at an airport in Anderson, Ind., pleaded guilty to the
charge that had been amended down from a felony theft charge. The plea
deal, according to the newspaper, required Coon to testify at any trials
against any other defendants in a case involving spending of airport
money.
Coon said he felt bad
about the incident but felt that he had paid his debt to society and
done a good job in the past 18 months as airport manager at the Anderson
(Ind.) Municipal Airport.
“It was an unfortunate
situation and I have a lot of remorse towards it,” Coon said. “It
damaged by career, my family and my reputation in the industry. I feel
very bad that it happened.”
Coon previously worked at
the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., and according to the
Herald-Leader was one of four men indicted after law agencies spent more
than nine months investigating spending at the Blue Grass Airport. All
four men, the newspaper reported, were forced to step down in January of
2009. They spent more than $530,000 on travel, meals and entertainment
and other expenses from 2006 to 2008, the Herald-Leader reported.
Brainerd Lakes Regional
Airport Commission Chair Andy Larson could not be reached for comment
Friday afternoon. Commissioner Beth Pfingsten said Friday she knew
nothing about any problems Coon had in the past and had no comment.
Coon is one of five
candidates who are scheduled to be interviewed for the permanent airport
manager post that has been open since December.
Two Brainerd area
candidates have surfaced for the airport manager position. Rick Adair,
the current interim airport manager, and Jeff Wig, a dean at Central
Lakes College, are among the five candidates who will be interviewed
within the next two weeks.
The other candidates are
Anthony Dudas, airport operations officer at Sloulin Field International
Airport in Williston, N.D.; Brian Madsen, airport manager at Skyharbor
in Duluth; and Coons.
Dudas, Wig and Madsen will be interviewed Thursday. Coon and Adair will be interviewed Oct. 30.
The Brainerd Lakes
Regional Airport Commission and Manager Search Committee will conduct
the first set of interviews at 1 p.m. Thursday in the airport conference
room at the airport. The two groups will also conduct interviews at 1
p.m. Oct. 30 at the same location.
http://brainerddispatch.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment