Airport developer Scot Spencer arrested
A long-running investigation into business dealings at the San Bernardino International Airport Authority resulted in criminal charges and the arrest of former airport developer Scot Spencer, District Attorney Michael Ramos announced Monday, March 25.
He accused Spencer and Felice G. Luciano, an investor in one of Spencer's companies, of taking advantage of efforts to turn around the struggling airport and defrauding the authority of more than $1 million.
“It’s an unconscionable crime – morally, ethically and now it’s reached to a criminal level,” Ramos said.
Spencer, 48, was arrested Sunday at a shopping mall in Boca Raton, Florida, where he owns a home. Luciano remains at large and is being sought by authorities.
Prosecutors hope to have Spencer, who is being held on $1 million bail at a Palm Beach County jail, brought to San Bernardino County soon.
Spencer and Luciano each face two charges of conspiracy to commit grand theft. Spencer also was charged with two counts of perjury and one count of preparing false documents. The charges were filed Friday, March 22, in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
A long-running investigation into business dealings at the San Bernardino International Airport Authority resulted in criminal charges and the arrest of former airport developer Scot Spencer, District Attorney Michael Ramos announced Monday, March 25.
He accused Spencer and Felice G. Luciano, an investor in one of Spencer's companies, of taking advantage of efforts to turn around the struggling airport and defrauding the authority of more than $1 million.
“It’s an unconscionable crime – morally, ethically and now it’s reached to a criminal level,” Ramos said.
Spencer, 48, was arrested Sunday at a shopping mall in Boca Raton, Florida, where he owns a home. Luciano remains at large and is being sought by authorities.
Prosecutors hope to have Spencer, who is being held on $1 million bail at a Palm Beach County jail, brought to San Bernardino County soon.
Spencer and Luciano each face two charges of conspiracy to commit grand theft. Spencer also was charged with two counts of perjury and one count of preparing false documents. The charges were filed Friday, March 22, in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
If convicted of all counts, each would face up to five years in prison. Ramos said he also hopes to seek restitution and repayment of the money.
Spencer, the airport’s first developer and manager, was the focus of a critical San Bernardino County civil grand jury report in June 2011 and an FBI-led search three months later that sought evidence of wrongdoing.
Spencer was hired as officials sought to find new uses for the former Norton Air Force Base after it was shut down 1994, costing the area 20,000 jobs and devastating the San Bernardino area economy.
Spencer previously had done time in federal prison for bankruptcy fraud and had come under scrutiny in recent years over millions of dollars in contracts that he was awarded by the airport authority.
A federal search warrant stated that investigators were seeking evidence of bribery, theft, fraud, money laundering and other crimes.
The warrant listed Phil Luciano as one of the figures about whom investigators were seeking information. Felice Luciano has been known to go by the name Phil, prosecutors said.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Robert Brown said because of ongoing efforts to apprehend Luciano, they were withholding information about him beyond his business connection to Spencer.
The investigation was conducted by the district attorney’s office and the FBI. Both are members of the Inland Regional Corruption Task Force, created in 2010 to focus on corruption allegations in San Bernardino County.
Ramos said the charges would not have been possible without the FBI’s involvement. He left open the possibility of further charges by his office and/or federal officials but said he could not elaborate.
“When I can, it’s my duty to hold them responsible in San Bernardino County,” Ramos said of the decision to charge in state court. “If there are federal crimes that go along with the same charges or even more, I think that’s going to be even better for the citizens of San Bernardino County.”
Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI, said the federal investigation is ongoing.
“We’ve not ruled out federal charges in this investigation,” she said.
Ramos said he could not comment on whether any of the elected officials who serve on the airport authority’s oversight board or the Inland Valley Development Agency board are being investigated.
He described them as having a genuine interest in trying to develop the airport and create jobs that was taken advantage of by Spencer and Luciano.
“What they did was they took the passion of those people who wanted to turn it around and used that passion as their own piggy bank to live this lavish lifestyle of travel and expensive items,” Ramos said.
San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris, a member of the airport authority and IVDA boards, said the airport authority has cooperated with investigators and moved quickly to sever its relationship with Spencer.
“We are the victims of the man’s conduct based upon the allegations that are before us,” Morris said.
Supervisor Josie Gonzales, also a member of the boards, echoed those sentiments.
“Unfortunately, the unscrupulous business practices of Scot Spencer have tainted much of the good work done at the airport,” she said in a statement. “From the moment the commission first learned of the investigation surrounding Mr. Spencer, the airport authority has done everything legally possible to distance itself from Mr. Spencer.”
Former county Supervisor Neil Derry, a former member of the airport authority board, said he went to the FBI in 2009 with concerns about Spencer overcharging the agency for contracts. He called the airport “a disaster” for the county and said Spencer never should have been hired.
“My question is who’s next?” Derry said. “It certainly doesn’t end with Scot Spencer.”
Ramos said the investigation began before 2009.
The charges relate to a $1.75 million claim Spencer submitted in July 2008 for a hangar lease agreement that prosecutors allege was fraudulent, the criminal complaint states.
Spencer has claimed that he had booked a hangar at the airport for a plane to be leased to the Democratic National Committee, but officials had booked the same hanger for another tenant. As a result, he was forced to cancel his contract for the jet, he said.
Airport authorities paid Spencer $1 million in a legal settlement to avoid a lawsuit.
The complaint describes the lease as “non-existent” and states that Luciano’s involvement included signing a document claiming to represent the aviation company that had the supposed deal with the Democratic National Committee.
Committee officials later said they never had a contract with Spencer and had never heard of him.
Airport officials never saw the lease to independently verify the deal because Spencer said there was a nondisclosure agreement.
The complaint also charges Spencer with testifying falsely under oath in May 2010 and then again in May 2011 about his company, Norton Aircraft Maintenance Services, “the fraudulent agreement and his criminal history.”
The document does not state under what circumstances Spencer testified but the time period coincides with a two-year civil grand jury investigation that led to the critical June 2011 report that alleged widespread problems with the management of the airport.
Spencer first arrived in 2003 to operate a failed charter airline at the airport, then was awarded a no-bid agreement in 2007 to oversee conversion of the former base into a commercial airport. The cost grew from $45 million in 2007 to more than $200 million. It hasn't been finished and there still are no scheduled flights.
Three months after the FBI raid, the IVDA removed Spencer from involvement in developing the airport and began severing its agreements with him. His companies were formally evicted from the airport last October.
Ramos said Norton and efforts to redevelop it have a personal connection to many county residents including him. His father was a life-long employee at the base.
“It was a place where people worked to raise their families and serve their country,” Ramos said.
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