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FBI searches Americopters on Saipan
In probe of Hansen Helicopters for using, leasing unsafe aircraft
Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents searched the office and maintenance facility of Americopters on Saipan in October 2016 in connection with the FBI’s and other federal agencies’ investigation into a scheme to use and lease unsafe aircraft that did not comply with U.S. safety aviation regulations, according to court records that the U.S. District Court for the NMI unsealed yesterday.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona unsealed the records regarding the search at the request of assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Leon Guerrero.
Leon Guerrero said the need to seal the documents is no longer necessary.
Four executives of Guam-based Hansen Helicopters Inc. were arrested last May 31 after they were indicted in the U.S. District Court for Guam.
Arrested were John Darrell Walker, Marvin R. Reed, Kenneth Rufus Crowe, and Phillip Turner Kapp.
Walker owns Hansen Helicopters. He was arrested in Missouri where he resides. Reed, Crowe, and Kapp, who are all executives of Hansen, were arrested in Harmon, Guam.
According to court records, Manglona issued the search and seizure warrant on Oct. 24, 2016, at the request of FBI special agent Peter Prozik.
FBI special agents executed the search and seizure warrant on Oct. 26, 2016, at Americopters office in the golf shop of the Coral Ocean Point Resort Club in Koblerville, and at the Americopters maintenance facility in As Gonno Road in Koblerville.
Documents showed that the FBI seized several boxes of documents, computers, and other items.
According to FBI special agent Prozik, on March 20, 2015, a Federal Aviation Administration team was notified of a public complaint that an operator within the Pacific Ocean region was operating multiple helicopters in an un-airworthy condition, manufacturing helicopters, and using counterfeit data plates and unapproved parts.
Prozik said the complaint alleged that a Guam-based helicopter company was operating numerous helicopters that carry false or counterfeit date plates.
Prozik said the Micronesian Aviation Corp. has the same listed address as Americopters at Coral Ocean Point Resort Club in Koblerville.
Prozik said agents confirmed with the Saipan Department of Revenue and Tax that Micronesian Aviation Corp., doing business as Americopters, has an expired business license, number 4118, effective April 2016, listing Crowe as an owner.
