"The end looks to be drawing near for American Police Force and their plans to boss a $27 million dollar detention facility in Hardin Montana after officials in the town said they were backing away from the deal following revelations that the organization’s front man, Michael Hilton, was a career criminal.
Both the attorney and the economic development official who helped craft the original deal between APF and the Two Rivers Authority have now resigned, and they were followed on Monday by Greg Smith, the agency’s executive director who conducted a background check on Hilton. Smith was put on paid leave and resigned last night.
Following a public meeting yesterday, during which officials were bombarded with questions from concerned members of the public, the deal with American Police Force was put on hold
“We won’t move forward. I don’t think any of us want to be on the chopping block,” said Gary Arneson, president of Hardin’s Two Rivers Authority, which owns the jail.
It is important to stress that this could be just be a ploy on behalf of Hardin officials, who may attempt to put the deal back on the table once press attention subsides and the heat is off. However, any attempt to resurrect the agreement may be sunk by the findings of Montana’s Attorney General, who ordered both the Two Rivers Authority and APF to turn over all records relating to the deal by October 12.
“Hardin built its jail in 2007 as an economic development project. It was lured into the deal with Hilton over the summer, after several city officials flew to California and met with Hilton. He told them a major security corporation was backing the deal but wished to remain anonymous. The name of that corporation has never been revealed,”
reports the Associated Press.
Yet another one of Hilton’s deceptions was also uncovered during yesterday’s meeting. Hilton had told Hardin officials that he was hiring Michael Cohen, an executive with International Security Associates in Dublin, Ohio, to become the jail’s operations director. However, Cohen said that he was never formally offered the post by Hilton and if he was he wouldn’t have taken it anyway.
Hilton faces yet more legal trouble after it was revealed that a California judge has ordered him to appear in court on October 27 over an outstanding judgment in a fraud lawsuit.
“In that case, Hilton lured investors to sink money into an assisted living complex in Southern California that was never built,” reports the AP.
"
