http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7428702p-7339570c.html

Hearing reveals purpose of raids

ROCKET LAUNCHERS: Agents seized weapons at Security Aviation.

By TATABOLINE BRANT and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 8, 2006
Last Modified: February 8, 2006 at 02:53 AM

The one man arrested in the government raids at Security Aviation and related companies had ordered an employee to buy two 16-tube rocket launchers for its fleet of Czech fighter jets, FBI agents testified before a federal magistrate in Anchorage on Tuesday.

And when the rocket launchers arrived in crates, the man, Robert F. Kane, a self-styled "commander" with no U.S. military service, boasted to an employee who saw them at the Security hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in October:

"Now I can conduct target practice."

The preliminary hearing Tuesday in the felony weapons possession case against Kane was the first public explanation for the massive raids last week at Security Aviation facilities at airports in Anchorage and Palmer, an office building on C Street housing Regional Protective Services, among other related companies, and at least one home.

No evidence was presented that Kane had obtained rockets for the launchers, which have red writing in Russian and were seized in Palmer Feb. 2. At one point during the 2 1/2-hour hearing, which will continue today, Kane's attorney, Michael Spaan, suggested Kane was just engaging in harmless "boy talk."

Kane is accused of orchestrating the purchase of the two rocket launchers from an Internet site and having them delivered to Security Aviation. The company and affiliates have purchased about seven two-seat L-39 jets since former Anchorage assistant district attorney Mark Avery bought Security Aviation last summer.

An FBI agent testified that the fuselage of one of the jets had stenciled lettering at the back seat: "Commander R.F. Kane."

A Security Aviation official said two weeks ago that the jets were used in contractual services with the U.S. military but would not elaborate.

Security Aviation president Joseph Kapper didn't return a call seeking comment Tuesday, and the person who answered the phone at Avery and Associates said Mark Avery wouldn't be taking calls.

Spaan, the U.S. Attorney for Alaska during the Reagan administration, suggested that the launchers were an accessory and not even operational. If they were anything otherwise, why would Kane have been so open about them?

Kane did at one point show one of the launchers to a top local Transportation Security Administration official, according to the FBI.

"If they were trying to keep it secret, they weren't doing a very good job -- would you agree?" Spaan asked Special Agent Matthew Campe at one point Tuesday.

"Yes," the agent said.

But the prosecution argued later that there was an air of secrecy surrounding the launchers -- Security Aviation employees had to sign confidentiality agreements not to talk about what went on at the business. And, when Kane showed the TSA official the rocket pod launcher, they claim, he said something to the effect of "the FAA could not see this."

The hearing at the U.S. Courthouse in Anchorage drew a large crowd of people who didn't want to comment or identify themselves.

Kane, 37, is not listed in the records as an owner of any of Avery's companies, but FBI agent Derek Espeland testified that Kane is believed to be a "principal" in at least one of them, Regional Protective Services, which owns some of the L-39 jets and stores them at the Security Aviation hangers.

As agents were searching her Eagle River home, Kane's wife volunteered that her husband was paid $20,000 a month by Regional Protective Services, agent Shawn Clapp of the federal Air Marshal Service told the court Tuesday. Agents searched the couple's Eagle River home -- which public records show is owned by one of Avery's companies --during last week's raids.

Inside, in a jacket and briefcase, agents say they found more than $20,000 in $20 and $100 bills, a silencer for a .45-caliber weapon, some international bank cards, a Greek passport for his Filipino wife which she could not explain, official-looking badges and identification cards with Kane's name, and folders emblazoned with images of various American and foreign intelligence agency logos -- the FBI, CIA, Britain's MI-6, the United Nations and something called the National Intelligence Agency. Agents also found numerous American military medals, even though Kane has no record of service, they said.

The FBI said in an affidavit filed in court that Kane has claimed to be affiliated with the U.S. intelligence community since at least 1996, at different times telling people he was a Navy SEAL and other times that he operated under the auspices of the FBI and CIA.

The prosecution suggested in their questioning that Kane was a fraud, saying he had a "pattern of impersonation." Spaan said the government was painting Kane as a "rogue cowboy" when he could have been working for the intelligence community.

The FBI said Kane's wife gave investigators the name of a Miami-based FBI agent whom she described as her husband's case officer. But the agents did not testify whether that tip proved to be true.

Among the items entered into evidence Tuesday was a color photo of Kane in a uniform of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary with ribbons from the U.S. Navy.

Whether Kane worked for the U.S. government is a "subject of huge dispute," prosecutor Steven Skrocki told the court, but he suggested that was an issue for a later hearing or a trial.

Magistrate John Roberts did not let the two sides argue the matter very long, as it strayed from the purpose of the hearing: to determine whether the government had probable cause to hold Kane in jail.

At the heart of that decision was the charge against Kane: failure to register an explosive device.

The prosecution laid out its evidence to the court. They said they had four witnesses -- three former or current Security Aviation employees and the TSA agent -- as well as the two launchers themselves.

One of the former Security Aviation employees told authorities that Kane ordered an administrator at the company to do research on weapons that could be mounted on L-39s. The administrator located two of the launchers on an Internet auction site and Kane ordered their purchase, the former employee told the FBI. The person also told authorities the administrator discussed "hypothetical missions," which included attacks on terrorist camps.

Kane, who is tall with short dark hair and pale skin, sat quietly through the proceedings Tuesday, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his ankles in chains over pink socks and slippers. He appeared tired but calm, at times rubbing his eyes or leaning his head on his hand as his attorney questioned FBI agents.

I was laughing so hard at that story this morning, didn't have time to post it.  It just got weirder and weirder.

can't be, I'm still here
<------

Uh ok

OMG, I needed that! Fucking hilarious!

"...And something called the National Intelligence Agency"  ROFL

ETA: Oh my god, this is killing me! Commander Kane!

Sooo...basically, we got this armchair commando with too much money, to buy a couple surplus trainer jets, find out what he can mount to them, buy them on the internet. Then tell a couple people about it, while scheming "hypothetical missions" calling himself a Commander, and gathering logos of agencies and even creating one that sounds official. To fucking much!

Sounds like the guy from True Lies with a little too much money. God damn this is funny.

I almost hit the floor when I go to the part about the portrait of him wearing the Phillipine Coast Guard Auxiliary Uniform with the US Navy ribbons.

It's Col. Flag from MASH.

Shuttle Door Gunner Arrested in Anchorage    Where do I apply for his job?  He's gonna be gone for awhile.    





_____________________________  

 

"dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his ankles in chains over pink socks and slippers"

Quoted: Kane, who is tall with short dark hair and pale skin, sat quietly through the proceedings Tuesday, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his ankles in chains over pink socks and slippers. He appeared tired but calm, at times rubbing his eyes or leaning his head on his hand as his attorney questioned FBI agents.

That whole story is just too weird to make up.

Inside, in a jacket and briefcase, agents say they found more than $20,000 in $20 and $100 bills, a silencer for a .45-caliber weapon, some international bank cards, a Greek passport for his Filipino wife which she could not explain,  official-looking badges and identification cards with Kane's name, and folders emblazoned with images of various American and foreign intelligence agency logos -- the FBI, CIA, Britain's MI-6, the United Nations and something called the National Intelligence Agency.

ROFL

Man, I'm seriously choking right now!

And legs some people call us Paratroopers weird.

I think Commander Kane could kick Chuck Norris' ass.

Quoted: official-looking badges ROFL Man, I'm seriously choking right now!

He's tied in with the fatal jet crash here that left an aquaintance's family without a home. Hope he had fun with his rocket pods.

Damn...one of our covert operatives has been compromised.

Is the launcher itself an explosive / destructive device.  Or is it one of those deals where a component is as good as the ordnance?

We had a kid in my High school 20 years ago that was called Starbuck.  He use to race matchbox cars up and down the hallway.  I always wondered what happened to him.

.

What a wacky story!


It would be really cool to have an L39 though.

tag

Is Security Aviation the same company that owns several Migs as well as L-39s and flys them as OPFOR (as a military contractor) during .mil aviation training...or was that another company?

I recall reading a rather lengthy story about a company spending years and years working towards that, and eventually succeeding, hope it wasn't SA.  Very interesting stories about them going to former Soviet countries to buy MIGs that they knew existed but weren't on any official books in the country.  There was concern that that countries .gov was not pleased with the company even knowing about the planes existence...enough to make the buyers sweat bullets while they were buying them.

IIRC they had either one or two MIG-29 Fulcrums.  

I'm betting it was Vito that linked to that story.  

Quoted: What a wacky story! It would be really cool to have an L39 though. www.air-and-space.com/20031018%20Miramar/PICT0104%20L39%2062%20left%20side%20l.jpg

Nice little scooter. How many did they have?

King of all PX Rangers.

was paid $20,000 a month by Regional Protective Services

$140K/yr and fly jets.  Where do I send my resume, looks like they could use a new commander.




Commander Bandit, I like the sound of it.

Quoted: Quoted: official-looking badges ROFL Man, I'm seriously choking right now! www.warbooks.com/Graphics/CCWBadge.jpg

Badges? Badges?! We don't need no stinking badges!

Bizarro World

See that's what happens, the agency will disavow you and your actions!

I had dealings with commander Kane back when I was a screen-door gunner on the nuclear submarine USS Codfish.

OPSEC won't let me go into too many details, but I CAN say that pretty soon he is going to be out and free.

Anybody want any of this beef jerkey? It's good.....

So....what's his ARFCOM member name?

Quoted: Is Security Aviation the same company that owns several Migs as well as L-39s and flys them as OPFOR (as a military contractor) during .mil aviation training...or was that another company?

If they do, I dont know about it.  They're a local Alaskan company, apparently one of several owned by a guy named Mark Avery (never heard of him before).

From what I know about Security Aviation, they mainly target the celebrity/VIP market for when such people come to Alaska to fish or hunt. They provide air transportation services to lodges and whatnot.  In high school, a friend of mine cleaned detailed their planes. Never knew they had L-39s or weirdos like this Kane guy working for them.

So the Question is WHAT NAME DOES HE POST UNDER on ARFCOM?

More from the saga of Commander Kane

Man called wannabe soldier of fortune denied bail

ROB KANE: Magistrate says man at center of Security Aviation rocket launcher case is a flight risk.

By TATABOLINE BRANT and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 9, 2006
Last Modified: February 9, 2006 at 03:38 AM

After two days of testimony that painted him as a soldier of fortune wannabe, "Commander" Rob Kane was ordered held without bail on a federal weapons charge by a judge who ruled Wednesday that he posed a significant flight risk.

In his ruling at the federal courthouse in Anchorage, U.S. Magistrate John Roberts rejected offers by an Anchorage police sergeant and an active-duty Army officer to supervise Kane if he were released. Both the policeman, Sgt. Ted Smith, and the Army officer, Ray Sleeth, have moonlighted for Security Aviation, the company closely associated with Kane, but testified during the hearing that they knew very little about the man himself.

Kane, 37, was arrested Feb. 2 after a series of raids by armed federal agents on Security Aviation's hangars in Anchorage and Palmer and the company owner's Midtown offices on C Street. Kane is charged with illegally possessing two 16-tube rocket launchers designed to be mounted on the Czech L-39 trainer jets owned by Security Aviation and its related companies. The launchers -- without the rockets -- were seized from Security Aviation's Palmer hangar.

Another Czech jet that Security Aviation sought to purchase crashed in Ketchikan on Jan. 25, killing the pilot who was flying it to Illinois for its owners. Federal officials have said the raids were not a result of the crash.

Security Aviation is an Anchorage-based air-charter company that flies in Alaska, the Lower 48 and internationally.

Kane's attorney, Michael Spaan, told the court Wednesday that he had an expert who could testify that the launchers were not operational and pressed for the court to release Kane on bail.

But assistant U.S. attorney Steven Skrocki said Kane has access to large sums of cash and aircraft, is well versed in traveling the world and cannot be trusted to stay for trial.

"This is a guy who wants to live under and off the radar screen -- and he's doing a pretty good job of it," Skrocki said. "No one knows much of Mr. Kane at all. He will leave at the drop of a hat because the game is up."

Skrocki ticked off the evidence, telling the court that Kane didn't want his name listed on some company documents, on the title to his house or his vehicles, and does not even apply for Permanent Fund dividend checks.

"None of this makes any sense," Skrocki said. "There's no way the court can gamble on him based on these facts."

He added that Kane owns numerous U.S. military medals without ever having been in the service, has "badges galore" claiming to be some kind of official agent, and for years has told stories about working for American and foreign intelligence agencies.

"It is beyond dispute that he is a con man and a fraud," Skrocki said. As he spoke those words, several groans emerged from the side of the courtroom filled with employees of Security Aviation and the related companies.

But Spaan, who is a former U.S. attorney, argued there was nothing illegal about possessing military medals or official-looking badges or documents. He said Kane has a wife and three kids and ties to the community.

But the possible third-party custodians brought before the court admitted they knew almost nothing about Kane, including what he did in his job at Regional Protective Services or what role he played at Security Aviation, which has seen tremendous growth in the last year, adding military aircraft and intercontinental executive jets to its fleet of small airplanes.

Mark J. Avery, a former city and state prosecutor, owns both companies, according to public records. No one could be reached for comment during a visit to his offices at 3230 C St. Wednesday. A woman in the parking lot who would not identify herself said no one in the building wanted to talk.

Several details about the C Street building came to light in federal court Wednesday, including that Kane had two offices inside where he worked for Regional Protective Services. In one of the rooms, agents found semi-automatic assault rifles, handguns and a .50-caliber rifle with a large scope on it, as well as a satellite phone, according to testimony Wednesday.

But none of the weapons was illegal, the FBI agent on the stand said when pressed by Spaan. The defense attorney used that testimony later to argue that Kane is not a danger to the community. "He's had guns which he's allowed to keep," Spaan told the judge.

Spaan also took shots at the prosecution's suggestion earlier in the hearing that a silencer found inside Kane's home was for a .45-caliber weapon. APD Sgt. Ted Smith, who inspected the device, testified that he thought the silencer was a "toy or a prop."

But Smith's testimony showed he was not a disinterested party. He told the court he worked for Avery's company and was friends with Kane's father, a retired Anchorage police officer. Smith said Security Aviation paid him $7,000 to fly two recently purchased Huey helicopters to Alaska from Outside.

In one of the stranger moments during an afternoon of often spellbinding testimony, Skrocki, the prosecutor, demanded that Smith testify about a $20,000 loan he received from Avery and Associates, Mark Avery's law firm, last summer.

Smith said he never got a loan from the company.

Skrocki quickly rifled through copies of documents seized in the raid and marked two as a new exhibit. One was a company check request for a $20,000 loan requested by Kane. The other was a copy of the accompanying check, paid to Smith and co-signed by Kane and Avery.

Smith acknowledged getting the check and cashing it but said the money was actually for bail for Sammy Cohen, an Anchorage police officer charged in June with sexually abusing his daughter and possessing child pornography. Cohen's relationship with Avery's companies is unclear, but Smith said even though the check was in his name, the loan was actually for Cohen.

Smith said he knew Kane had been charged twice with assault, one time paying a $50 fine and serving a day in jail, the other time resulting in dropped charges. Spaan later told the judge the charges were dropped because Kane had been working as a police informant at the time, though no details were offered.

Testimony also showed that Kane had a contract with a man with a license to manufacture silencers and fully automatic weapons to test and sell them.

In making his ruling from the bench, Roberts took note of the unusual courtroom testimony over two afternoons. He said he was tempted to "put down my Sidney Sheldon book and delve into this case" but reminded the participants that this was just a bail hearing, not a full-blown trial.

Roberts said Kane "has a certain clandestine nature." He referred back to testimony that Kane sought to have his name removed from company memos and that he told a Transportation Security Administration official who saw the rocket launchers to keep them secret from the Federal Aviation Administration.

While Kane's behavior may be consistent with that of "an informant or secret agent," Roberts said, it's incompatible with that of "an upstanding citizen."

www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7431266p-7342156c.html

Among the items entered into evidence Tuesday was a color photo of Kane in a uniform of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary with ribbons from the U.S. Navy.

Everybody knows the primary recruiting pool for SSDGs is the PCGA.

Quoted: Among the items entered into evidence Tuesday was a color photo of Kane in a uniform of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary with ribbons from the U.S. Navy. Everybody knows the primary recruiting pool for SSDGs is the PCGA.

Damn, does the term OPSEC mean anything to you?

looks like our secret source of high speed low drag SSDG's is now compromised





we have to find out his screenname here

are the launchers considered "explosive devices"? if they are not what law has he broken?

tag

Quoted: are the launchers considered "explosive devices"? if they are not what law has he broken?

Good question.  Other than being an idiot what did he do?

Quoted: So....what's his ARFCOM member name?

AR15.com is too soft for Commander Kane.  He's prolly a moderator at ASSweb.

So, you can get rocket launchers through customs?

Also, for it to be a DD, doesn't there also need to be rockets available for it.  Based on the reason that a 37mm launcher is not a DD because no explosive rounds exist for it.

How much does a L-39 cost?

I'd like to meet this guy. He sounds very interesting. He sounds like a mall ninja on crack X 1000.