May 24, 2024 - SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a seven-day trial, a federal jury found Robert Allen Pooley, 49, of Acampo, guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to tandem skydiving instructor courses, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in 2010 Pooley obtained ratings as a “tandem examiner” with the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) and with Uninsured United Parachute Technologies LLC (UPT), a manufacturer of tandem parachute systems. He then began conducting training courses for candidates seeking to obtain their USPA Tandem Instructor ratings and/or their certifications to use UPT tandem parachute systems. The Tandem Instructor certifications Pooley provided enabled students to conduct tandem jumps with members of the public throughout the United States and abroad. Pooley charged money for these courses and conducted them at a skydiving business located in Acampo.

In August 2015, USPA and UPT suspended Pooley’s tandem examiner ratings, which meant that he could no longer conduct the tandem instructor courses on his own. Nevertheless, he continued running USPA and UPT tandem instructor rating courses without authorization, and he concealed his suspensions from tandem instructor candidates. Pooley falsely told students that he was a tandem examiner, led them to believe they could obtain USPA and UPT tandem ratings through his courses, hid the fact that he had been suspended, and helped students fill out USPA and UPT rating paperwork to further the impression that the students would legitimately get their tandem ratings through his courses.

As part of the scheme, Pooley used a digital image of the signature of another properly rated USPA and UPT tandem examiner to sign off on training that Pooley himself had conducted when the other tandem examiner was not even in the country. In 2016, Pooley accepted numerous students in this manner from around the world, including the Republic of Korea, Chile, and Mexico. Each student paid approximately $1,100 for these courses. The signed documents that Pooley provided some of the students led them to believe they were certified to conduct tandem skydives with members of the public. On Aug. 6, 2016, one such student fell to his death in a tandem skydiving accident with a customer who also perished. After those deaths, numerous victims of Pooley’s scheme asked for their money back, but he did not repay them, and several students had to pay for entirely new tandem instructor courses at other locations.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine T. Lydon and Dhruv M. Sharma are prosecuting the case.

Pooley is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 26, 2024, by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb. Pooley faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of wire fraud and a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
Source: DOJ Release