Sports complex builder facing felony charge

Dave Brooks

The contractor hired to build the second half of the Huntington Beach

Sports Complex turned himself in to Oregon authorities Friday for an

unrelated, outstanding felony warrant.

Attorney Joe O’Connor of Salem, Ore. was wanted on a reported

contempt-of-court violation in connection with a civil lawsuit and

charges that he defrauded a Kalamazoo, Mich. amateur soccer team out

of nearly $800,000, an Oregon arrest warrant shows.

Club owner Chris Keenan filed the suit, alleging O’Connor

abandoned an indoor soccer pavilion project under circumstances

similar to Huntington Beach’s sports complex.

After turning himself in, O’Connor was booked, released and given

a court date to reappear, Marion County Deputy Kevin Rau said.

News of the arrest is the latest in a string of concerns about the

credibility of O’Connor and his company Community Sports Foundation,

which is being sued by the City Attorney’s office for abandoning a

contract to build a pavilion, roller rinks and batting cages at the

Huntington Beach Sports Complex.

City Councilman Dave Sullivan said he is concerned that the city

will never see the $950,000 it gave to O’Connor to build the arena.

Any money recovered from O’Connor has to be first paid back to

Keenan, who has an $800,000 judgment against the Salem attorney.

“The due diligence on this was horrendous,” Sullivan said. “This

is going to be a loss for the city.”

Keenan said O’Connor nearly bankrupted his soccer club with his

plan to build the indoor arena in the spring of 2002. Keenan’s story

is similar to those of others who have worked with O’Connor on failed

arena projects, describing a charismatic soccer enthusiast who

promised to build him a prototype sports facility for team Kalamazoo

Kingdom, only to drop the project after receiving his bulk of the

payment.

“We first became concerned when Joe stopped returning our phone

calls,” Keenan said. “Then one day, I called one his vendors to check

on our order and was told that Joe never paid him any of the money

that we had allocated. That’s when it began to unravel.”

Keenan filed a civil lawsuit in Michigan against O’Connor,

including charges that O’Connor defrauded him out of the money. He

won an $800,000 judgment after O’Connor failed to appear in court.

After the victory, Keenan filed the judgment in Oregon and had

O’Connor subpoenaed to court to disclose his assets. O’Connor never

showed up and a felony warrant was issued in his name.

O’Connor’s arrest could pave the way for Keenan to begin

collecting on his judgment, although he doesn’t expect it to be an

easy task.

“Do I really expect to see any of the money back?” he said. “I

doubt it.”

The city of Huntington Beach has begun its own legal proceedings

against O’Connor for completing only about 40 percent of his $1

million contract. The lawsuit alleges that O’Connor falsified his

references and credentials to get the bid.

His company, Community Parks Foundation, was dissolved in February

for failing to renew its articles of incorporation and his six other

corporations listed on the Oregon Business Registry have also been

dismantled. To get the Huntington Beach contract, O’Connor claimed

his company was a nonprofit, but IRS spokesperson Raphael Tulino said

O’Connor never filed for the tax exempt status.

Councilwoman Jill Hardy said she was interested in possibly

pursuing criminal charges.

“A crime was committed and the company should be pursued,” she

said. “There should be an investigation and the police should be

involved.”

In the meantime, Community Services Director Jim Engle plans to

push ahead with a contingency plan to get the project finished. He

estimates that O’Connor spent about $600,000 of the money he was

given by the city to build the project, including paving the roller

skating rink and installing high-tech Astroturf for the two soccer

fields.

“All they really need to do now is put up a few walls, add the

bleachers, complete the batting cages and set up a modular building

for concessions,” Engle said, noting that most major infrastructural

repairs are completed. Engle hopes to get a vendor on the site soon

to begin generating revenue through the batting cages, and then

eventually bring an operator on the site for the long-term.

The city also plans to look at its own role in approving

O’Connor’s contract. Engle has been unable to locate references

submitted by O’Connor, but said the contract was approved by his

predecessor Ron Hagan, who has not returned phone calls from the

Independent.

City Administrator Penny Culbreth-Graft has ordered an internal

investigation into the matter.