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Nothing like stealing the equipment and membership lists and then setting up a "new" gym down the block - ha!:[/b/]
From The Sun Journal
Las Vegas, NV — Nine powerlifters where involved in a burglary at Les Cramer’s Weighthead Gym on Flamingo Road., Las Vegas, NV. Cramer and his finance'_ used their life savings to relocate from Pensacola, FL for the purpose of opening a power gym and retiring._ His expenditures included $15,000 to move his family and business, $33,000 in grand opening expenses, and 6 months operating costs for the gym. "We have lost everything," says Cramer.
Cramer has competed in over 315 Powerlifting, Olympic Lifting, and Physique Contests, probably the most on record. He is considered a pioneer in the sport.
Cramer states the theft also involved not only stealing the equipment, but actual theft of his already established business. This fact became evident when two of the nine accused thieves opened up a gym approximately six miles away with the same equipment; and then began calling members from the gym records that were also stolen. The two men that leased the building for the fraudulent location were Ken West and Mark Swank. The two continued to work out at Cramer’s gym right up to the day before they backed a truck up and loaded it.
The ongoing investigation includes $26,000 in equipment losses. The grand jury is looking at indictments for trespassing, burglary and grand larceny for the following six Las Vegas residents:_ Mark Swank, Aaron Ross, Lance Rector, Rob Diehl (currently on 15 year probation for statutory rape), Gil Kiaha (security guard for R&R adult social club, recently portrayed on the news as a illegal house of prostitution), and Kevin Hornbuckle. Mark Swank and Ken West are also to be charged with receiving stolen property. Two additional parties that were involved in the conspiracy were Keiran Kidder of Daytona Beach, FL and Ernie Frantz of Chicago, IL. Investigators have indicated that they could be charged under Nevada law for racketeering.
Frantz made a trip through Las Vegas several weeks prior to the burglary and met with West and Swank.
Kidder is the self appointed President of the WPO, a puppet organization for Frantz’s organization, the American Powerlifting Organization. Kidder became involved when he sold Cramer the equipment from his defunct Huge Iron Gym. As a result of the sale, Kidder left members hanging with paid memberships and nowhere to work out and unpaid taxes, license number 392243200. Cramer and his associates made two trips to Las Vegas last year at his own expense to salvage the equipment and save it from being confiscated for unpaid rent by the landlord. Cramer picked up the equipment, repainted and repadded it, then stored it all at his own personal expense. The signed agreement on the lease purchase of the equipment was signed and faxed to Cramer directly from Kidder’s office in Daytona Beach, FL. Cramer has produced a photo of the two in Kidder’s gym with a witness sealing the deal.
West, a one time investor in Cramer’s gym, is currently under Internal Revenue investigation for unpaid taxes and has been sued by Cramer for $8,000 for the balance of his limited partnership agreement. West decided to open a rival gym by using the exact same equipment that Cramer had purchased from Kidder. Using the old Las Vegas maffia tactics, why not befriend the person, get a key code entry, back up to the door and just steal it. In addition to stealing the original Huge Iron equipment, they also took equipment that Cramer had trucked out from Florida and some other equipment that had been loaned to the gym by several of the powerlifters. They even took the membership records and invited members to join the new non-airconditioned whole-in-the-wall. Thus taking the six month effort of 12 - 14 hour days, with no pay, that Cramer and his fiancée spent building the gym into a viable business.
All that broke into the gym where gym members. Swank, who drove the truck and orchestrated the robbery, was the only lifter even ranked in the top 50 nationwide. He competed in the APF nationals in York, PA where he bombed in the bench press. He trained on the equipment and liked it so well, he just decided to take it and open his own powerlifting facility.
Cramer was on the board of the Frantz run AAPF and APF Powerlifting Organizations. He was also state chairman for both. Kidder is vice President of the AAPF.
All burglary participants have admitted to being involved. In a recorded phone conversation, Swank admits to taking the equipment stating, among other things, that he did not like the way Cramer was running the gym and that the orders came down from Kidder to take the equipment.
Frantz was recently found guilty of patent right infringements and federal contempt of court in his ten year battle with John Inzor. In an email that is now part of police evidence, Frantz wrote on May 3, 2002, "I have my bench and Keiran Kidder has his equipment there, I will be discussing this with him to turn over to Ken West, all of this in Las Vegas."
Frantz had tried to extort money from Cramer for AAPF drug testing that had never been preformed at a meet Cramer promoted for the AAPF Nationals in Florida. "You also owe the APF Quest Labs for testing five tests that Jim Rouse did, of $80 each." Rouse who had been fired by Frantz as AAPF President at Cramer’s meet in Florida states he only preformed one test and the kit had never been submitted to the lab. Frantz threatened to close down Cramer’s gym if he did not forward a certified check to Frantz’s office. This apparently worked into the hands of West and Swank giving them the opportunity to get the $26,000 in equipment with the full cooperation (conspiracy) of Frantz and Kidder. Authorities do not know if Frantz will be indicted or not.
Kidder however stated in a recorded phone message that one of the reasons he ordered the break in is that he didn’t like the stories he heard of the way Cramer conducted the National meet. The Weighthead Gym’s answering machine has been turned over to police with the following message recorded from Kidder, "Hey Les, this is Keiran Kidder. Hey listen, I gave permission for them to take the equipment so you know, it was authorized by me. You had one of the monolifts sitting outside for months. I mean how disrespectful is that? I mean it’s just pathetic. You know it’s kinda like the way you operate. Your kinda like half ass methods of operations of running the meets and this that. I mean it’s just best for me to discontinue my relationship with, or any goings on with you. The equipment was taken out on my permission so you don’t need to bother going to the cops or whatever. I authorized it. And yeah, that is so you don’t even need really to call me back," Kidder could forfeit the entire balance owed on the equipment from the original sell under the criminal forfeit Nevada racketeering law NRS 207.440 Channel 13 investigative reports in Las Vegas are looking into the possibilities of a documentary of the Las Vegas Nine for a local news cast.
Two of the nine have come forward to police and made voluntary statements implicating everyone involved. The finger pointing goes to Swank and West who stand to benefit the most from the theft. Seven of the nine are admitted known steroid users. Frantz had a prior arrest for selling steroids. All lift in the APF because of their policy of non-drug testing. All consider themselves in the superman category and untouchable by the law. They laugh at the fact that Cramer is attempting to get back his equipment and reopen a gym so he may honor the contractual agreements with his members.
Cramer’s attorney’s are preparing a $300,000 lawsuit against all participants and are working directly with the states attorney general’s office to obtain grand jury indictments. In addition, Cramer is seeking entry fee money from Kidder that was illegally obtained on the internet for a meet that Cramer held in Las Vegas.
When all is said and done, no matter who did, or thinks, or says what, you just can’t take the law into your own hands because you disagree with someone or see things differently. Cramer states that since he no longer has a gym to run, that his full time occupation is to get his equipment back and see that the Las Vegas Nine are put in jail. He hopes to recoup the thousands of dollars lost. Cramer states that he might be a little older than the thieves and a little smaller, 181 pounds, but has enough ‘never say die attitude’. "I feel that justice will prevail. And if it takes me the rest of my life, working on the case, I will never roll over or quit. My wish for the Las Vegas community is that these guys don’t dislike the taste of one of the local pizza parlors or have a gripe with the Laundromat guy down the street. They’ll simply back up to the doors, take the ovens, and open up Kidder’s pizza parlor or Frantz Laundromat. I feel certain that the guilty parties will be arrested and jail terms will be handed out."
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Burglary Grand Larceny Event Number 020530-2728
From The Sun Journal
Las Vegas, NV — Nine powerlifters where involved in a burglary at Les Cramer’s Weighthead Gym on Flamingo Road., Las Vegas, NV. Cramer and his finance'_ used their life savings to relocate from Pensacola, FL for the purpose of opening a power gym and retiring._ His expenditures included $15,000 to move his family and business, $33,000 in grand opening expenses, and 6 months operating costs for the gym. "We have lost everything," says Cramer.
Cramer has competed in over 315 Powerlifting, Olympic Lifting, and Physique Contests, probably the most on record. He is considered a pioneer in the sport.
Cramer states the theft also involved not only stealing the equipment, but actual theft of his already established business. This fact became evident when two of the nine accused thieves opened up a gym approximately six miles away with the same equipment; and then began calling members from the gym records that were also stolen. The two men that leased the building for the fraudulent location were Ken West and Mark Swank. The two continued to work out at Cramer’s gym right up to the day before they backed a truck up and loaded it.
The ongoing investigation includes $26,000 in equipment losses. The grand jury is looking at indictments for trespassing, burglary and grand larceny for the following six Las Vegas residents:_ Mark Swank, Aaron Ross, Lance Rector, Rob Diehl (currently on 15 year probation for statutory rape), Gil Kiaha (security guard for R&R adult social club, recently portrayed on the news as a illegal house of prostitution), and Kevin Hornbuckle. Mark Swank and Ken West are also to be charged with receiving stolen property. Two additional parties that were involved in the conspiracy were Keiran Kidder of Daytona Beach, FL and Ernie Frantz of Chicago, IL. Investigators have indicated that they could be charged under Nevada law for racketeering.
Frantz made a trip through Las Vegas several weeks prior to the burglary and met with West and Swank.
Kidder is the self appointed President of the WPO, a puppet organization for Frantz’s organization, the American Powerlifting Organization. Kidder became involved when he sold Cramer the equipment from his defunct Huge Iron Gym. As a result of the sale, Kidder left members hanging with paid memberships and nowhere to work out and unpaid taxes, license number 392243200. Cramer and his associates made two trips to Las Vegas last year at his own expense to salvage the equipment and save it from being confiscated for unpaid rent by the landlord. Cramer picked up the equipment, repainted and repadded it, then stored it all at his own personal expense. The signed agreement on the lease purchase of the equipment was signed and faxed to Cramer directly from Kidder’s office in Daytona Beach, FL. Cramer has produced a photo of the two in Kidder’s gym with a witness sealing the deal.
West, a one time investor in Cramer’s gym, is currently under Internal Revenue investigation for unpaid taxes and has been sued by Cramer for $8,000 for the balance of his limited partnership agreement. West decided to open a rival gym by using the exact same equipment that Cramer had purchased from Kidder. Using the old Las Vegas maffia tactics, why not befriend the person, get a key code entry, back up to the door and just steal it. In addition to stealing the original Huge Iron equipment, they also took equipment that Cramer had trucked out from Florida and some other equipment that had been loaned to the gym by several of the powerlifters. They even took the membership records and invited members to join the new non-airconditioned whole-in-the-wall. Thus taking the six month effort of 12 - 14 hour days, with no pay, that Cramer and his fiancée spent building the gym into a viable business.
All that broke into the gym where gym members. Swank, who drove the truck and orchestrated the robbery, was the only lifter even ranked in the top 50 nationwide. He competed in the APF nationals in York, PA where he bombed in the bench press. He trained on the equipment and liked it so well, he just decided to take it and open his own powerlifting facility.
Cramer was on the board of the Frantz run AAPF and APF Powerlifting Organizations. He was also state chairman for both. Kidder is vice President of the AAPF.
All burglary participants have admitted to being involved. In a recorded phone conversation, Swank admits to taking the equipment stating, among other things, that he did not like the way Cramer was running the gym and that the orders came down from Kidder to take the equipment.
Frantz was recently found guilty of patent right infringements and federal contempt of court in his ten year battle with John Inzor. In an email that is now part of police evidence, Frantz wrote on May 3, 2002, "I have my bench and Keiran Kidder has his equipment there, I will be discussing this with him to turn over to Ken West, all of this in Las Vegas."
Frantz had tried to extort money from Cramer for AAPF drug testing that had never been preformed at a meet Cramer promoted for the AAPF Nationals in Florida. "You also owe the APF Quest Labs for testing five tests that Jim Rouse did, of $80 each." Rouse who had been fired by Frantz as AAPF President at Cramer’s meet in Florida states he only preformed one test and the kit had never been submitted to the lab. Frantz threatened to close down Cramer’s gym if he did not forward a certified check to Frantz’s office. This apparently worked into the hands of West and Swank giving them the opportunity to get the $26,000 in equipment with the full cooperation (conspiracy) of Frantz and Kidder. Authorities do not know if Frantz will be indicted or not.
Kidder however stated in a recorded phone message that one of the reasons he ordered the break in is that he didn’t like the stories he heard of the way Cramer conducted the National meet. The Weighthead Gym’s answering machine has been turned over to police with the following message recorded from Kidder, "Hey Les, this is Keiran Kidder. Hey listen, I gave permission for them to take the equipment so you know, it was authorized by me. You had one of the monolifts sitting outside for months. I mean how disrespectful is that? I mean it’s just pathetic. You know it’s kinda like the way you operate. Your kinda like half ass methods of operations of running the meets and this that. I mean it’s just best for me to discontinue my relationship with, or any goings on with you. The equipment was taken out on my permission so you don’t need to bother going to the cops or whatever. I authorized it. And yeah, that is so you don’t even need really to call me back," Kidder could forfeit the entire balance owed on the equipment from the original sell under the criminal forfeit Nevada racketeering law NRS 207.440 Channel 13 investigative reports in Las Vegas are looking into the possibilities of a documentary of the Las Vegas Nine for a local news cast.
Two of the nine have come forward to police and made voluntary statements implicating everyone involved. The finger pointing goes to Swank and West who stand to benefit the most from the theft. Seven of the nine are admitted known steroid users. Frantz had a prior arrest for selling steroids. All lift in the APF because of their policy of non-drug testing. All consider themselves in the superman category and untouchable by the law. They laugh at the fact that Cramer is attempting to get back his equipment and reopen a gym so he may honor the contractual agreements with his members.
Cramer’s attorney’s are preparing a $300,000 lawsuit against all participants and are working directly with the states attorney general’s office to obtain grand jury indictments. In addition, Cramer is seeking entry fee money from Kidder that was illegally obtained on the internet for a meet that Cramer held in Las Vegas.
When all is said and done, no matter who did, or thinks, or says what, you just can’t take the law into your own hands because you disagree with someone or see things differently. Cramer states that since he no longer has a gym to run, that his full time occupation is to get his equipment back and see that the Las Vegas Nine are put in jail. He hopes to recoup the thousands of dollars lost. Cramer states that he might be a little older than the thieves and a little smaller, 181 pounds, but has enough ‘never say die attitude’. "I feel that justice will prevail. And if it takes me the rest of my life, working on the case, I will never roll over or quit. My wish for the Las Vegas community is that these guys don’t dislike the taste of one of the local pizza parlors or have a gripe with the Laundromat guy down the street. They’ll simply back up to the doors, take the ovens, and open up Kidder’s pizza parlor or Frantz Laundromat. I feel certain that the guilty parties will be arrested and jail terms will be handed out."
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Burglary Grand Larceny Event Number 020530-2728
