Lodi-area skydiving instructor sentenced to two years in prison for falsifying credentials

A Lodi skydiving instructor found guilty of fraudulently using a colleague’s credentials to teach the risky sport was sentenced Monday to 24 months in federal prison followed by 36 more months of supervised release in Sacramento federal court.

Robert Allen Pooley’s credentials were suspended when he approved a 2016 tandem jump by Yong Kwon, 25, and Tyler Turner, 18, both of whom died after Kwon had issues with the main and reserve parachutes and the two slammed into the ground.

Pooley was sentenced for two counts of wire fraud in cases that centered around his use of letters signed by another instructor, Yuri Garmashov, that were used to certify students’ training, including Pooley’s training of Kwon to lead tandem jumps. He has appealed the verdict, and on Monday his attorney said she would also appeal his sentence. A conviction by a jury on a third count, of aggravated identity theft, was previously dismissed by US District Court Judge William Shubb.

Prosecutors did not charge Pooley in any aspect of the two jumpers’ deaths. An investigation by The Sacramento Bee showed that at least 28 people have died in incidents at the Lodi Parachute Center since 1985. Pooley was not an owner at the facility and he was not charged with any of the deaths, one of which was a suicide.

In imposing the sentence, Shubb rejected arguments by Pooley’s attorney, federal public defender Mia Crager, that the deaths of Turner and Kwon should not be considered. Instead, he ruled that Turner’s parents could submit victim statements showing their harm and trauma in the death of their son. He also ruled that even though the case did not involve the question of liability for the deaths, Pooley’s sentence could be lengthened under a provision of the law that defines ways in which fraud can involve people risking injury or death.

In seeking a shorter sentence for her client, Crager argued that Pooley, 49, had already suffered the loss of his career and had been on supervised release since he was released on bond a day after his arrest in 2021. She said he had tried to make fines to students who had been charged for training courses he wasn’t legally allowed to sign off on by negotiating lower rates with other instructors.

But Deputy US Attorney Katherine Lydon, who prosecuted the case, argued for a longer, 27-month sentence, saying that Pooley’s fraud had led people — including Kwon and Turner — to take risks they otherwise would not have taken.

Prosecutors accused Pooley of defrauding students while teaching courses on leading tandem skydiving jumps at the Parachute Center in 2016. Pooley had suspended credentials and wasn’t supposed to certify students on his own. He normally taught with Yuri Garmashov, another instructor, who would sign off on the training. But when Garmashov left the country for a few months, Pooley used paperwork pre-filled with Garmashov’s signature. Prosecutors argued this was done without Garmashov’s permission and was meant to mislead the students.

Kwon, an experienced skydiver who would have believed he had been approved to lead tandem jumps with newcomers to the sport like Turner, wasn’t legally certified despite taking Pooley’s course and receiving the credentials falsely signed with Garmashov’s name, prosecutors argued. Neither he nor the center’s founder, William Dause, have been charged with a crime.

In going skydiving that day in Acampo, Turner was out for a special adventure with his mom and friends Casey Nelson and Mario Muniz, a final celebration of their high school years before heading off to college.

Turner’s mother, Francine Salazar Turner, spoke to the court with a tearful remembrance of the day her son died. Flanked by Nelson and Muniz, the childhood best friends who had been together to be his roommates at UC Merced, she said her son was gifted, working hard to overcome numerous health challenges including cerebral palsy.

“My heart was crushed in a million pieces,” she said, recalling the horror of her son’s death on an August day. “Rob Pooley, as a direct result of your selfish, reckless choices, my son died.”

Turner’s father, Todd Turner, said his son had a 4.3 grade point average and was set to attend UC Merced on a full scholarship. He was kind and empathetic, and during high school Tyler persuaded two of his close friends not to commit suicide, Todd Turner said.

“I hope this haunts him every day and every night for the rest of his life,” he told the judge, referring to Pooley.

“May God have mercy on your soul,” Todd Turner continued. “But may the court have no mercy on you.”