LODI, Calif. — The owner of the Skydive Lodi Parachute Center is speaking out after a man who works at the facility was arrested and charged by a federal grand jury.
The grand jury says Robert Pooley continued to teach tandem parachuting students at the Parachute Center despite not being certified to do so. They also say he used a fellow instructor's signature to sign off on training.
Bill Dause, owner of the Parachute Center, defended Pooley's reputation and said Pooley will continue to work there at the skydiving facility.
"I've known Rob for, and honestly this is a guess, probably for an excess of 10 years," Dause said, adding Pooley is a very good instructor before challenging the grand jury’s allegations.
"No. The federal government thinks he was unauthorized. He hasn't been convicted of anything to my knowledge," Dause said.
ABC10 asked Dause when he found out Pooley had lost both certifications?
"The day after the incident and it was one of the USPA [United States Parachute Association] representatives told me that he had been removed from the UPT [United Parachute Technologies] website," Dause said.
He’s talking about an incident from August 2016 when an 18-year-old jumper and his student tandem jumper both died. The student jumper had been training with Pooley.
The USPA certifies candidates to train others, and UPT certifies people to use their tandem parachute systems. Dause was also asked when he found out Pooley had been using a fellow employee's signature to forge documents.
"No, that's…he doesn't forge documents. That's wrong," Dause said.
Additionally, Dause is adamant that the people who work through the parachute center are not employees.
"The Parachute Center has a lot of, I don't know if you want to call them independent contractors. I don't call them that. They're not independent contractors, they're instructors in a lot of different aspects of skydiving," explained Dause. "Over the years, literally hundreds of people have instructed here. We offer the facility and the airplane ride."
Plus, Dause maintains he’s an open book.
"Honestly the FAA has been very diligent about checking everything out. We're not hiding anything under the table. Everything's been wide open. And they've been fairly satisfied with what's going on and realized it's an accident," he said.
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