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 U.S. 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.