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=> And this from the Guadalajara Reporter...

And this from the Guadalajara Reporter...
Posted by Lolo (Guest) - Monday, March 13 2006, 7:22:49 (CET)
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..........showing that there are still people with holes in their heads.......... and he still didn't learn to shoe a horse properly............

Horse trainer back in jail after 7 years on the lam

Photograph by : D. Palfrey

• There was no activity this week at El Caballo Rojo boarding stables near Ajijic.
 Story by : Alex Gesheva and Dale Hoyt Palfrey

Mexican immigration officials last week detained and deported a U.S. citizen living in Ajijic who escaped from a minimum-security prison in Colorado in March 1999.?John Brentley Chancellor Reynolds, who operated El Caballo Rojo boarding stables and trail-riding service near Ajijic, was serving a seven-year prison sentence for making false statements to a financial institution and illegal monetary transactions.?Ken Deal, chief deputy U.S. marshal for the District of Colorado, said U.S. authorities have been after Reynolds for seven years. ?"We picked up his trail in Belize," Deal said. "He had problems with his landlord, owed money, stole a dog. We tracked him through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. We almost had him in San Miguel in 2003, but he was just a bit ahead of us."?Ten years ago, Reynolds and his family owned Beaver Creek Ranch, an organic cattle operation covering more than 80,000 acres in South Dakota. On March 24, 1996, the day before a scheduled bank inspection of Reynolds' collateral, the family left the ranch. ?Reynolds' problems started with a 17-million-dollar loan from the Farm Credit Services of America. He later admitted that he inflated cattle numbers and misrepresented the loan collateral. The family also left behind irate West River area banks, businesses and individuals, who had loaned the ranch additional hundreds of thousands of dollars.?Reynolds was indicted on fraud charges and arrested in February 1997 in South Lake Tahoe, California. At the time, he was driving a taxi under a Hispanic surname.?In 1998, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and five years probation, and began serving his term later that year at the federal prison camp in Florence, Colorado. After seven months, he walked away and disappeared into Central America.?"We think that the Bureau of Prisons may have inadvertently assigned him to a lower security camp," said Deal. "They are for white-collar crimes: no fences, essentially on the honor system. He didn't stick around for long."?Reynolds, who used the name Sam in Mexico, arrived in Ajijic around the end of December 2004 with his wife Celina, two teenage daughters and several U.S.-bred horses. One of the daughters left soon after.?The Reynolds soon opened the Caballo Rojo stables and trail-riding service and offered horse training. Reynolds told local residents that he had lengthy experience as a horse handler and animal vet. In just over a year, the couple gained loyal friends in the Lakeside community.?"Our feeling is that even if he was completely guilty of what he was charged with, he got a raw deal," said Tom Barsanti. "The charges were benign and to get seven years seems astounding to me. They had frozen his assets, he couldn't get a lawyer, and was coerced into a guilty plea - they threatened to arrest Celina and put the kids in foster care."?Barsanti knew a very different Reynolds than the one Deal describes. ?"He was quick to help neighbors and friends. They were both gentle folks who love animals, and I've seen them work 18-hour days and collapse from exhaustion," he said. "They're excellent horse trainers. I don't understand why they're still being followed for such minor charges."?Reynolds did not develop very close ties with longtime expatriate members of the local equestrian circles. Some of them say they were not convinced of his experience in the field.?One source said the couple often complained of financial problems and were known to have trouble covering debts with feed suppliers. According to one source, the couple told friends and clients that they depended on a cell phone because of an outstanding phone bill left by former tenants of their rental home. One of their daughters, an accomplished rider, was briefly enrolled in escaramuza riding, but quit a few months later, citing the 1,500-peso fee as a reason. There were also other inconsistencies. ?"I thought it was strange that a qualified U.S. veterinarian would be down here working the way he was," said Chapala vet Pepe Maga–a. Maga–a was recently called to the ranch for a middle-of-the-night consultation on a colic case. The horse died of what he believes was heart failure a few days later. ?"I could tell that Reynolds had experience in handling horses. I got the impression that he might have been a vet's assistant."?Deal is unsympathetic to the Reynolds' financial difficulties. ?"During their time on the run, he was doing the usual: taking people for money, garnering their trust, property, cash," he said. "We have had people say that he is a bit unstable and erratic. And victims of fraud rarely come forward.?"There still was a lot of interest from victims and the community [in South Dakota], who felt betrayed by his actions, knowing that there was a large sum of money that has not been recovered," Deal told Steve Miller, a reporter with the Rapid City Journal. "We have not been able to identify any of those assets, if there were assets available to him."?Reynolds did not resist arrest in Ajijic, said Barsanti. "They drove up in a white van, put him in the back, and he was arrested without incident."?According to Deal, Reynolds was flown to Los Angeles, California, where he was scheduled for an initial court appearance on Tuesday, February 21. If convicted of the escape charge, Deal said, Reynolds faces a mandatory prison term of five years, as well as the remainder of his seven-year term on federal fraud charges.?Barsanti, and Reynolds' family and friends, have decided that it's far from over. ?"We are going to help him find legal representation," said Barsanti. "The original sentence was unjust and we're going to fight it - Sam could have been misled on the loan. We just hope Celina can keep the business going."



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