RGeeProductions
07-08-2009, 07:54 PM
It was supposed to be an awesome summer for the man developing the All Women Stockcar Oval Motorsports Event at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Instead, Charles Collins Jr., who is leasing the track from billionaire owner Bruton Smith and who said he was working on the all-female AWESOME race series and television reality show, sits in a Wilkes County jail facing at least five felony charges.
After a Wilkes County Sheriff's Office investigator arrested Collins Monday on three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense related to cheating one of the prospective women racers, authorities found outstanding fugitive warrants from Florida and Georgia.
They served the Florida warrants charging Collins with felony counts of contracting without a license during an emergency and grand theft in the third degree.
Florida officials said yesterday that they want to extradite Collins.
The Wilkes Sheriff's Office also received a Georgia fugitive warrant that stems from a 2002 probation violation that says that Collins owes $15,182 in restitution.
"He didn't make any payments and left the state," said Wilkes County Sheriff Dane Mastin. It wasn't clear yesterday what the original charge was.
Collins was provided a court-appointed attorney after saying he is indigent. He did not respond to a message left on his cell phone and his attorney did not return a phone call.
Wilkes authorities have been investigating Collins for a few weeks, said Capt. Steve Cabe, the chief of detectives. He said that the investigation wasn't linked to a particular complaint but that they decided to look into Collins because there were so many questions swirling around him.
The local charges are connected to bogus refund checks that Collins wrote to race-car driver April Myers of Lexington after she had paid $2,245 to attend a racing school he was requiring for potential drivers, according to a report she filed on June 7 on a Web site called ripoffreport.com. When the school sessions didn't happen, she asked for her money back.
Myers said that Collins wrote her four checks that bounced, then said he would make it right, but continued to make excuses.
Collins was charged with writing checks to Myers for $1,000, $750, and $245 when he knew there was not enough money in the account to cover the checks, according to the arrest warrants. A fourth charge is being investigated.
"The reason I am contacting you is because for the simple fact I do not want anyone else scammed by this man," Myers wrote on the Web site. "I am sure that he is trying to talk to investors and other drivers and workers and I don't want them to make the same mistake as I have."
Wilkes County officials have been puzzled by Collins ever since he started leasing the North Wilkesboro Speedway in February, because he didn't seem to have any money and couldn't answer basic questions about his plans.
Keith Walsh, Wilkes County's director of building inspections, recalled meeting with Collins for a half day in March to explain what Collins needed to do to get the speedway safe to operate.
"He kept saying nobody would back him," Walsh said. "I said, ‘Charles, the only thing you've done is talk. You haven't shown anybody you've got the money to do anything.' He shouted back at me, ‘I'll show you people.'"
Walsh said he told Collins that people in Wilkes County want to see something good happen at the speedway. He said that Collins did some cleaning up at the track, but never made any of the needed repairs the county had detailed in a three-page document it put together in 2005 when others were interested in buying the track. He said that Collins never got any of the permits to make repairs.
In May, Collins was host to an open house that included a concert and pony rides. It sold about 20 tickets. Collins obtained a county permit to allow people into the infield, but large areas around the track were barricaded as unsafe. There was no electricity in any of the buildings except for the ticket office.
Another 20 people showed up in May to watch as six cars did test laps. A driving school offered laps there last month.
The North Wilkesboro Speedway closed in 1996. Other proposals have fallen through in recent years, but Collins was the first potential developer to actually have a lease that granted him access to the property.
Smith, the track's owner, could not be reached for comment yesterday. The lease had lapsed last month, but Smith renewed it until August.
Smith said last month that he still wants $12 million for the track and said he had offered it to Wilkes County in exchange for nontaxable bonds.
Zach Henderson, the chairman of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, said that the track isn't worth anywhere close to $12 million.
"We have repeatedly stated as a county we'd be willing to assist in infrastructure, water and sewer," Henderson said. "As a county, we don't have any desire to operate a race track. We don't have the ability or expertise or desire to use tax dollars (for that)."
Don Alexander, the director of the Wilkes Economic Development Corp., said yesterday that he is aware of four parties interested in developing the speedway.
"My hope is this bad-taste experience won't sour Wilkes County residents on the next project to come through," he said. "We're going to do everything in our power to help any legitimate developer."
Monte Mitchell
Instead, Charles Collins Jr., who is leasing the track from billionaire owner Bruton Smith and who said he was working on the all-female AWESOME race series and television reality show, sits in a Wilkes County jail facing at least five felony charges.
After a Wilkes County Sheriff's Office investigator arrested Collins Monday on three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense related to cheating one of the prospective women racers, authorities found outstanding fugitive warrants from Florida and Georgia.
They served the Florida warrants charging Collins with felony counts of contracting without a license during an emergency and grand theft in the third degree.
Florida officials said yesterday that they want to extradite Collins.
The Wilkes Sheriff's Office also received a Georgia fugitive warrant that stems from a 2002 probation violation that says that Collins owes $15,182 in restitution.
"He didn't make any payments and left the state," said Wilkes County Sheriff Dane Mastin. It wasn't clear yesterday what the original charge was.
Collins was provided a court-appointed attorney after saying he is indigent. He did not respond to a message left on his cell phone and his attorney did not return a phone call.
Wilkes authorities have been investigating Collins for a few weeks, said Capt. Steve Cabe, the chief of detectives. He said that the investigation wasn't linked to a particular complaint but that they decided to look into Collins because there were so many questions swirling around him.
The local charges are connected to bogus refund checks that Collins wrote to race-car driver April Myers of Lexington after she had paid $2,245 to attend a racing school he was requiring for potential drivers, according to a report she filed on June 7 on a Web site called ripoffreport.com. When the school sessions didn't happen, she asked for her money back.
Myers said that Collins wrote her four checks that bounced, then said he would make it right, but continued to make excuses.
Collins was charged with writing checks to Myers for $1,000, $750, and $245 when he knew there was not enough money in the account to cover the checks, according to the arrest warrants. A fourth charge is being investigated.
"The reason I am contacting you is because for the simple fact I do not want anyone else scammed by this man," Myers wrote on the Web site. "I am sure that he is trying to talk to investors and other drivers and workers and I don't want them to make the same mistake as I have."
Wilkes County officials have been puzzled by Collins ever since he started leasing the North Wilkesboro Speedway in February, because he didn't seem to have any money and couldn't answer basic questions about his plans.
Keith Walsh, Wilkes County's director of building inspections, recalled meeting with Collins for a half day in March to explain what Collins needed to do to get the speedway safe to operate.
"He kept saying nobody would back him," Walsh said. "I said, ‘Charles, the only thing you've done is talk. You haven't shown anybody you've got the money to do anything.' He shouted back at me, ‘I'll show you people.'"
Walsh said he told Collins that people in Wilkes County want to see something good happen at the speedway. He said that Collins did some cleaning up at the track, but never made any of the needed repairs the county had detailed in a three-page document it put together in 2005 when others were interested in buying the track. He said that Collins never got any of the permits to make repairs.
In May, Collins was host to an open house that included a concert and pony rides. It sold about 20 tickets. Collins obtained a county permit to allow people into the infield, but large areas around the track were barricaded as unsafe. There was no electricity in any of the buildings except for the ticket office.
Another 20 people showed up in May to watch as six cars did test laps. A driving school offered laps there last month.
The North Wilkesboro Speedway closed in 1996. Other proposals have fallen through in recent years, but Collins was the first potential developer to actually have a lease that granted him access to the property.
Smith, the track's owner, could not be reached for comment yesterday. The lease had lapsed last month, but Smith renewed it until August.
Smith said last month that he still wants $12 million for the track and said he had offered it to Wilkes County in exchange for nontaxable bonds.
Zach Henderson, the chairman of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, said that the track isn't worth anywhere close to $12 million.
"We have repeatedly stated as a county we'd be willing to assist in infrastructure, water and sewer," Henderson said. "As a county, we don't have any desire to operate a race track. We don't have the ability or expertise or desire to use tax dollars (for that)."
Don Alexander, the director of the Wilkes Economic Development Corp., said yesterday that he is aware of four parties interested in developing the speedway.
"My hope is this bad-taste experience won't sour Wilkes County residents on the next project to come through," he said. "We're going to do everything in our power to help any legitimate developer."
Monte Mitchell