Swedish businessman pleads not guilty in LA ~ Crashed Ferrari ~ bail set at $5.5 million

I think it was at 1:30 in the morning or some odd hour....

Have you ever seen some of the NASCAR crashes on TV? They are real scary at 180 or 190 mph.

Oh, it's interesting alright. I'm just waiting for an SUV, though.
; )

These guys created a fake law enforcement agency in San Gabriel Valley....

http://ron_larson.blogspot.com/2006/03/san-gabriel-valley-transit-authority.html

and used it go get guns and apply for Homeland Security grants....I bet they are still investigating that angle. Creating a police agency for a bunch of para-transit buses seems a bit suspicious.

He said Dietrich ran into the hills, but a search by deputies turned up no one.

And she hasn't been seen since!

Yard sale indeed.

I had a 1975 Montesa VR250 lock in wide open during a race. The motor was glow plugging, so the kill switch failed, the rear brake had no effect on the motor either. I discovered all of this in about 1/2 second at 70 mph going into a 15 mph stutter bump turn LOLOL.

Wolf

Apparently, all Swedes are not yet nanny state sissies. This Eriksson guy seems to have a mindset that would make him feel right at home manning an oar in a Viking raider.

More:

There's a Swedish Mafia?

More:

Monday, March 27, 2006
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle

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Something seems disconnected in all of this.....

From link above:

*******************************AN EXCERPT *****************************************

Yo's Side Of The Story
First, the email from Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi. He is the man behind SGVTA, and he seems to feel that he is the one paying the price for Stefan Eriksson's actions after crashing a million dollar Ferrari in Malibu. It is quite long. I'll comment on the email later in the post.

The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority ("SGVTA") first held discussions with Stefan Eriksson in December of 2005. Mr. Eriksson offered to donate time and equipment to develop a real-time camera monitoring system utilizing CDMA technology designed specifically for SGVTA's fleet. Mr. Eriksson proposed using SGVTA buses to test what could have revolutionized transit security on SGVTA's relatively small transit system. SGVTA submitted a fingerprint background check for Mr. Eriksson through the State of California which disclosed no prior record. Mr. Eriksson ultimately was appointed as a civilian volunteer Deputy Commissioner for a specific task - that of developing the proposed monitoring system.

Transit carriers are required by law to perform certain regulatory enforcement functions, including personnel background investigations, medical examinations, random drug and alcohol testing, daily driver health fitness evaluations, administering field breathalyzer examinations (when appropriate), substance abuse recognition, monitoring driving records for drivers, traffic accident investigations, passenger and vehicle safety inspections and constant supervisory oversight. Local law enforcement cannot be expected to perform regulatory enforcement duties on behalf of transit carriers. Accordingly, California law grants transit carriers the right to maintain public safety and/or police units in order to ensure compliance with all public safety regulations. SGVTA lawfully formed a public safety department that has been properly recognized by all law enforcement credentialing agencies, although not yet certified by California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training ("P.O.S.T.") in which participation is strictly voluntary. [1]

While SGVTA's small transit system has never been specifically targeted for any threat of terrorism, SGVTA believes that all transit carriers should fully embrace the terrorism preparedness recommendations set forth by the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security. SGVTA's fleet is perfectly situated to facilitate discrete research and development of a camera system such as the one Mr. Eriksson proposed. Counter-terrorism experts have predicted that - as was the case in London, England -- our country's small communities, and their regional transit systems, may well be the next target of those who would do us harm. SGVTA is taking all steps within its means to ensure that its passengers and property remain safe and that SGVTA stands properly prepared for any and all disasters.

The subsequent crash of Mr. Eriksson's Ferrari, while unfortunate, was wholly unrelated to SGVTA, other than Mr. Eriksson's volunteer status at the time. SGVTA has investigated the publicized claim that unknown individuals displaying some sort of badge appeared at the crash scene purporting to be officials of "Homeland Security." SGVTA can account for all of its personnel at the time of the incident, is confident that no one, other than Mr. Eriksson was present from SGVTA, and is certain that no SGVTA badges were involved.

SGVTA has been in communication with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Homeland Security, and will continue to cooperate fully in any investigation.

Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, SGVTA is and has been headquartered at 4115 East Live Oak Avenue in Arcadia since the end of last year. Homer's Automotive in Monrovia donates personnel, vehicle parts, service and labor, and terminal space to assist SGVTA to meet its mission. Assertions that SGVTA or its public safety department are run out of Homer's Automotive are incorrect.

About SGVTA
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority is an independent transit agency created to permit near seamless paratransit service throughout the many small cities that make up the San Gabriel Valley.

SGVTA's responsibilities include operating, maintaining and improving paratransit services. SGVTA also works in conjunction with transit operators in other cities and counties to provide intercity and inter-county paratransit service to major medical facilities in southern California, as well as exploring the potential for expanded service.

SGVTA's vision is to provide a transportation system that allows handicapped, disabled, elderly and needy passengers to go anywhere in the region easily and efficiently.

Ron, SGVTA has/had Memorandums of Understanding with two cities, Monrovia and the City of Sierra Madre. Those MOU's only provide for and understanding that SGVTA will provide FREE transportation, mostly intercity, for residents who don't have transportation to medical facilities outside their city of residence. We provide service to the entire San Gabriel Valley, which consists of more than 25 small cities. No MOU calls for any payment from any city, state or federal agency for our services, and we have never received one dime of taxpayer money whatsoever. We provide service to our community at our cost, with NO fee being charged to the passenger. Even our drivers are forbidden from accepting tips.

So far, SGVTA has received donations of cash mostly from myself. We have also received free tires from a local tire store (Monrovia Tire), enough Magellan GPS Navigation devices to equip each of our vans with audible (speech directions) to assist drivers to find locations for our blind passengers who can't give us physical directions, computer reprogramming for our diesel mini buses to make them more fuel efficient (Gale Banks), a free tank of natural gas from the gas company for our natural gas bus, and numerous free repairs to all our vehicles from my shop (Homer's Automotive).

Because of all the negative press, no one wants to be associated with a service that they think is involved with some controversial charity. Therefore, I am selling my own Harley Davidson to raise enough funds to keep our doors open until people start taking us seriously again. We service hundreds of handicapped, elderly, disabled and needy passengers every month, and ironically our passenger load has increased as a result of the negative press, because people who have no means of transportation to and from their doctor's offices don't care about the negative aspect of the articles, and only care about the service we provide. Unfortunately, at a time when we are the most financially challenged, our passenger load continues to rise.

I hope this helps to set the record straight because I am a local mechanic who set out with some friends to do something good for those who needed it the most, and all this negative press over a volunteer's Ferrari has all but ruined a very real service that many people depend on.

Take care,

Even more:

Wednesday, March 29, 2006
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers

"Yo" Maiwandi took the time to answer the remaining questions on my last post about this subject. Here is what he wrote. I've edited it slightly to make it more readable, but have not removed anything.

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

Dear Ron,
I want to reply one last time to your remaining questions, however, after this response I believe there will be nothing left to say, and therefore won't respond to any further questions.

Thank you for taking the time to do this. You have shed light on most every question and concern I had. I truly appreciate it.

As for the "police" website being overblown, I acknowledge the error. That site was put together by a well meaning volunteer who basically grabbed content from other sites, and discussed what we planned to do in the future, rather than what we were at the time. We've well acknowledged that error, said our mia culpas and are now ready to move on.

I see that your website has been taken down. That is good because it was really misleading.

As for your suggestion that we amputate the police department. Whether you call it a "police department," "public safety division," "security department," "safety department" or "niceness services," all transit agencies are required to perform the functions I outlined in my original letter to you. Our board is currently reviewing the name to determine what would sit best with the public, but the functions performed by whatever we end up calling it are mandatory, so the final result will be mostly form over substance.

Sorry. I was not clear. Yes, you do have the responsibility to assure that your equipment, drivers, and procedures, meet all laws and standards. But you gave the impression that your "police" department was there to police the public, not yourselves. Big difference there.

With regard to your question about what the camera monitoring system would do, I will only say that it was going to use existing CDMA technology in conjunction with compression technology that Mr. Eriksson developed for other governments to permit real time streaming of all the cameras on board each bus through one single CDMA connection.

OK... onboard webcams transmitting through a cell phone. Nothing that hasn't been done already.

And yes, Mr. Eriksson was planning to equip this camera system with facial recognition technology, something he has worked on before. Buses provide a uniquely cooperative host for facial recognition because sample faces can be limited to nearly one at a time as passengers are scanned, as opposed to typical facial recognition applications that scan hundreds or thousands at a time within groups of people.

Like I said before, the transport of the raw data to be processed is the easy part. That hard part is doing something with it.

You may believe that the system that Mr. Eriksson proposed to us is already available, but I submit that it would have in fact been revolutionary.

As I said, taking pictures or videos and sending them over a cell phone is nothing magic. A working face recognition system that uses these images is mindblowing.

Simply running the name "Stefan Eriksson" on Google will provide you with a very impressive resume, including previous work for the British, Chinese and Russian governments.

I'm looking. I don't see your Stefan Eriksson doing any such things. Links please! However, I do find links about how he was busted in 1993 for counterfeiting and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I have read how he was known to be the leader of an organized crime group dubbed "The Uppsala Mafia". I have read the SEC reports for his company, Tiger Telematics Inc. Scary stuff. I read how he was forced to resign in 2005 when his past caught up with him. I've read how they were doing shady deals by paying contracts to other companies the executives owned. And they were paying family and friends large "consulting fees" and themselves lots of toys on the company dime.

I do find information about other Stefan Erikssons. But not yours. I see there is a Stefen Eriksson who works at the Swedish embassy in Moscow. There are others who work for major universities and companies around the world.

Sorry bud.... it seems like his resume is complete fiction.

To answer your question, no we never saw a "working" prototype of the system, but we had no doubt that Mr. Eriksson and his associates could have developed the system if he wanted. Whether he really intended to fulfill his commitments, or just wanted to misrepresent his true role with us is something we'll be wondering about for years to come.

Like I told you before. I think you were being hoodwinked by a con artist. Eriksson seems to have a problem telling the truth.

All of the people involved with SGVTA have donated huge amounts of time and effort for a good cause. Sure we made mistakes, but I doubt any other small charity such as ours has ever been in the public eye and scrutinized as heavily as we were in this instance.

unfortunately it only takes one bad apple to ruin the barrel.

Ron, if someone went through everything you've ever said or done, or spoke to anyone you've ever had an argument with, only to turn around and report it all as fact, I suspect you'd look a lot different than the person you really are. I wish that on no one.

That is an exaggeration. I've only questioned the facts presented on your own web site and news articles.

Now, one last request. I've responded to every single question you've put to me, and I've accepted responsibility for those things I think we did wrong. How about you Ron? Your original posts make allegations that simply weren't true. You jumped to conclusions without the facts, and once I brought the facts to your attention, you shifted the debate to issues beyond the scope of what you originally wrote.

Considering the strange facts that I had to work with, some that you claim are false. What conclusion was I suppose to come to?

Fact, SGVTA has never received ONE penny of taxpayer money, yet you have not apologized for saying we did without knowing the facts.

Sorry. I was given the impression from the statement from Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa who said "We warned them that if the police agency operated with them in the city of Monrovia, it would jeopardize their [transit] agreement with us." That gave me the impression that the city was paying for the services. After all, it takes money to pay for the large police department that your web site claimed you had.

Fact, SGVTA has never purchased any weapons whatsoever, yet your original post certainly postulates that it might be our secret reason for creating the police department, yet you have not yet acknowledged that you were wrong.

OK... but I wasn't thinking about you. I was thinking about Eriksson. I wouldn't put it past him to get weapons using your department's credentials.

You did finally try to separate us from Mr. Eriksson in an effort to demonstrate the difference. However, we freely acknowledge having accepted Mr. Eriksson offer to donate his time and efforts.

I suppose you heard what happened to him today? He had his illegally registered Mercedes-Benz SLR impounded because it was reported stolen in the UK, and his wife was busted for driving it without a drivers license. Nothing seems right about this guy. Sorry you got messed up with him. He must be good if your natural BS detectors didn't go off.

There are other misconceptions that you conveyed in your original post, and I certainly understand your skepticism. I do believe that you at least owe us an apology for those areas where you misrepresented the truth, or offered speculation that served to hurt us more.

I appreciate your intellectual analysis, but would at least like to see an apology for those things you said that simply weren't true.

OK. Fair nuff. I apologize for things that turned out not to be true. Thanks for the information.

Good luck to you in the future,

Yosuf "Yo" Maiwandi
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Same to you. I hope you and the SGVTA can put these mistakes behind you.

So there it is... the official story. The SGVTA is a good, honest, and free public service. The SGVTA was taken in by a criminal con artist, Eriksson. And then they were sunk by their own fictional public image as presented by their web site.

You gotta admit. It is one hell of a strange story.

Crazy story here....

More from down under:

Friday, March 03, 2006
Truth is stranger than fiction

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The most bizarre story is unfolding in Los Angeles right now. I swear, if you had written this as a movie or book you would have been laughed out of town.

The LA Times has been tracking this story, which I too been reading. I now think that a single car traffic accident in Malibu a few days ago has blown the lid off a huge scam ripping off the US tax payers.br>

The SGVTA Contraversy

This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority

Truth is stranger than fiction (03-Mar)
More on the $1M Ferrari wreck in Malbu (18-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Anti_Terrorism Unit (24-Mar)
The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Rebuttle (27-Mar)
San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority - More Answers (29-Mar)

It started out a week and a half ago as simply an unusual traffic accident. A rare Ferrari, worth almost a million dollars, crashed into a light pole along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and was totalled. It was reported that the Ferrari was speeding, doing 120 mph, and lost control. No one was injured. You think that would be the end of story. Some idiot with more money than brains in Malibu wrecks his million dollar car. That it when things get weird.

The only person the police found was a 44 year old Swedish millionaire, Stefan Eriksson, with a cut lip. Eriksson lives in the super-rich LA suburb of Bel-Air. He made his money with video games, specifically racing games. Eriksson claims that he was just the passenger. He claims that the driver was some German guy who he only knew as "Dietrich". After the accident "Dietrich" ran off up into the hills of Malibu and never found, despite a 3 hour search by police.

Needless to say, the police are not buying it. Eriksson blew a .09 blood-alcohol level, which is fine if he was a passenger. It would be a DUI of he was driving. So, now we have a name and face for the idiot with more money than brains. And this idiot is trying to avoid a DUI by making up some story about a fake driver. Interesting.

It gets weirder.

It turns out the police can't tell who owns the Ferrari. It was imported from Europe and was not even legal to drive in California. In addition, the police found at Mercedes SLR in Eriksson's home that is listed as being stolen, by Mr Eriksson, in London. A Scottish bank contacted the LA Sheriff's department claiming that they own the Ferrari (and were probably wondering where it was). Also, Mr. Eriksson has a felony conviction back in Sweden where he served prison time for counterfeiting. He recently resigned as a top executive of a failed game company called Gizmondo.

So... now we have a convicted felon, dot.com millionaire, and apparent fraudster, who plays fast and loose. The guy has balls. Despite everything, he still manages to somehow live the high lifeÂ… fast exotic cars, a mansion in Bel-Air, multi-million dollar business deals, world travel. Wow!

It gets even weirder...

The story takes a strange twist with the involvement of a tiny public transport agency that gives rides to paraplegics in the San Gabriel Valley. The San Gabriel Valley is a cluster of small bedroom communities north east of Los Angeles. Pasadena, home of JPL, CalTech, and the Rose Bowl, is the best known city in the valley.

It turns out that shortly after the crash, two men showed up at the accident site and identified themselves to the police "homeland security" officers from a small San Gabriel Valley transit authority. Stefan Eriksson told investigators that he himself was Â‘Deputy CommissionerÂ’ of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority police department's antiterrorism unit.

Huh? The tiny little SGVTA has its own police department? And that department even has it own anti-terrorism unit? All of this was news to the cities and the law-enforcement departments in the San Gabriel Valley. The SGVTA web site claims that their police department has a chief, detectives, marked police cruisers and an "antiterrorism" division. It also claims that they hired a new police chief, one Philip J. Sugar, who has years of experience with the LAPD and the Los Angeles City AttorneyÂ’s Office. They say Â“Chief Sugar takes over at a time when mass transit is faced with perhaps its greatest challenges ever - - the post 911 eraÂ…Â”.

Gee. A simple check of the SGVTA own web site shows that it is nothing but a tiny private non-profit company contracted by local cities to provide transportation services to their disabled citizens. They have some vans that drive people around. It also seems strange that their web site seems to be obsessed with terrorism security levels. Something ainÂ’t right.

The real police canÂ’t seem to find the two "homeland security" officers that showed up in Malibu. It also seems strange that a private company claims to have their own police and anti-terror taskforce. Or how does a Swedish citizen with felony convictions become Â‘Deputy CommissionerÂ’ of a law enforcement anti-terrorism unit in California?

I canÂ’t wait for the police and the LA Times to get to the bottom of this story!

I think the whole thing is a scam designed to fleece the America taxpayers out of millions of dollars. They set up a phoney Â“transit authorityÂ”. They then set up a phoney police and security department. They then apply for federal funds to equip that department with the security equipment, staff, and resources needed to meet the new standards that the real Dept of Homeland Security has issued for public transportation to meet when the official threat level reaches high levels. The TSA is giving out $15 million grants to bus companies for security. That is a tempting target, no?

If you are interested in this story..... I just posted a decent summary at post #33, read that first and then the other bits and pieces in the thread might make more sense.,......

See the remains on this thread:

Fast cars and fast living at heart of Malibu mystery

OUCH! Plastic cars shouldn't be driven fast by inexperienced drivers!

Oh, it's interesting alright. I'm just waiting for an SUV, though. ; )

You don't "wait" for an SUV - you have to go out and buy one. I recommend CarMax. The Easter Bunny is just a fairy tail. And get a V-8. You will never go back. Trust me. ;-)

Oops! I will likely get flamed for this but save up for a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Lexus LX 470. Go "furren" til the Americans prove themselves. Hasn't happened yet. Just look at blue book resale values. I have not looked at Kias but with a 10 year, 100K wtty they prolly deserve a look. ;-)

Still before anything check the crash/rollover ratings.

We have bought all our cars (trucks) theough CarMax the last ten years - someone with way too much money leases a car for 2 years and then we pickup a good deal that'll run another 200K miles if you change the oil occasionally. CarMax will also give you a decent (that's where you hammer them) trade-in price and a CarFax report for free.

My apologies. I see you did follow my link. A thousand pardons?

;-)

indeed.

carbon fiber is your answer.

this dude destroyed an enzo - the punishment should be very severe for that.