By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Photo by Buford Davis
Seen (below) is property located at 2373 Renaissance Dr. in Las Vegas, Nev. Shown (above) is the building PowerCom International purports to be its offices via its “Contact Us” webpage.
City of San Benito officials expressed concern Friday with the findings of a San Benito News investigation that raised questions regarding the authenticity of information provided by power plant developers.
The investigation uncovered inconsistencies concerning the location of offices that Telemark Development Group Inc., its parent companies and representatives purported on their websites. Telemark is the company that proposed to construct a 171 megawatt, $225 million natural gas-fueled power plant at the city’s old airport property by courting foreign businessmen to invest their dollars in the project. Specifically, foreign investors were encouraged to take advantage of the Employment Based: Fifth Preference (EB-5) federal program, which awards conditional permanent residency to those who invest anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million in a targeted employment area where there’s high unemployment.
The address 850 South Boulder Hwy., #120, Henderson, Nev., which is listed on Telemark and parent companies PowerCom International and Franklin Global Resources websites, was traced back to a UPS store PO Box located within a shopping plaza. Peter Del Mastro, who’s identified on the aforementioned websites as either the companies’ Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer or President, said on Friday, “We do that for tax purposes; I’ve already explained that to the city.”
The City of Henderson provided documentation showing the UPS store as the only “active” business licensee at the address in question and found no business licenses “for any of the listed entities,” which not only includes Telemark, PowerCom and Franklin Global but other companies associated with Del Mastro, such as Global Infrastructure Services Inc., Cisneros Corporation USA, ASI Holdings Inc., Northwest Mining & Exploration Inc., Pacific West Trading Company and Trend International Inc.
Further probing discovered that an image on PowerCom’s “Contact Us” webpage displays a building that bears the company’s logo but appears doctored. The News recruited the help of Nevada journalist and Henderson Press Editor Buford Davis, who located the building approximately 10 miles away in Las Vegas, Nev. Davis found the edifice vacant, without the PowerCom logo and bearing the number 2373, which was removed in the PowerCom image. The number 2373 refers to the building’s Renaissance Drive street address in Las Vegas.
When asked about the discrepancy, Del Mastro said, “We’re in the process of updating the website, because we’ve moved our offices up to Carson City, Nevada. And I can go ahead and give you some additional information: We’re in the process right now—we’ve had board meetings yesterday and today with our board of directors—and I can tell you we’re going to notify the City (of San Benito) on Monday that, because of another offer that’s been presented by a private party that owns land down in Cameron County, we’re probably not going to do the site at the airport.”
When pressed about the doctored photo and informed that a search of 2373 Renaissance Dr. in Las Vegas yielded no results to support that any of his companies ever rented, leased or owned the property, Del Mastro said, “We’ve never made representation that we owned the building. There was another group that was in there that we were sharing space with, and we’ve gone ahead and … we don’t have any shared space there at all.”
The image has since been removed from the PowerCom website.
“It really doesn’t matter, because as of Monday the City of San Benito will be receiving a letter, the mayor will, that we’re withdrawing any interests in the property at the airport,” Del Mastro said.
Del Mastro then proceeded to criticize San Benito city officials. “We’re done with the scrutiny with the city of San Benito,” Del Mastro exclaimed. “San Benito, as far as we’re concerned, they’re backwards in how they want to proceed with new business coming into the area. We were talking about bringing in private financing. We were not asking the city to do anything for us at all, other than to make sure that we can get through the permit process and anything the city could do there.”
“We’re just totally upset with the City of San Benito,” Del Mastro continued. “One of the reasons why is the city manager, Manuel Lara, the city attorney and there were some other people within the city as well who were getting confrontational. So you know what? We figure we’ll take our money somewhere else. We don’t have to put up with all the garbage.”
In response to Del Mastro, San Benito City Manager Manuel Lara said, “I don’t even deal with him. I’ve been invited to one meeting, I asked how many plants they built and which one was the closest to San Benito, and he couldn’t name me one. That was it. That was the only question I asked during the entire meeting. That was my only direct contact with him.”
Place 4 City Commissioner Joe D. Gonzalez stressed caution in moving forward with Telemark’s proposal. “Based on the data you provided and my discussions with Mr. Lara, we want to slow down the process completely and proceed very carefully,” Gonzalez said. “We want to make sure everything is legal and find out that they are an established firm.”
Mayor Joe H. Hernandez said, “It doesn’t look good. Until we see concrete information, I don’t think we should do anything with the company and just have the EDC stop (negotiating with Telemark).”
The mayor was referring to the San Benito Economic Development Corporation, which has been spearheading the talks with Del Mastro, PowerCom and Telemark.
EDC Executive Director Salomon Torres would not comment on the matter and Board President Pete Claudio did not return phone calls as of presstime Friday.
Victor Garza, who sits on the EDC board, said, “Personally speaking, anything that doesn’t seem right is a concern. Everything needs to be looked at, especially when it’s concerning public money. We want to do positive things for the community and to be objective. If there are questions or concerns about a company, then we need to look into that.”
Charter Resources International
According to a 2012 FBI press release, ex-NFL player Jeffrey Lynn Walker, formerly of the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints, was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for wire fraud and tax evasion. The crimes stem from a scheme in which Walker, according to the FBI, defrauded and obtained approximately $2.2 million from investors in Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida and Arizona. Walker told investors their money would help fund the construction of a resort project in China being developed by a company called Charter Resources International, which Del Mastro also serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer.
Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Rushing of the Southern District of Mississippi, who prosecuted the Walker case, said that he did not know if the FBI had cause to suspect Charter Resources but did confirm that the company was not investigated.
“Walker never owned nor was he an agent or consultant for Charter Resources International,” Del Mastro said in a previous interview. “Walker’s only involvement was that he formed a company called Wal-Rob Development Group, and him and his partner Brad Roberts, who was a doctor in Arizona, were entering into a joint venture with us to build patio homes and town homes for a resort we were going to do in China. We didn’t find out till later that what he did was abscond with funds from people, but we had nothing to do with it and we weren’t involved in it. In fact, we went ahead and willingly, without any subpoenas or anything, opened our books to a complete audit by a special prosecutor and the IRS relating to this matter, and we passed with flying colors.”
Editor’s Note: Henderson Press Editor Buford Davis contributed to this report.
For more on this developing story, pick up a copy of the Sept. 18 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
13 comments
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Reminds me of the Joe D. Gonzalez Superintendent Era in SB and Donna. Nothing but bad business. Mr. Gonzalez, you don’t fool us. You are the same person you were then. Always looking out for your best interests. I wonder what was in it for YOU once this deal went through?
Mr. Lopez:
A little refresher for you …
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_def64290-c93a-5715-b6f7-d051191bae65.html
More fun reading …
http://www.fbi.gov/jackson/press-releases/2012/former-nfl-player-sentenced-to-prison-for-multi-million-dollar-fraud-scheme-and-tax-evasion
Is it really necessary to ask your primo’s and prima’s such pointed questions ?
Wow!
Thank you MICHAEL for saving our city from another DISASTER. MICHAEL you have my vote for MAYOR. Give it some thought.
When will elected officials start asking critical questions? They go to a meeting and ask “How many jobs are you going to create?” and “How will this impact the economy of our City?” Stop giving a group hug and ask for references of past projects. Ask for a balance sheet of their company, ask for a list of all individuals who are or who have been involved in this project. Ask for their resumes. Run this city like a business and act like businessman. It is a shame when a newspaper reporter has to do they investigating for you. I think it’s time to vote out all our elected officials and elect Michael as our Mayor. Good job, Michael.
The elected officials are dumb as a box of rocks,in case none of you has noticied.
The City of San Benito should seriously consider adopting a “Policy on Board and Commission Member Appointment and Eligibility” like the City of Brownsville.
This will ensure that all QUALIFIED residents are considered! As mentioned in the document below, “the needs of the City and the agencies are best met when qualified candidates are matched to the boards’ individual requirements”.
CITY OF BROWNSVILLE POLICY ON BOARD AND COMMISSION MEMBER APPOINTMENT AND ELIGIBILITY
This is just an opinion and not intended to denigrate any one person or persons.
The only elected official with long-term experience in owning their own business is the Mayor. The others are lifetime burrocrats or worker bees.
Like them or not, the members of the EDC have far more private sector experience than the elected officials!
Maybe we should “match” some qualified candidates for the City Commission!! Duh.
Foreign investors ……..China?
From all appearances this deal was definitely not in the best interest of the citizens of San Benito. Unfortunately there is something much more troubling here. How did the elected officials let this company get this much traction in our city without checking them out? Where is the due diligence? Where is the just plain common sense?
How did this happen and who is responsible? Since the City Manager and Economic Development Director pretty much follow the instructions of the City Commission, how can we blame them? The responsibility and failure of this project must lay at the feet of our elected officials.
If one reads the SB News story carefully, the elected officials and EDC board members are already looking for cover. You can be sure they will blame someone else, or each other.
Kudos to San Benito News Editor, Michael Rodriguez for sticking to this story! The reporting is very thorough and indicates extensive research including collaboration with newspapers in Nevada. I am sure followed several ‘rabbit trails’ as well.
I agree on both counts, RSB…
1) This information about any questionable activities around the story needs to be shared with the proper authorities — FBI, IRS, states of TX, NV, CA and others.
2) Michael Rodriguez for Mayor!!
Well, Mr. Del Mastro — or is it Delmastro? — apparently we’re not as backwards as you thought. We actually do have people in this community who can think and reason, and willing to do the necessary investigative work to protect the citizens of this community. Unfortunately for us citizens, none of them seem to be elected to office, employed in city hall or sit on any of the advisory boards or committees. While that will change soon enough, that’s not what my comment is about.
This information about your suspicious and questionable activities needs to be shared with the proper authorities — FBI, IRS, states of TX, NV, CA and others — and needs to be disseminated to news media nationally to alert potential investors. The apparent doctoring of photos to represent legitimacy is alarming. One can only imagine the depths to which you will sink to victimize innocent communities and investors.
It is my hope that the “private” interest to which you allude, sees this excellent piece of investigative journalism and declines your advances. It is my hope that county officials see this and send you packing. This is Cameron County, Texas. We have enough of our own home-grown crooks victimizing innocents, we do not need to import more.
Michael Rodriguez for mayor!