Finding Freely - 4 Updates

Part III of the IPERT series (Updates 2 & 3 May 31, 2014)
©MMXIII The PRT NewsCenter

The International Personal Express Rapid Transit story so far has been defined by what Ivan Workman has voluntarily claimed, contradicted, and contra-contradicted. And that is the problem -- all we know about him and IPERT is what he has chosen to make public.

But what about Roger Freely? When he has had anything to say it has been second hand, passed along to the public by Workman.

Why? Who is Freely? Is he even real? We have determined that he is -- and this is where the trail took us:


THE LEAK

We've obtained copies of professional resumes of (1) Ivan L. Workman and (2) Roger Freely. They have been provided by a source who wishes to remain anonymous, with whom Workman and Freely attempted to form a business relationship.


CURRICULA VITAE

Among many, many, many other things, Freely's CV lists professional experience as a paramedic, pilot, curator, LA County Fire Department battalion chief, and an officer in both the US Air Force and UK Royal Air Force.  The only way he could be eligible to serve in the RAF would be if he had dual nationality.

Update 1 - Freely claims his service in the USAF began in 1983 and continues to now, listing the "Rank of Major, brevetted Colonel." In fact, brevetting -- the practice of allowing an officer to temporarily hold a higher rank -- ended in the US military at the end of the 19th century save for when an officer has been officially promoted but the promotion's effective date has not been reached. A similar practice, 'frocking', is rarely used.

He even claims to have been a "movie set paramedic" on some of the Harry Potter films. Only, such positions are listed in the credits of films nowadays, and even though the Potter series' full production credits on IMDB.com list people under jobs such as 'unit nurse' and 'paramedic,' there is no Roger Freely.

The education listed by Freely also appears impressive -- for instance:

"1995 to 1997 – Graduate of Culinary Institute of America (CIA) of Hyde Park, New York – Master’s Degree in Restaurant Management..."

This was news to Stephan G. Hengst, Marketing Director for the Culinary Institute of America, who told the NewsCenter: "...the CIA does not offer a Masters Degree. We offer Bachelors and Associate Degrees only. We've checked all of our available databases; Degree Program Alumni, Students that attended the CIA but did not graduate, and those who took Continuing Education Courses at the college. We have no record of Mr. Freely having attended the CIA."

Freely also lists:

"1996 to 2001 - University of California Irvine – Master’s Degree in Business Administration & Amusement Park Operations"

a bizarre program combination that can't be found at the UC Irvine website no matter how you search it.


THE CONTACT INFO

Freely's resume contains no contact information, but Workman's resume lists a street address: 1550 Superior Avenue in Costa Mesa (Orange County), California. However, it is very easy to determine that 1550 Superior Avenue is the location of a free medical clinic operated by the nonprofit group Share Our Selves.

This proved useful to our investigation though, because it let us find a listing for an FCC amateur radio license issued to a Roger D. Freely at 1550 Superior Avenue:

One of the few independent mentions of Freely we have been able to find is an old newsletter of Southern California ham radio enthusiasts, describing Roger Freely as having the callsign KG6DVS, and authoring "California's Golden Museums and Historical Places 2005-2007" -- which alert readers will recall from Part I.

Therefore, Roger Freely is Roger D. Freely.


OLD NEWS

In our early research into Roger Freely, one of the things that turned up was a brief LA Times item from 1991, "Thousand Oaks - Man held over impersonations":

A 27-year-old Orange County man reportedly impersonating soccer officials in Thousand Oaks and Lakewood was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies Monday on suspicion of violating his federal probation, authorities said.

The man, identified as Roger Freely, is on probation for impersonating paramedics, firefighters, park rangers and Boy Scout leaders.

Two weekends ago, Thousand Oaks parents spotted Freely at an American Youth Soccer Organization game, carrying a police scanner and talking into it, authorities said. Parents told authorities that Freely also offered to take pictures of soccer players and to help them get into commercials...

At the time we saw nowhere to follow it as a lead due to the age of the story. Federal records for mundane individual convictions are not online.  But because Freely's resume contains so much about firefighting as well as listings for sports officiating and scouting, and a 27-year-old then would be 49 now -- Freely's age -- we now believe it 99 percent likely this Freely is our Freely.

There's still that 1 percent doubt, but it pointed our research in an obvious direction.


THE CALIFORNIA SUPERIOR COURT SYSTEM

We looked up Freely in public justice system records, and found a 2013 arrest (* below) involving Freely in Orange County.

Orange County Superior Court information is online, including criminal cases. Here is what searches turn up for Workman and Freely:

• 10/8/2012 - Roger Douglas Freely and Ivan L. Workman arrested for sleeping in a vehicle (Case #CMZ171579 and #CMZ171580). Workman pled not guilty and the case against him was dismissed 3/6/2013, but...
• 1/22/2013 - Freely is additionally charged with failure to appear (ibid. #CMZ171579).
• * 2/10/2013 - Freely booked by the Orange County Sheriff's Department (Intake Release Center reference #2748753), and then...
• 2/13/2013 - Freely pled guilty to failure to appear and the original charge of sleeping in a vehicle (ibid. #CMZ171579).
• 7/30/2013 - Workman cited for not having proof of vehicle registration. As yet there is no final disposition for this case (Case #RN76599).
  Update 2 - OCSC now shows this case against Workman as Closed, as of 01/02/2014 ("Dismissed - Proof of Correction"). 

The above timeline is valuable not because sleeping in a vehicle is a big deal, but because it establishes that Freely is an actual person linked to Workman. And by being linked to Workman it establishes Roger Douglas Freely is the Roger D. Freely known to the FCC at the Superior Avenue address used by Workman.

In addition, in early 2013 a warrant for Workman relating to overpaid unemployment benefits was issued by Thurston County, Washington, Superior Court (the Employment Security agency is headquartered in Thurston County). There is also a 2011 case in Issaquah, Washington, Municipal Court, but those records are not online.

While sleeping in a vehicle is not a serious offense, California records do show something more serious in Freely's past.


THE SERIOUS ONE

Orange County Superior Court shows one other case involving Freely:

• 5/10/2007 - Freely pleads guilty to failure to register as a sex offender (Case #07CF1520).

We should note that Freely does not currently appear in the State of California online sex offender registry. Either he has still not registered, or he is no longer required to register.

Update 3 - Offenders have been and are still required by California's Megan's Law to register for life. 

Update 4 - (3/29-2017) We have been told by an informed source that Freely appears in a southern California county's sex offender registry, and that "25%" of offenders do not appear on the statewide Megan's Law registry. 

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD

It is not the intention of the NewsCenter to claim it an impossibility for anyone with a record like Freely's to invent a maglev transportation system and team with the US Government to build it. There are after all such things as 'troubled geniuses.'  But the fact of his record, together with a resume so fanciful as to cross into the realm of performance art, makes it highly unlikely.

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