Montana jail plan on hold after revelations about lead figure’s past

Montana city’s jail deal delayed amid controversy

HARDIN, Mont. — Plans for a California company to take over the city’s empty jail were put on hold Monday, following last week’s revelations that the company’s lead figure has a criminal history.

The decision came as Hardin’s leaders announced the resignation of Becky Convery, an attorney who helped craft the jail deal for the small city.

Hardin officials had tried in vain for two years to fill the 464-bed jail before striking an agreement last month with convicted felon Mike Hilton and his Santa Ana, Calif.-company, American Police Force.

But following last week’s news that Hilton has a history of fraud — including several years in jail and three civil judgments against him for more than $1.1 million — Hardin’s economic development authority said it was stepping back from the deal.

“We won’t move forward. I don’t think any of us want to be on the chopping block,” said Gary Arneson, president of Hardin’s Two Rivers Authority, which owns the jail.

Meanwhile, the man whose name was offered up as the jail’s future director said Monday he was never offered the job — and would not have taken it regardless.

Hilton had told Hardin officials that he was hiring Mike Cohen, an executive with International Security Associates in Dublin, Ohio, for the post.

“Excuse my French, but he’s talking with forked tongue there,” Cohen said Monday, adding that he had only cursory discussions with Hilton and was led to believe the post involved military and law enforcement training.

“He kept saying, come to Montana, come to California and meet me. He wouldn’t give me any information” about the job, Cohen said.

Hilton’s office referred questions Monday to Becky Shay, the company spokeswoman. Shay said she continues to operate under the assumption that the jail project is moving forward.

Back in Hilton’s home state of California, a judge has ordered the lead figure of American Police Force to appear in court Oct. 27 over an outstanding judgment in a fraud lawsuit. In that case, Hilton lured investors to sink money into an assisted living complex in Southern California that was never built.

Hilton also spent several years in state prison in California in the 1990s.

Hardin built its jail in 2007 as an economic development project, but has been unable to fill it.