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Keokuk Denies Involvement in Airplane Sale

The city of Keokuk is denying any involvement in the sale of a private airplane housed at its airport without the owner's permission.

State Central Bank sued the city, the firm hired to manage the airport (Lindner Aviation), and its owner Greg Gobble in May 2016.

In its response, Keokuk said it “never had physical control of the plane” owned by the bank, adding that it only rented hangar space. The city went on to say it only hired Lindner Aviation to maintain the grounds and the airport, adding that any additional actions taken were beyond the scope of the city’s contract with the company.

According to court documents, William Hayes of Ohio agreed to purchase the bank's plane, without its knowledge, from William Crews, who owns a website specializing in small aircraft sales.

The bank said it did speak to Crews about possibly selling the plane, but decided not to until the market improved.

“On March 17, 2014, William Hayes sent $5,000 to Crews as a deposit for the purchase of the Skymaster at the price advertised by Crews without the knowledge of [Bank Chairman William Logan] or the bank. Two days later, Crews sent Hayes a purchase agreement that identified Skymaster Center as the seller and did not even mention the Bank or [Logan] as parties,” according to the lawsuit.

Hayes allegedly agreed to the purchase and set up a pre-buy inspection of the airplane, which was housed at Keokuk’s municipal airport, under the control of Greg Gobble and Lindner Aviation.

“Hayes came to Keokuk on March 31, 2014 to do his pre-buy inspection and during the pre-buy inspection, he determined that ‘he liked the plane’ and authorized Lindner [Aviation] to do an annual inspection at a cost to Hayes of $3,276. Gobble failed to notify Logan or the Bank that Hayes had asked him to perform a significant maintenance operation on the Bank’s plane.”

Hayes completed the transaction and was eventually allowed to fly the plane to Ohio, where court documents alleged he was able to “fly it on a regular basis for at least 25 lengthy, cross-country trips.”

The bank did not find out about the sale until Hayes tried to register the airplane with the FAA. The bank rejected the sale and won a federal lawsuit seeking return of the plane.

Lindner Aviation has also responded to the lawsuit. It said that while it admits that Gobble failed to notify the bank of what was going on and that Gobble had limited contact with the purchaser of the airplane, the lawsuit does not show any claim where relief could be granted against the company.

The bank is seeking to be compensated for its expenses related to retrieving its airplane.

CHANGE OF VENUE

Meanwhile, the case will now be heard in south Lee County District Court in Keokuk.

State Central Bank originally filed its lawsuit in north Lee County District Court in Fort Madison because Greg Gobble lives in the northern half of the county.

Keokuk argued that everything involving the case occurred in the southern half of the county and a judge agreed, ordering the change of venue.

Jason Parrott is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.