The often bizarre tale of Hardin’s effort to turn its empty jail over to an international police force — capped by the revelation that the uniform-clad savior was a California con man — was chosen by members of The Associated Press as the top news story in Montana for 2009.
Second place went to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus’ role at the epicenter of the nation’s health care debate.
Hardin’s beleaguered hopes of filling an empty jail with inmates — and cashing in with local jobs — was the clear favorite of Associated Press members.
Hardin and its jail were in the news long before American Police Force appeared in town in September, such as with an earlier plan to take prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. The jail’s backers became increasingly desperate as their economic development venture failed to land contracts for state or federal prisoners.
American Police Force’s Michael Hilton, dressed in a paramilitary uniform, promised to fill the 464-bed facility and more. Town officials embraced the company and promised skeptics that the venture was real.
“It will gradually be more clear as things go along,” a company spokesman said as reporters questioned the claims, including that the firm had ties to a major international security and weapons firm.
But the company’s offices turned out to be “virtual” office space, its bank account near empty and federal databases showed no record of the firm. Within weeks, news reports revealed Hilton as a California con man with a history of felonies and prison time.
The Two Rivers Detention Center, built two years ago as the area’s largest economic development project in decades, now remains vacant.
Hilton returned to California to face court hearings over past debts, and testified that he was out of money, never had the corporate backing he claimed and was even struggling to pay rent on his apartment.
Source: RockyMountTelegram
