Published: May 21, 2008 12:04 am            

Rockwood fraud suspect to be released to face charges in New York City

A self-proclaimed Rockwood multimillionaire will be released into the custody of his two bodyguards this morning on orders he report directly to a federal courthouse in New York City, where he is charged with an elaborate scheme to defraud banks.

Eric Skys, 27, and his bodyguards will be equipped with a global-positioning unit and tracked by satellite as they drive to New York, U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto of Johnstown said following a detention hearing Tuesday.

Pesto said Skys is expected to arrive in New York by this afternoon. Federal marshals will release Skys to his bodyguards at 7 a.m.

“If he deviates from the route more than a couple hundred yards, an alarm will go off,” Pesto warned.

“The state police will be notified, and he’ll never get a second chance.”

U.S. Assistant Attorney Stephanie Haines said a grand jury is expected to indict Skys in connection with FBI charges.

The FBI claims Skys, chairman of Kaiser-Himmel Corp. in Rockwood, tried to get banks to lend him millions of dollars based on the false claim that Sprint Inc. had awarded his company 13.4 million shares of common stock as payment for services.

The shares of the telecommunications giant would be worth more than $120 million.

Authorities said Skys created and sent fabricated documents to the banks, including contracts signed with the forged signatures of Sprint executives, altered e-mails and false securities-account statements.

Pesto said he will release Skys to bodyguards David Hammond and Steven Karafa.

The two men said they have been employed to protect Skys, his wife and three stepdaughters since late last year. They were among three character witnesses called by U.S. Assistant Public Defender Jay Finkelstein Tuesday.

Hammond said there have been occasions when people have followed Skys’ children or arrived unannounced at the home he rents in Somerset Township or his Rockwood office. But Haines countered that two of those instances involved an FBI agent investigating the case.

Hammond portrayed Skys as a caring father and generous community benefactor who donated $6,400 to the Rockwood schools for new football jerseys and replaced stolen computers in the district.

“He’s helped a lot of people out,” Hammond said. “A lot of people aren’t aware of that.

“There’s no reason (for Skys) to run,” he added. “There’s nothing to hide.”

Haines said those closest to Skys don’t even know his real name: Eric Ashley Lemon.

She said his birth certificate – which indicates he is 25 years old, not 27 – was found when authorities searched his belongings.

And when he was arrested last week, she said authorities discovered 20 weapons scattered around his house.

Without elaborating, Haines said Skys has a warrant outstanding in California.

Matt Jordan, a sportswriter for The Tribune-Democrat, said he met Skys and his wife at a Rockwood Area school board meeting on May 15, 2007. He said they have become close friends during the past year.

“The kids are well taken care of,” Jordan said.

Karafa agreed.

“He’s a good man,” he said. “He’s not a criminal. Everything he’s told me about himself, I genuinely believe.

“The kids need him as a father. They love him as a dad. They love him to death.”

Skys has portrayed himself as a German-raised computer genius worth $388 million, according to an apparently self-generated Wikipedia page. Last year, he began an ambitious Internet TV show called, “Race to a Billion,” in which recent high school graduates are given a chance to be junior executives in his companies.

Haines said Skys’ friends and family “really don’t know who Eric Skys is. They’re only being told by Mr. Skys what they come to believe.”

        

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