Damned Lies - Man Uses Vet Tale to Bilk Bikers
Bryan Harley
motorcycle-usa.com
Friday, February 10, 2012
How many of us out there have either met this guy or seen him at rallies? Turns out, the man who has been passing himself as Robert Harris is really an international criminal called Eugene Paull, according to a story by the Tampa Bay Times. Worse yet, he's been passing himself off as a vet on a mission to raise money for homeless vets but apparently has been pocketing the money himself. Read the story for details.
I’ve been bilked. Bamboozled. Hoodwinked. Had the proverbial wool pulled over my eyes. Worst part is, a lot of you out there did too. This joker fooled a lot of us. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I read this story on the Tampa Bay Times website. It’s a tale of deceit, SWAT raids, shotguns and machine guns and underground tunnels. But let’s rewind a bit before we press forward.
A few years back, met this crazy character in Daytona Beach at the Harley-Davidson Ride-In Bike Show. Dude claimed to be a vet, rode the wildest 1985 FXST decked out with rockets, machine guns, bandoliers of bullets, gas masks, and tons of other military-themed paraphernalia. He called it the “Vietnam Vets Tribute Bike” and called himself Sky Soldier. He then spun a convincing tale of how he was embarking on a cross-country trip, “Operation: Dust Off” to raise money for homeless and disabled veterans. He went on to say how he was going to carry American flags with him on the journey to be signed by dignitaries along the way which were ultimately going to be placed at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. on Memorial Day. Great story, huh? Easy to buy into, a vet and fellow biker helping out vets. Wanting to help the guy out, I wrote a little story about it. (Veteran Tribute Bike Embarks on Vet Fundraiser)
Turns out, if the allegations in the Tampa Bay Times story are true, it was all a lie. This guy is a complete con artist. Apparently, the guy who rode around rallies on his rocket-launching motorcycle shouting “Look at me, look at me” who we knew as Robert Harris, aka “Sky Soldier,” is really an international criminal named Eugene Paull who's been living under a false identity for the last 33 years. Stole a dead person’s name. According to the story, he’s suspected of racking up a small fortune back in the day trafficking drugs in Jamaica. Yeh, mon! He’s even had him a little long-time, live-in Jamaican girlfriend he snuck into the country illegally.
But that’s not the part that really irks me. What really irks me is this guy has been traveling around motorcycle rallies over the past couple of years passing himself off as a patriot when he’s a total fraud. How many of us have seen him with his crazy motorcycle parked at the Weirs or on Main St. Daytona Beach with his sign: “$1 to photograph the bike, $5 to take a picture with it, $10 to take one sitting on it. To help homeless veterans,” it concluded. Get this, though. The report says that in one year, Paull raised more than $100,000, but investigators could only confirm he donated $1,300 to veterans. Guess where the other $98,700 went? I’ll give you a clue.
Paull was recently caught in Miami with explosives and almost $90,000 in cash they found stashed in gas cans with false bottoms. This after authorities confiscated two houses, three vehicles, two campers, a pair of custom motorcycles, a 47-foot yacht and about $20,000 in cash from him the first time they raided his compound. The story’s just unbelievable. You’ve got to check out the well-done piece the Tampa Bay Times did on it. (Hernando Hideout of International Criminal and his Jamaican Girlfriend Come to Light) You’ll be sitting there shaking your head just like I was.
When I read it, I was angry. How dare this guy abuse the big-hearted nature of the biker community for personal gain. Even worse, he did it under the guise of being a patriot who wanted to help out disadvantaged brothers. That’s treasonous, because from what I understand the guy actually served in ‘Nam. If he really did, which knowing his trail of lies I’d question even that, then how could he betray his brothers knowing first-hand the nature of the beast known as Vietnam? About now, I’d like to kick this guy right in his ‘nads. I rescind my story and apologize to readers for helping to propagate his lies. Now I’m trying to help spread the word about what a low-life this guy is in case he dares show his face at a rally again trying to pull the same old tricks.
John Woodrow Cox, A few years back, met this crazy character in Daytona Beach at the Harley-Davidson Ride-In Bike Show. Dude claimed to be a vet, rode the wildest 1985 FXST decked out with rockets, machine guns, bandoliers of bullets, gas masks, and tons of other military-themed paraphernalia. He called it the “Vietnam Vets Tribute Bike” and called himself Sky Soldier. He then spun a convincing tale of how he was embarking on a cross-country trip, “Operation: Dust Off” to raise money for homeless and disabled veterans. He went on to say how he was going to carry American flags with him on the journey to be signed by dignitaries along the way which were ultimately going to be placed at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. on Memorial Day. Great story, huh? Easy to buy into, a vet and fellow biker helping out vets. Wanting to help the guy out, I wrote a little story about it. (Veteran Tribute Bike Embarks on Vet Fundraiser)
Turns out, if the allegations in the Tampa Bay Times story are true, it was all a lie. This guy is a complete con artist. Apparently, the guy who rode around rallies on his rocket-launching motorcycle shouting “Look at me, look at me” who we knew as Robert Harris, aka “Sky Soldier,” is really an international criminal named Eugene Paull who's been living under a false identity for the last 33 years. Stole a dead person’s name. According to the story, he’s suspected of racking up a small fortune back in the day trafficking drugs in Jamaica. Yeh, mon! He’s even had him a little long-time, live-in Jamaican girlfriend he snuck into the country illegally.
But that’s not the part that really irks me. What really irks me is this guy has been traveling around motorcycle rallies over the past couple of years passing himself off as a patriot when he’s a total fraud. How many of us have seen him with his crazy motorcycle parked at the Weirs or on Main St. Daytona Beach with his sign: “$1 to photograph the bike, $5 to take a picture with it, $10 to take one sitting on it. To help homeless veterans,” it concluded. Get this, though. The report says that in one year, Paull raised more than $100,000, but investigators could only confirm he donated $1,300 to veterans. Guess where the other $98,700 went? I’ll give you a clue.
Paull was recently caught in Miami with explosives and almost $90,000 in cash they found stashed in gas cans with false bottoms. This after authorities confiscated two houses, three vehicles, two campers, a pair of custom motorcycles, a 47-foot yacht and about $20,000 in cash from him the first time they raided his compound. The story’s just unbelievable. You’ve got to check out the well-done piece the Tampa Bay Times did on it. (Hernando Hideout of International Criminal and his Jamaican Girlfriend Come to Light) You’ll be sitting there shaking your head just like I was.
When I read it, I was angry. How dare this guy abuse the big-hearted nature of the biker community for personal gain. Even worse, he did it under the guise of being a patriot who wanted to help out disadvantaged brothers. That’s treasonous, because from what I understand the guy actually served in ‘Nam. If he really did, which knowing his trail of lies I’d question even that, then how could he betray his brothers knowing first-hand the nature of the beast known as Vietnam? About now, I’d like to kick this guy right in his ‘nads. I rescind my story and apologize to readers for helping to propagate his lies. Now I’m trying to help spread the word about what a low-life this guy is in case he dares show his face at a rally again trying to pull the same old tricks.
Times Staff Writer
BROOKSVILLE
Eugene Paull heard the beep.
In his three-story home east of Brooksville, Paull was lying on his bed that morning last March when the security system sounded. He rolled over and glanced at two nearby TVs wired to a dozen videocameras. Law enforcement officers swarmed across his property.
Seconds before the 66-year-old could slip into a secret room he had nicknamed the "worm hole," the SWAT team caught him.
Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.
On Tuesday, Hernando County investigators released details of their stunning investigation for the first time. Paull, an international criminal on the run since 1973, had lived under a false identity for 33 years. He would later tell investigators he had come to Hernando because he felt safe and hidden and free to build his fortress.
Authorities believe he had amassed a fortune from trafficking drugs in Jamaica. But they could only prove that he and his girlfriend stole a pair of dead people's identities, the original tip from federal authorities that led to the raid. The couple avoided prison time because they forfeited most of their assets: two Hernando homes, three vehicles, two campers, a pair of custom motorcycles, a 47-foot yacht and nearly $20,000 in cash.
His girlfriend, Subrena Spence, was deported to her native Jamaica. Paull received two years of probation. He moved to Miami, but federal authorities say they recently caught him with explosives and about $90,000 in cash that was found stashed inside gas cans with false bottoms.
Tuesday morning, Hernando sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Kraft, who helped lead the investigation, stood at the escape tunnel's exit, shook his head and smiled.
"It's like nothing I've ever seen in all my years of law enforcement," Kraft said. "Ever."
• • •
Paull's career in crime began in 1968. Five years later, he was convicted on a drug charge, then released. He never showed up for the sentencing.
He fled to Jamaica, where investigators say the drug trafficking began. In 1978, he obtained a passport under the name of Robert Harris.
On the Caribbean island, he owned a hotel and supported youth boxing. He fell in love with a teenager, Subrena Spence. In 2000, she obtained a fake passport. Six years later, the couple moved to Hernando and bought the home near Brooksville for $350,000. They purchased another house in Brooksville for $114,900 four months later.
Detectives, who for 11 months have continued to investigate Paull's activities, believe he brought his drug fortune with him, and he needed a way to explain it. Spence bought a yacht, named Veteran, and claimed that he chartered trips on it. The boat still sits on stilts in his back yard. It never left the property.
He also created a charity that he claimed supported veterans. Paull, who served in Vietnam, was a patriot, or at least he wanted people to think so. His walls were covered in American flags and POW posters.
To support the charity, he bought a customized motorcycle, adorned with images of war, fake weapons and a sidecar that looked like the nose of a fighter jet.
He traveled to events around the country and asked for money. Signs in his garage indicated what he charged: $1 to photograph the bike, $5 to take a picture with it, $10 to take one sitting on it. "To help homeless veterans," the sign said, "with thanks."
In one year, Kraft said, Paull and Spence raised more than $100,000. Investigators could only confirm that the couple gave $1,300 to veterans.
After being arrested and forced to take on his real identity, Paull became eligible to receive veterans benefits.
Paull, detectives say, knew law enforcement would come for him one day. To prepare, he bought a home at the end of a single-lane dirt road in one of the most remote areas of Hernando. The house, from the outside, looked normal. It had a gate with a call box. A brick driveway surrounded a 6-foot-tall fountain. He housed Rottweilers and built an aviary for his birds.
Clues of Paull's intended seclusion appeared in the back yard. He had stacks of firewood, the makings of a garden and a pond that held catfish and tilapia.
Inside the home, guns were hidden everywhere: an antique Vickers machine gun in the garage, a shotgun in a living room cabinet, a revolver in an empty can of Bon Ami cleanser.
He put in an intricate security system and sealed off the bottom of a spiral staircase to create a secret room the size of a closet. In his bedroom, Paull installed a mechanical elevator that could lower him into a concrete bunker equipped with lights, electrical outlets and a pair of heavy metal doors with dead bolts, presumably to lock behind him as he fled.
The bunker led to a 4-foot-wide plastic tube that extended into the back yard. He didn't like the small tunnels in Vietnam, so he made the pipes spacious. When finished, investigators say, the tunnel would have extended about 200 yards into the woods.
Last fall, soon after Paull received probation and sheriff's officials prepared to seize the home, Kraft met him in his front driveway as he prepared to leave. Paull talked about writing a book and said his life would be made into a movie one day.
He seemed proud.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Reach John Woodrow Cox at (352) 848-1432 or jcox@tampabay.com.
Eugene Paull lived under a false identity for 33 years.
