Monday, March 9, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.
Oliver Hawkins' Friendly Motor Coach business that arranged consignment sales of motor homes seemed like a convenient way for many people in their retirement years to buy or sell the vehicles.
But the transactions withered into a theft scam and the victims' golden years were tarnished by the anguish of lawsuits, legal battles and often unpayable debt.
"This man put us through hell," Dorothy Gardner told District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski. "He put me under a doctor's care. He lied and cheated and I'd like to see him punished for what he's done.
What Hawkins did was sell Gardner's motor home and those of several others and pocket the money -- more than $200,000. In the process, he turned over the motor homes to the new buyers with bills of sale but without the titles legally necessary to prove ownership.
Deputy District Attorney Valerie Adair said the buyers have been able to register and use the vehicles but won't be able to sell them.
Maria Gamez told how she and her husband bought a used motor home from Hawkins and let him sell their old motor home.
"We owe $10,000 on our old home and our new home, that we live in, is in limbo," she said.
The third victim in some transactions, Adair said, is the bank, credit union or other lender that financed the original purchase. There have been lawsuits against the sellers to force payment of the loan they took out and the against buyers to tie up the valuable asset that secured the loans.
"He literally ruined our retirement," said Shirley Calkins after relating how she and her husband had to pay $22,000 to satisfy the debt on the old motor home Hawkins had sold for them. She said they also paid Hawkins $33,500 for a newer model.
"He made $55,000 in one deal," she fumed.
In court for what was supposed to be his sentencing, the 57-year-old Hawkins weakly apologized to the handful of victims that came to tell their stories.
Because the victims seemed to prefer that Hawkins repay what he stole rather than go to jail, Pavlikowski postponed sentencing for perhaps two years for the man who pleaded guilty to two counts of theft. Each count carries the possibility of five years behind bars.
The state Parole and Probation Department agreed and recommended probation with a requirement that he pay restitution.
Adair, however, called that recommendation "disgraceful" and argued that there is no way Hawkins will be able to repay his victims without creating more victims.
She said that is what brought him to Nevada.
Adair explained that he had been running the same scam in California and when he learned that authorities were closing in on him in 1995, he set up a similar operation in Nevada. Because he wasn't yet charged, he had no problem getting licensed in Nevada.
Hawkins eventually pleaded guilty to 19 felony counts in California and faced years in prison, but Adair said he knew he could get a reduced sentence and perhaps probation if he repaid his victims.
Much of the money he pilfered from Nevadans went to his California victims and a judge there sentenced him to just two years in prison, although his attorneys admit he likely will be out in half that time.
Although the Nevada victims want to be made financially whole, Adair noted that she had offered Hawkins the opportunity to plead guilty to only a gross misdemeanor rather than felonies if he would only repay his victims before pleading guilty.
"What we saw was the money from his Nevada victims going to pay his past victims," Adair said. "It was a pyramid scheme. He was robbing Peter to pay Paul.
"He doesn't have the right to heap financial devastation on these victims."
She recommended that Hawkins be sentenced to five years in a Nevada prison in addition to his California sentence.
Pavlikowski countered, "If he is in jail, he can't pay restitution, can he?"
Adair responded: "As a practical matter, he won't come up with the restitution. It's a huge amount of money."
Adair suggested that the only way a man Hawkins' age will be able to repay that kind of money would be to run similar scams on new victims.
Hawkins' attorney, Marty Keach, said his client "is prepared to pay restitution" and turned over $25,000 as a partial payment to show his good faith.
Adair noted that is less than $2,000 for each of the 14 couples victimized.
In the end, Pavlikowski postponed sentencing until after Hawkins is released from the California prison and can show whether he can establish the means to compensate his victims.
Adair said that failing to punish people such as Hawkins "is an invitation to come to our state and rip off our senior citizens."
Noreen Salihef, 63, told the judge that as a result of Hawkins' scam, she and her husband have used all of their savings and she has had to begin collecting Social Security.
"This is nothing we'll forget," she said.
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