Remember Sierra Academy? They are in the news again...

Inverted

mmmmmm wine
Swirling the lowest, dirtiest part of the bowl for a decade now, looks like they are in some real trouble.

ATWATER, CA- This is the first of a two-part series. Merced County News Television has learned of numerous lawsuits, assault and battery Sheriff Reports, dozens of human resources complaints, allegations of illegal financial transactions and even questions about the safety of the airplanes at the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics have been brought to our attention in the past several days.

The Sierra Academy of Aeronautics (KS Aviation, Inc, also known as KSA), located at the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater is a flight school that has about 40 aircraft and serves about 200 students with as many as 100 employees. Its primary mission is to train future pilots, about 80% of which come from China, for employment on Asian or China-based airlines.

On Monday MCN learned KSA founder John Y.K. Yoon, as well as Chief Flight Instructor and KSA Vice-President Brian Johnson were terminated and given just minutes to leave the property in the presence of newly appointed president Ken Kwan, an un-identified attorney, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke and Undersheriff Jason Goins, who MCN TV confirmed were present (to maintain order). John Yoon, in court documents was terminated as an employee in June of this year, but retained status as a shareholder in the company.

John Yoon and Brian Johnson say their termination is a result of a “takeover” of the company by (no relation) Daniel Bongki Yoon, also known as Dan Yoon.

As a result of their terminations and the alleged “takeover”, numerous other employees have come forward to MCN TV to explain some of the more disturbing allegations at Sierra Academy concerning Dan Yoon.



ALLEGED ASSAULT AND BATTERY INCIDENTS PERPETRATED BY OWNER DAN YOON

MCN TV obtained a copy of a case report and an Human Resources Complaint dated Aug. 16, 2015 (Merced County Sheriff’s Report 15-00028634. Aug. 18) alleging Sierra Academy owner Dan Yoon physically kicked an employee, grabbed the employee by the back of the neck and forced the employee’s head down. (While the report is a matter of public record the man asked his name not be directly used in fear of employment retribution by Yoon.)

In the report the employee wrote of three different incidents that have allegedly happened over the past 3 years. The report noted, “… I was quickly approached by Mr. Dan Yoon, screaming at me that I was stupid and was not a good manager, and as he drew closer he kicked me in my left shin as I sat in my chair…” The employee continued, “…Mr. Dan Yoon then screamed at me so closely and loudly that spit came from his mouth and landed on my face… he then began running his fingers through his hair and pulling his hair and staring at me menacingly…”

That was just the first alleged incident, later he wrote about the second alleged incident, “I was suddenly struck forcefully in the back by Mr. Dan Yoon, causing me to launch forward and hit my chest on the workbench counter. I immediately turned around and found Dan Yoon…”

The third alleged incident, which involved a water spigot, “… Mr. Dan Yoon then reached behind me and grabbed me firmly by the neck and forcefully pushed my head down toward the water spigot. If I had not immediately resisted he would have pushed my face into the water.”

MCN TV also obtained a Merced County Sheriff’s Report (15-00027626) alleging 5 counts of battery and 1 count of assault by Dan Yoon on a 64-year-old employee. (While the report is a matter of public record the employee asked their name not be directly used in fear of employment retribution by Yoon).

The report details that on Aug. 10 Deputy Rosenberg responded to Sierra Academy and learned that between Sept. 2013 and Feb. 2015 the employee has been subjected to five different occasions of alleged physical battery at the hands of Yoon including incidents where Yoon allegedly struck the employee in the arms and hands with hard-bound binders and/or books and one incident where Yoon “approached him with his right arm raised as if he was going to strike him but he backed away.”

Deputy Rosenberg noted, “(Employee) wrote that he was afraid to come forward and make a report due to possible retaliation, being fired by Yoon, or further physical abuse by Yoon. (Employee) told me that he would like to pursue criminal charges against Yoon.”

According to documents obtained by MCN TV there are a host of other allegations against Yoon. More than 70 complaints have been filed to the Human Resources Department, many of which allege one or more category/ type of complaints.

27 of the employees filed HR complaints for a “hostile work environment/ harassment,” 8 employees filed “retaliation and harassment complaints,” and 3 employees have filed federal discrimination complaints with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging age discrimination, elder abuse, race discrimination and ongoing harassment.

24 employees also signed a form letter as a written formal complaint about a “hostile” work environment at Sierra Academy. The opening of the letter is, “I believe Mr. Daniel Yoon has created a ‘HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT’ and ‘FEAR CULTURE’ where all employees work under constant intimidation of being fired or retaliated against for speaking up to disagree, resist or make a complaint against Mr. Daniel Yoon’s hostile behavior and unreasonable demands; which are often counterproductive or legally questionable in nature. I believe it is common consensus among all the employees at Sierra Academy (myself included), that Mr. Daniel Yoon, systematically attempts to harass, threaten and even endanger employees with his questionable business practices. Through his actions, communications, and behavior he regularly makes my job impossible to perform reasonably and/or safely.”



FIRED CHIEF FLIGHT INSPECTOR SAYS “INCREASING POSSIBILITY THAT THERE MAY BE A FATAL AIR ACCIDENT” AT SIERRA ACADEMY OF AERONAUTICS

Sierra Academy Chief Flight Inspector Brian Johnson (who was fired on Monday as mentioned above) says he was terminated because of a declaration he wrote in support of an active lawsuit between Sierra Academy, also known as “KSA” owners (no relation) John Yoon and Dan Yoon (read info on lawsuit below).

In his declaration, submitted on July 3rd of this year in Merced County court documents, Johnson wrote, “Over the last several years, I have told Dan Yoon… that we are facing a number of serious safety issues that need to be addressed… (Sierra Academy) needs adequate funding to enhance its Maintenance Department by hiring more qualified personnel, by having current tools and equipment, by having an adequate supply of spare parts on hand for routine, expected maintenance, and that we need to upgrade the aging fleet, much of which is overdue for replacement since many of the planes were manufactured in the early to mid-1980s.”

Further in his declaration he wrote that, “the maintenance department is “understaffed and under-equipped… at this time we do not have enough resources to properly maintain the fleet of aircraft such that each aircraft can be counted upon to reliably complete each of its training flights… this jeopardizes the ability to deploy aircraft for training purposes whereby the aircraft reliably works during the duration of the training flights.”

Johnson also says he raised his concerns with Dan Yoon. “His response typically was and is to literally ignore the topic or to divert attention to another topic or say, ‘Don’t worry, it’s being taken care of.’”

Johnson raised the possibility of a dangerous learning and flying environment at the Sierra Academy.

“… there is a strong and increasing possibility that there may be a fatal air accident because of his (Dan Yoon) refusal to take the necessary remedial steps.”

Johnson said the Federal Aviation Administration was aware of his concerns about the safety of the students and airplanes at KSA.

MCN TV left a message with the Fresno FAA field office, but the call was not returned.

Dan Yoon- or his attorney, in a declaration filed in the lawsuit, wrote that, “I am unaware of any KS Aviation aircraft being operated without the appropriate FAA inspections or any unsafe conditions resulting from the lack of critical maintenance.”

Johnson points to the letter presented to him on Monday, when he was terminated, “as a clear act of retribution.”

In a letter signed by KSA President Ken Kwan to Johnson, Kwan wrote, “After a review of your declaration submitted under penalty of perjury in Merced County Case No: 15CV-01844, it seems that you have allowed flight operations to continue that were unsafe in your opinion, endangering both the students and the instructors. It is the policy of K.S. Aviation, Inc to conduct flight operations that are compliant with all FAA and corporate guidelines, the chief concern of which is safety. By your own admission, you have allowed operations to continue in which safety has been compromised. Therefore, your employment with KS Aviation, Inc., and its affiliates is hereby terminated immediately for cause.”



OWNER VS. OWNER LAWSUIT

Currently John Yoon, who founded KSA in 2003, is suing Daniel Bongki Yoon (again, no relation) for as much as $5.7 million. According to Jon Yoon- Dan Yoon was hired in 2004 to serve as president and chief financial officer. As part of the hiring John and Dan agreed “to be 50-50 owners of the KSA common stock.”

In 2013 John Yoon was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and he alleges in court documents that during his seven-month recovery period, Dan Yoon, “engaged in a number of illegal financial transactions involving the transfer of large sums of money from KSA to himself… many instances of forgery and/or falsification of corporate documents… changed corporate documents to substantially reduce John Yoon’s shareholdings from 50% to 18.85% and to increase (his own) shareholdings from 50% to 80.59%. However, these documents were not executed by John Yoon.”

He also alleges, “Dan Yoon used the proceeds of the illegal loans of $4.0 million to purchase a flight simulator from Boeing Aircraft Corporation.”

Sources say the flight simulator is a critical component for the future of KSA.

In Dan Yoon’s declaration in response it was written, “…evidence shows Dan Yoon is the party who has consistently provided the capital to keep KSA in business. He has loaned KSA more than a million dollars and foregone a salary for nine years. He has accepted worthless stock in lieu of payment. Without Dan Yoon KSA would not be in business today and (John Yoon) knows that. He signed off on loans Dan Yoon made to the corporation and the issuance of stock that makes Dan Yoon the principal shareholder…”



OTHER LAWSUITS

A- On Sept. 30 of this year KSA agreed to pay $60,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination charge filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency. A female aircraft mechanic alleged to EEOC that she was discharged by the company president after she notified him she was pregnant and had a medical condition. The woman filed a discrimination charge with EEOC in 2013. EEOC ultimately found reasonable cause to believe the flight institution violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) by these actions.

B- Currently an active lawsuit: Former KSA employees Mario Mendoza, Patricia Brooks and Pedro Soberanes are suing both John Yoon and Dan Yoon for wrongful termination in Merced County Superior Court.

C- Ben Trang and the Vietnamese American Business are currently suing KSA for Breach of Contract in Merced County Superior Court.

See court documents below for more on Dan Yoon’s oppositions and declarations in John Y. In part-two of the series MCN TV will include PDF’s of John Yoon’s court documents.

MCN ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT MR. DAN YOON BUT KSA PRESIDENT KEN KWON CALLED US BACK AND WAS GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND. HE SAID HE WOULD EMAIL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ON A RANGE OF TOPICS BUT FAILED TO DO SO.

http://www.mcntvnews.com/trouble-sw...d-assaults-possibly-unsafe-aircraft-lawsuits/
 
Ah, my old alma mater...

Of course, when I was there, it was Oakland-based, assaults on staff were non-existent, and the fleet was well maintained.

I did get to know a couple of instructors who had been there during the early Atwater era and they reported that it was a complete disaster.
 
I was an instructor during the initial purchase by these guys. It kept me employed until I got another job. The old Sierra was great when skip ran it, but these guys were interesting at best even when I was there for a short time after they took over.
 
Ugh..Places like this seriously just need to go out of business. Isn't this the place that doesn't pay CFI's until their students pass their first stage checks or something like that?
 
Forcing an employees head down into a water spigget? Hitting them in the back? Being fired isn't enough for people like this and Im shocked this guy didn't get his A** kicked. Just proves how desperate some people are to build hours. The first time he struck an employee the entire staff should have walked out. Completely unacceptable.!
 
That sucks, but I can't imagine putting up with that kind of work environment. Who would? How do you have more than one of those incidents with your boss without quitting/beating him senseless. Why are you worried about being fired from a place you should have quit already after that kind of crap?
 
All I can say is that when the original Sierra went BK, there was about 3 million in student money that was gone. These guys took Sierra for $1 from skip and let the students continue to fly. I'm not saying these guys are great people, but they did start off on the right foot.
 
That sucks, but I can't imagine putting up with that kind of work environment. Who would? How do you have more than one of those incidents with your boss without quitting/beating him senseless. Why are you worried about being fired from a place you should have quit already after that kind of crap?

Because you can hit the jackpot with a lawsuit! Now that the cookie is crumbling, its about time money pot stakes are drawn. 1st come 1st serve.
 
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