San Joaquin County Skydiver Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Running Unauthorized Tandem Skydiving Instructor Courses

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Robert Allen Pooley, 49, of Acampo, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb to two years in prison for wire fraud related to tandem skydiving instructor courses, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. Pooley was convicted by a federal jury in May 2024 after a seven-day trial.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in 2010, Pooley obtained ratings as a "tandem examiner" with the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) and with Uninsured United Parachute Technologies LLC (UPT), a manufacturer of tandem parachute systems. He then began conducting training courses for candidates seeking to obtain their USPA Tandem Instructor ratings and/or their certifications to use UPT tandem parachute systems. The Tandem Instructor certifications Pooley provided enabled students to conduct tandem jumps with members of the public throughout the United States and abroad. Pooley charged money for these courses and conducted them at a skydiving business located in Acampo.

In August 2015, USPA and UPT suspended Pooley's tandem examiner ratings, which meant that he could no longer conduct the tandem instructor courses on his own. Nevertheless, he continued running USPA and UPT tandem instructor rating courses without authorization, and he concealed his suspensions from tandem instructor candidates. Pooley falsely told students that he was a tandem examiner, led them to believe they could obtain USPA and UPT tandem ratings through his courses, hid the fact that he had been suspended, and helped students fill out USPA and UPT rating paperwork to further the impression that the students would legitimately get their tandem ratings through his courses.

As part of the scheme, Pooley used a digital image of the signature of another properly rated USPA and UPT tandem examiner to sign off on training that Pooley himself had conducted when the other tandem examiner was not even in the country. In 2016, Pooley accepted numerous students in this manner from around the world, including the Republic of Korea, Chile, and Mexico. Each student paid approximately $1,100 for these courses. The signed documents that Pooley provided some of the students led them to believe they were certified to conduct tandem skydives with members of the public. On Aug. 6, 2016, one such student fell to his death in a tandem skydiving accident with a customer who also perished. After those deaths, numerous victims of Pooley's scheme asked for their money back, but he did not repay them, and several students had to pay for entirely new tandem instructor courses at other locations. In sentencing Pooley, Judge Shubb found that Pooley's offense involved a conscious or reckless risk of death or serious bodily injury and, based on that finding, applied a sentencing enhancement.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine T. Lydon and Dhruv M. Sharma prosecuted the case.