Atwater flight school owner pleads not guilty to felony charges
Daniel Yoon, one of two owners of a commercial flight school in Atwater, pleaded not guilty on Monday to felony charges of falsifying corporate records, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.
Yoon, 66, is co-owner of the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics at the shuttered Castle Air Force Base. Yoon was charged last month with four felonies, two counts of forgery and two counts of falsification of corporate records.
He entered his plea early Monday before Judge Mark V. Bacciarini in Merced Superior Court, according to Walter Wall, the Merced County deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.
Yoon’s attorney, C. Logan McKechnie, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Both sides return to court March 7. Wall said attorneys in the case believe it could take more than two months to prepare for a preliminary hearing in the case.
The embattled flight school owner was arrested Jan. 27 and accused of using the name of the school’s second owner, John Yoon, while applying for a loan, according to prosecutors.
Daniel Yoon and John Yoon are former business partners and not related by blood, authorities have said.
Yoon’s handling of the academy has come under scrutiny in recent months on several fronts. A federal investigation led by the U.S. Treasury Department served search warrants at the school Jan. 25. Officials from the Internal Revenue Service have previously declined to comment on their investigation.
Yoon also is being sued by his ex-business partner, John Yoon, for control over the school.
An attorney for John Yoon has said the two men were equal partners in the academy, but Daniel Yoon attempted to wrest full control away after John Yoon suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle crash in 2013 that left him hospitalized for several months, according to court documents.
A hearing in the civil case is set for March 21.
The academy, which was established in Oakland and moved to Castle in 2004, has continued to operate despite the legal clouds hovering around the school’s leadership, school officials have said.
The Sierra Academy of Aeronautics is a school that specializes in training commercial pilots for several Asian air carriers. According to a company spokesman, the school is in full operation. It employs around 100 people to support its approximately 250 students.
Yoon remains free on bail.
This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Atwater flight school owner pleads not guilty to felony charges."