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Ex-Dunedin Firm Promised, Didn't Deliver Refund, Client Says

News Channel 8 photo

A.J. Rockwell stands next to a truck.

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: December 9, 2008

In A.J. Rockwell's home state of West Virginia, a promise is a promise.

So, Rockwell said, he believed Robert Craig Gibbons, a managing member of Landmark Leasing LLC in Dunedin, last week when he promised to return the $4,500 advance payment for a heavy equipment lease.

"That's the way we do business in West Virginia," said Rockwell, who has an excavation company. "When you tell somebody that you're gonna do something, then your word's pretty much golden."

On Wednesday -- the day, Rockwell says, Gibbons promised him he would have his money by that Friday -- Landmark's staff was busy emptying the last office files and equipment from the company's offices at 1112 Pinehurst Road.

"I didn't promise him anything," Gibbons told a reporter Monday.

Promise or not, Gibbons concedes that Landmark has shut its doors, and he has no idea where he will get the money to repay Rockwell.

"We closed the business. I have no money. The company has no money," Gibbons said.

Rockwell might not be the only Landmark customer out of luck.

Mike Flaherty, who runs an excavation company in New Orleans, said he's still waiting for Landmark to return the $3,600 cashier's check he recently sent as prepayment for a heavy equipment lease.

Flaherty said someone named Tracy called him on Dec. 1 to say Landmark was going out of business and promised to return his money immediately. The refund was supposed to come by Federal Express, but it hasn't, Flaherty said.

When a reporter asked Gibbons about the check, he said it was on it's way to Flaherty.

Landmark is the subject of an "unfair trade and deceptive practices" investigation by the Florida attorney general's office and has been the focus of news reports because of the company's links to Global Funding LLC, which has four government agencies investigating its business practices.

Landmark opened its Dunedin location Nov. 2 -- two days after Global closed its offices in Clearwater. Jeffrey Michael Maricle, a self-described consultant for the company who registered Landmark's Web site in October and ran Global Funding as managing member before it shut down. Last week he was loading boxes of documents into his sport utility vehicle and said he had lost his job.

That same day, Rockwell said, Gibbons told him the company simply was moving to another location.

"Mr. Gibbons indicated to me they had a lot of media pressure and they weren't able to conduct their business and they were going to be moving a couple blocks away to a little lower-profile office so they could continue to operate their business out of the media spotlight," Rockwell said.

Gibbons said he did not tell Rockwell the company was only relocating and faults Rockwell for not supplying all the documentation needed for a lease after Rockwell mailed his check Nov. 19.

Whatever the case, Rockwell didn't receive his refund or a lease, and said he has no way to reach Gibbons.

"The phone just rings and rings," Rockwell said.

Rockwell said he originally negotiated his lease with someone at Landmark named Jeffrey Michael.

Last week, though, Maricle said he had never heard of Rockwell and was not the Jeffrey Michael who had offered Rockwell a lease proposal.

Rockwell's wife, Robin, has said that Maricle sounds exactly like the Landmark staff member she dealt with numerous times on the telephone, the man who identified himself as Jeffrey Michael.

Rockwell said he would be willing to spend a lot more than his deposit to get his money back.

He already has filed a complaint with the Florida attorney general's office and is contemplating a trip to Florida to personally ask for a refund from Gibbons and Maricle.

"We're gonna do everything in our power to get our money back," Rockwell said.

Gibbons said he will do everything in his power to return Rockwell's money but has no idea where it will come from. He said Rockwell's advance payment for the equipment lease has been spent on processing and overhead costs at Landmark, a company that was in business for little more than a month before shutting down last week.

"I had no intention of keeping anybody's money unjustly," Gibbons said.

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603 or mdouglas@wfla.com.

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