Their business seems to be screwing people and crying foul.....
The thing about it is, they''re in the middle of it....
Ronda Hyatt, a local geoscientist hired to monitor the drilling, said: “They had gotten a farmer to lease them a piece of land. But it was really strange. They picked the most difficult location you could on this place. You had to scrape off 20 feet of dirt before you could start drilling.”
Mr. Milby was eager to drill more sites. Eventually, Ms. Hyatt directed him toward a site called Crockett-Owens in Texas, which Ms. Hyatt said had high potential but would require a lot of capital and take years to develop.
Mr. Milby was hooked. He bought the option for the lease in April for $25,000 and immediately began raising money to drill the wells.
In August 2004, Pamela and David Hallin met with Mr. Milby for lunch at a hotel near their home in Memphis. Ms. Hallin had been impressed with a presentation Mr. Milby had made at an asset allocation seminar a month earlier, and the couple were interested in investing. Mr. Milby was hoping to raise $1.4 million for drilling, private placement documents stated.
Mr. Hallin, then a pilot for FedEx, said the couple thought that they had done their homework. “We called all of the references he listed, including his banker, and she said there were no problems with him. That he was in good standing,” Mr. Hallin said. By the time lunch was over, the couple had handed over a check for $84,000.
Soon after, though, investors like the Hallins had cause for concern. Mr. Milby and Mid-America hired Ms. Hyatt and her business partner to oversee the drilling and repair work on the wells at the Texas site. As she became concerned about vendors’ bills that were going unpaid, Ms. Hyatt also began to hear from investors complaining that they had not received their promised checks.
In October, Ms. Hyatt gathered the Crockett-Owens investors, including Mr. Hallin, in Memphis. There, she told them she thought the money was gone. Shocked and in disbelief, the investors decided to wait and see whether Mr. Milby would make good on his promises.
Instead, over the next few weeks, the situation soured further. By mid-November, all of the wells ceased operating. If production did not resume within 60 days, the lease would expire. Faced with losing the drill site itself, which Ms. Hyatt maintained could still be successful, she and the investors decided to try to buy out Mr. Milby and run the site themselves.
The thing about it is, they''re in the middle of it....
Ronda Hyatt, a local geoscientist hired to monitor the drilling, said: “They had gotten a farmer to lease them a piece of land. But it was really strange. They picked the most difficult location you could on this place. You had to scrape off 20 feet of dirt before you could start drilling.”
Mr. Milby was eager to drill more sites. Eventually, Ms. Hyatt directed him toward a site called Crockett-Owens in Texas, which Ms. Hyatt said had high potential but would require a lot of capital and take years to develop.
Mr. Milby was hooked. He bought the option for the lease in April for $25,000 and immediately began raising money to drill the wells.
In August 2004, Pamela and David Hallin met with Mr. Milby for lunch at a hotel near their home in Memphis. Ms. Hallin had been impressed with a presentation Mr. Milby had made at an asset allocation seminar a month earlier, and the couple were interested in investing. Mr. Milby was hoping to raise $1.4 million for drilling, private placement documents stated.
Mr. Hallin, then a pilot for FedEx, said the couple thought that they had done their homework. “We called all of the references he listed, including his banker, and she said there were no problems with him. That he was in good standing,” Mr. Hallin said. By the time lunch was over, the couple had handed over a check for $84,000.
Soon after, though, investors like the Hallins had cause for concern. Mr. Milby and Mid-America hired Ms. Hyatt and her business partner to oversee the drilling and repair work on the wells at the Texas site. As she became concerned about vendors’ bills that were going unpaid, Ms. Hyatt also began to hear from investors complaining that they had not received their promised checks.
In October, Ms. Hyatt gathered the Crockett-Owens investors, including Mr. Hallin, in Memphis. There, she told them she thought the money was gone. Shocked and in disbelief, the investors decided to wait and see whether Mr. Milby would make good on his promises.
Instead, over the next few weeks, the situation soured further. By mid-November, all of the wells ceased operating. If production did not resume within 60 days, the lease would expire. Faced with losing the drill site itself, which Ms. Hyatt maintained could still be successful, she and the investors decided to try to buy out Mr. Milby and run the site themselves.
