Why I don't dive....

Skydiving instructor at troubled California center gets prison time

One of Robert Pooley's trainees died with another skydiver after failing to open his parachute

By Andrew Chamings

A California skydiving instructor who fraudulently trained new instructors at the Lodi Parachute Center in San Joaquin County, including one who died while tandem jumping with an 18-year-old high school graduate in 2016, has been sentenced to two years in prison. 

Robert Pooley, 49, of Acampo, was sentenced on Monday after being found guilty in May of running unauthorized tandem skydiving courses at the beleaguered site in San Joaquin County that has seen 28 deaths since 1985. 

After Pooley’s certification as an instructor was suspended in 2015, he continued to train more than 100 new instructors using the digital image of the signature of another certified instructor to sign off on training courses. Pooley charged around $1,100 for each training course.

“Pooley falsely told students that he was a tandem examiner,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Monday. “After those deaths, numerous victims of Pooley’s scheme asked for their money back, but he did not repay them.”

One of Pooley’s trainees was Yong Kwon, a 25-year-old who had recently moved to California from South Korea. On Aug. 16, 2016, Kwon was paired with first-time skydiver Tyler Turner for a tandem jump. Both men died on impact in a nearby vineyard after Kwon was unable to successfully open either the main or reserve chutes. Turner’s mother, Francine Turner, described the tragic day to SFGATE last year, and characterized the scene at the Lodi Parachute Center as “hurried and rushed.”

Pooley has not been charged in relation to Kwon or Turner’s deaths. 

Following the Turner and Kwon crash, a wrongful death civil suit was brought against longtime owner of the drop zone William Dause. Turner’s family was awarded a $40 million judgment in that case, but told SFGATE in 2023 that they had not seen a penny. 

While investigating the 28 deaths at the Lodi Parachute Center, SFGATE revealed the murky level of regulation surrounding the sport that has a contentious history of oversight and accountability. The most recent skydiving deaths in California occurred in August when instructor Devrey LaRiccia Chase, 28, and student Kayla Black, 28, both died in a tandem jump at Skydive Perris in Riverside County.