Jerry Airola listens to a question during an interview at the North Las Vegas offices of his company, Silver State Helicopters. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Jerry Airola, owner of Silver State Helicopters flight school, sits inside one of his helicopters on Jan. 9, 2003. Photo by Samantha Clemens.

In his campaign ads, Jerry Airola says he's the right man to run the Metropolitan Police Department.

A main theme of most of his ads has been that Nevada's largest law enforcement agency needs a businessman to oversee its approximately 5,000 employees and nearly $500 million budget.

Airola says that he built a multimillion-dollar helicopter school business from scratch, and that he'll improve the Police Department using the same principles that have worked for him so far.

"We need a sheriff who can run that department like a business," Airola says in one campaign spot.

A Review-Journal investigation has found, however, that Airola has had trouble with his businesses.

At least 25 of his helicopter flight school students have sued Airola, alleging he did not live up to his commitments.

Lawsuits also have been filed against Airola to collect unpaid bills, and one of his prior business associates went to prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars, $3.5 million of which, the investors say, ended up in Airola's pocket.

Airola's campaign ads, crafted by the team that helped Arnold Schwarzenegger become governor of California, tell the story of a successful businessman and one-time cop who dreams of following in his grandfather's footsteps to become a county sheriff.

They tell the story of a man who started with one helicopter and turned it into one of the largest helicopter flight schools in the nation, operating in 12 states with a 13th, Mississippi, soon to be added to the list.

Airola has spent close to $1 million of his own money on the campaign. He says he's not trying to buy his way into office. He earned his money, he says, and shouldn't have to apologize for being a multimillionaire.

FROM COP TO BUSINESSMAN

Before entering the business world, Airola worked as an officer with the Los Banos Police Department in Central California. At the time, the population of Los Banos was about 15,000. He was fired in 1993 after three years with the department. He said he lost his job for trying to oust the police chief and later won more than $300,000 in a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city. Los Banos officials would not confirm whether the city had made such a payment to Airola and declined to comment on the case.

Airola moved to Las Vegas in 1995 and, with his parents, invested $40,000 in a Hague Quality Water dealership that sold home water purification systems throughout the valley. Three years later the business was making about $80,000 a year, which Airola split with his parents, according to a statement by Airola included in his 1998 divorce case.

In May 1997 the Nevada Department of Taxation filed a lien against Airola for $5,909 in unpaid taxes. Airola said Hague Quality Water disputed the lien because it was caused by a tax adjustment made by the state. The lien was settled two years later.

In September 2000, the R.H. Donnelly company sued Airola for $53,136 in unpaid bills for phone book advertisements. Airola said the lawsuit arose from a dispute with the company about a promise of exclusive advertising. That case was settled in March 2002.

The Airolas sold the company in October 1999 to an investor from Utah. The investor paid $1.65 million, according to court records. Airola wrote in a divorce filing that he sold his ownership stake for a guaranteed yearly salary of $124,800 as the company's director of engineering.

The buyer was Craig Christensen, who was financially backed by Lance K. Henderson, Airola said. At the time, Airola said, he believed Henderson to be "the choirboy of the group. He was a fireman and a Mormon."

Henderson was anything but a choirboy, according to Utah authorities and investors who gave him money.

In April 2000, Henderson started courting investors for his new company, Equity Trader-1. Henderson told the investors the company would buy and sell consumer accounts, mainly those of Hague Quality Water customers, and pay annual returns as high as 40 percent, according to documents filed as part of Equity Trader-1's bankruptcy case in Utah.

But most of the investors never saw the promised returns and have accused Henderson of lying and running a Ponzi scheme, in which early investors were paid off with money from new investors. The investors believe Henderson misused most of the $9.25 million he collected, spending the money on personal expenses, diverting cash to his other companies and giving Airola a $3.5 million loan, according to the bankruptcy documents.

Equity Trader-1 and Henderson both went bankrupt, and Henderson served nearly three years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of securities fraud in connection with the scheme. He was paroled in April.

Henderson could not be reached for comment.

Henderson also agreed to pay $1 million to settle a claim filed by Equity Trader-1's investors. In related cases regarding the Equity Trader-1 bankruptcy, Airola's parents were ordered to pay back $362,771 they got from Henderson, and Craig Christensen, the man who bought Hague Quality Water from the Airolas, was ordered to pay $1.45 million.

The claim against Airola for the $3.5 million loan is pending.

In interviews with the Review-Journal, Airola initially denied taking the loan or having anything to do with the ongoing legal battles in Utah, although court documents indicate legal paperwork about the case was sent to his house at least twice. He also initially said he had no business relationship with Henderson after the sale of Hague Quality Water.

"That had nothing to do with me," he said of the lawsuit and the allegations within it. "They (the plaintiffs) named everyone. That wasn't me."

He later said "it's possible" the lawsuit existed and referred questions to his lawyer, Cliff Marcek. The lawyer confirmed the existence of the lawsuit but could not offer any specifics because it was being handled by a lawyer in Utah.

Airola on Friday wrote in an e-mail that the case against him was found to have no merit. However, the case was still active in Utah bankruptcy court, according to the court's online records, and a lawyer for the investors said they were pursuing the claim.

Airola said he didn't meet Henderson until late 2000, about a year after he sold Hague Quality Water. Henderson was taking over the company and hired Airola as the temporary general manager to help him rebuild and understand the company, Airola wrote in the Friday e-mail.

Airola and Henderson co-signed a lease in February 2001 that eventually led to a lawsuit seeking more than $83,000 in unpaid rent.

Airola said he only co-signed the lease because Henderson did not have a rent history in Nevada. Airola later paid $30,000 to settle the lawsuit.

In his e-mail, Airola also wrote that he was not affiliated with Henderson in August 2001. But according to documents filed with the Nevada Secretary of State, he was.

Corporate paperwork dated August 2001 includes a Jerry Airola signature listing him and Henderson as the managing members of Hague Quality Water of Nevada, LLC.

That same month Henderson filed incorporative documents for The Luxor Group, with Henderson listed as president, and Airola listed as the secretary and treasurer. Airola's signature is not on the documents for The Luxor Group, however.

Airola said he doesn't know what The Luxor Group is, and he said Henderson had tried to do things without his signature.

Airola and Henderson were also co-defendants in an unrelated contract dispute against Hague Quality Water. Airola had signed the contract in December 2001 listing himself as general manager of Hague.

The Equity Trader-1 investors and creditors suing Airola to get their $3.5 million back also say Henderson and Airola were connected.

"Henderson and Airola were involved in various business ventures including, but not limited to, Hague Quality Water of Nevada, a partnership or proprietorship of Airola, Hague Quality Water of Nevada L.L.C., and Tanner L.L.C.," their lawsuit states.

The investors' lawsuit also states that Hague Quality Water of Nevada paid $10,000 "to resolve claims relating to personal misconduct of Airola with regard to the recipient of such funds."

It was unclear what personal misconduct the plaintiffs were referring to. The attorney representing the plaintiffs declined to comment.

Airola said that he was never accused of misconduct by a co-worker or employee.

FLYING THE WHIRLYBIRD

In 1999 Airola and three others bought the first helicopter for what would become the Silver State Helicopters empire. Airola eventually bought out his partners and pushed rapid expansion, using an aggressive business plan and motivational tactics.

He succeeded despite not having a college degree. He says his business acumen came in part from weekend seminars and through motivational speaker Zig Ziglar's teachings.

Using only a few helicopters Airola attempted to train thousands of people as helicopter flight instructors whom he planned to hire to train incoming students, a former student said.

"He wanted people to get in the 200-hour course, get their (Certified Flight Instructor) license, work for him and teach other people how to fly," said Richard Bailey, a Henderson resident and former Silver State Helicopters student whose complaints mirror those of other former students who have sued to get their money back.

"What he was trying to do was create his own instructors in-house. And they're cheap, because they are still learning."

Bailey, who borrowed $50,000 for tuition, only wanted a private pilot's license, for which fewer flight hours are required.

"All I wanted to do was learn how to fly," he said. "I had no intentions of working for him."

But Bailey was told students pursuing flight instructor's licenses got priority when it came to scheduled flight time, he said.

"I got talked into doing the CFI license so he could use the money to buy more helicopters," he said. "By having the students get the full loan up front, he (Airola) assumed none of the risk."

Bailey believes he was later dropped from the school because he had trouble scheduling flight time around his work schedule, even though Airola told students the school could accommodate scheduling conflicts, he said.

Bailey said a lack of helicopters and too many students made flight time scarce.

Airola admitted as much in an October 2004 letter he wrote to his students.

"It is important to me that you know that I am both aware of the frustrations that sometimes plague your flight training experience and grateful for the patience most of you have shown during this time of amazing growth of our company," he wrote.

The shortage of helicopters and an overwhelmed maintenance department demanded a price that was "ultimately paid by the students who mold their schedules around opportunities for flight time, only to be let down," Airola wrote.

Airola also needed the students to graduate because he made contract promises that he could not fulfill unless the students finished their training, according to the letter.

"We have committed our company to large commercial contracts over the next few years that include law enforcement, firefighting, tour and border patrol contracts," the letter stated. "The largest asset that we have is you, our student base, which guarantees a large pool of qualified pilots to fulfill the obligations of these contracts."

When Silver State Helicopters expelled him, Bailey had been able to complete only 38 hours of the 200 hours required to get a flight instructor's license.

The company's refund policy says students who leave the school will get their tuition back in flight vouchers to purchase services from Silver State Helicopters.

Bailey wanted a refund, but he never wanted to fly with the company again, he said. He's still paying off his $50,000 tuition loan and is angry that he has to pay for services he never received.

Bailey has not yet filed a lawsuit against Airola and Silver State Helicopters to recoup that money, but more than two dozen former students have.

In one of the more recent lawsuits, filed in June in U.S. District Court in San Diego, 21 plaintiffs claimed Airola often made promises he didn't keep.

"During the sales presentation Airola stated to newly enrolled students and students thinking about enrolling with SSH that the total time to become a Certified Flight Instructor would take 12 to 18 months. Additionally, prospective students were told that they could use their GI benefits for the SSH training. These statements were not true."

The complaint goes on to state that "Defendant Airola apparently said whatever was necessary to entice a prospective student to enroll with SSH."

Airola also encouraged overweight people to join the school, and after they enrolled, they learned they had to pay more money to train in larger helicopters, the complaint states.

The plaintiffs are asking for refunds of their tuition, which range from $50,000 to $75,000 per student.

In similar lawsuits filed in District Court in Las Vegas, two students claimed Silver State Helicopters didn't provide them with enough flight time to complete their training. The company reimbursed their tuition and the suits were settled.

Airola's e-mail on Friday said Silver State Helicopters reimbursed 19 of the 21 students involved in the San Diego lawsuit. Only 25 of his roughly 3,000 students have filed lawsuits, he noted.

DEFENDING HIS RECORD

Airola said the lawsuits against him are the price of doing business.

"I have less lawsuits filed against me than the Metropolitan Police Department, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas or Brigham Young University," he said, adding that by his calculations fewer than 1 percent of the students who have gone through his flight school have had complaints.

"I can take the 1 percent," Airola said. "This is a big business. Four thousand people have gone through the program. We have 29 locations."

In the past three years the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada has received 16 complaints against Silver State Helicopters. Eleven were for contract disputes.

All of the complaints have been resolved or administratively closed, and the company has a satisfactory rating, according to the bureau's Web site.

Airola believes part of the reason people are speaking out against his candidacy is his success.

"It is true I am a multimillionaire. I am proud of that. I shouldn't have to be ashamed of that," Airola said. "I live in a nice home. It's not a mansion. I collect convertible hot rods. But I'll never make it to 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.'"

Airola said he is not running for sheriff to satisfy his ego. Nor is he on a power trip, he said.

"I am 40 years old," he said. "What am I going to do for the next 20 years of my life? I want to look back and say I have really accomplished something, and being the sheriff of Metro ... taking something that's broken and fixing it will affect the lives of millions."