The Case Not to Hire Archbold

Military History: We were unsuccessful in our 2007 Plumas County Small Claims case seeking release of Archbold's DD 214 military discharge forms. These forms had the potential to clear up the very considerable doubts about Archbold's military record, since we were told there were ways to identify a forgery (we had experts standing by to make this determination). Unfortunately, LACC fiercely resisted their release. The Civil Code is unclear on an association's duty to release this kind of document, and we had to take the case to a substitute ("pro tem") judge who was unfamiliar with the new disclosure law. THE OPEN QUESTION IS WHY LACC WAS SO DETERMINED TO PREVENT RELEASE ??? One would think that to defend Archbold and their own decision, the LACC Board would welcome confirmation.

Even without the DD 214's, however, there was plenty of reason for doubt. The military.com site lists a "Frederick Archbold" with a modest Army career (to enlisted rank of Staff Sergeant) but no officer of that name in the Marines. There is some evidence that there was a "Lt Col Frederick G. Archbold III" in the Marine Corps (not Reserve), but nothing to prove that the LACC applicant is the same man. In other circumstances one might not question Archbold's identity, but we know from independent sources that he has been using the alias 'Patrick Jackson' for a dozen or more years, with the same social security number he provided to LACC (see below).

THIS WAS FINALLY CLARIFIED WHEN WE OBTAINED AN FOIA RECORDS RELEASE:

Definitive information, correlated with job applicant Archbold's social security number, was obtained in late September 2007 (after Archbold was hired) through a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The information which can be obtained is limited, since most information in a military file will not be released without the serviceman's consent. In order to provide the "releasable" information, without other information which may be contained on the same original page, the clerk fills in a summary form containing the information which can be provided. This form encompasses the entire military career, from induction to discharge, and shows the final rank. It shows Archbold was never a pilot, that the highest rank he achieved was 1st Lieutenant, not Lt. Col, and that he served less than 9 months in the active Marine Corps, not the 5 years he reported to LACC. THIS CONFIRMS OUR SUSPICIONS THAT ARCHBOLD LIED ABOUT HIS MILITARY RECORD. For more details and a copy of the FOIA release, use the LINK below.

Evidence of Dual Identity: The website intellius.com has a free, online search engine where you input a LAST NAME and a SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER and it tests to see whether they match. If not, the search returns nothing. If so, it returns a list of towns where the person with that name and SSN resided. It does not and cannot return anything else, such as other names. FOR SOME REASON LACC HAS CHOSEN TO LIE ABOUT HOW THIS WORKS, RATHER THAN OFFER AN EXPLANATION. The fact is, doing this for 'Archbold' and also for 'Jackson' results in an almost identical list of towns, all clustered 10 miles or less from the HOA's which employed Archbold during the past 12-13 years. These HOA's are widely separated and relatively remote: Heritage Ranch near San Luis Obispo, Palm Desert near Palm Springs, and Hidden Valley Lake, near Clear Lake. The odds of this result occuring by chance are astronomically small. And of course there should only be ONE name associated with a given SSN. Other websites return 'Patrick Jackson' as an AKA of Rick Archbold.

What kind of man uses such an alias? And WHY did LACC ignore this evidence in hiring him?

NEW ON 7/10/2011: NEW INTELLIUS SEARCH NOW LISTS JACKSON WITH A WESTWOOD ADDRESS

Archbold at Heritage Ranch. Archbold's first job as an HOA manager was at Heritage Ranch, near San Luis Obispo. During his time there the association roads and facilities were allowed to deteriorate badly, to such a degree that he was accused in lawsuits of conspiring with developers to deliberately let the roads run down so they would be taken over by the county and thereby opened to use by these developers and the general public. The lawsuits further alleged that he failed to maintain adequate reserve funds, lied to members about the available reserves and misspent what little reserve funds there were on construction projects desired by the developers. SEE LINK BELOW TO PICTURES OF HOW BAD THINGS GOT AT HERITAGE RANCH.

The Heritage Ranch members had to recall their directors before they could fire Archbold and begin to set things straight. The new Board sued former directors, developers and those employees alleged to conspire with them (including Archbold) and won a massive settlement, which included a $10,000 fee per unit (overall in excess of $10,000,000) and many undertakings by the developers to provide services and to construct facilities. SEE LINK BELOW FOR DETAILS ON THE HERITAGE RANCH LITIGATON.

It was during his stay at Heritage Ranch that Archbold explicitly revealed his attitude toward homeowners ("ignorant asses") who disagree with his policies (see QUOTATION on our HOME PAGE). How is this record consistent with the LACC's characterization of Archbold' "very successful General Manager roles?"

NOW ARCHBOLD IS DOING THE SAME THING: LACC ROADS ARE NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED

Archbold at Hidden Valley Lake. After Heritage Ranch, Archbold lasted less than a year at Palm Desert, and was hired around 2001 by Hidden Valley Lake Association ("HVLA"), near Clear Lake. We have spoken to many residents there who describe Archbold as "arrogant," "rude," "abusive," "a liar," "a big spender, " and worse, and the people who have worked for him uniformly appear to hate him by the time he departs. This is not what one would expect of a high-ranking military officer, and in any event do not describe character traits that bode well for an LACC General Manager. Court filings claim that he has used HVLA security as his personal "goon squad," to rough up and even frame residents, and their children, who have opposed him. A number of residents tell us that HVLA finances were left in dreadful shape, and some even allege that "money is missing." When he started work at LACC he insisted on a number of changes in our rules which give the General Manager unprecedented authority to intervene in permits, fines and other matters - a great opportunity for graft.

In his last year, Archbold tried to force through a $17,000,000 capital improvement project without allowing a vote by the members, 300+ of which signed a petition demanding a vote. At Archbold's urging the HVLA Board denied this, and this project went forward despite a large and growing opposition (See LINK to the 'CONCERNED CITIZENS' Website). ARCHBOLD IS DOING THE SAME THING NOW AT LACC !!

LACC has relied upon a purported letter of recommendation from HVLA President Dick Scott that is said to extol Archbold as the "best HOA manager he has known." WE NOW KNOW ANY SUCH CHARACTERIZATION IS A LIE. We have been told (in confidence) by an HVLA director that Archbold had been asked to leave in 2007, and was allowed to resign "voluntarily" after LACC signed his contract, effective in September. BUT, the director says that Archbold was summarily discharged MUCH EARLIER (in late May or early June) because he was doing things that the Board could not allow to continue. The director says his computers were seized and he was marched out of the office that same day. This account has been disputed by Archbold, aided by public silence by the HVLA directors, but is now confirmed by SCOTT'S LETTER ADMITTING ARCHBOLD WAS 'DISMISSED' (fired).

This all came to light because the HVLA Board is very worried that it will be sued by Archbold for letting this information get out, and have been meeting in "executive session" day after day. They blamed a particular director (Tom Miller) for "leaking" this "confidential information," apparently because Miller had sided with the Concerned Citizens regarding the development plans and felt it was wrong to ignore them. They first voted to expel Miller as a director, then "reinstated him with conditions," and finally scheduled a "censure hearing" to publicly lecture and humiliate him. These are all illegal acts and HVLA members have gone to court to ask a judge to remove all directors but Miller. In the course of this, Scott wrote to Miller and inadvertently "spilled the beans" about Archbold's dismissal and the majority directors campaign to intimidate directors into keeping this quiet (see LINK TO SCOTT'S LETTER).

From this we know two things: (1) Archbold's behavior at HVLA was actually such that he was summarily fired; and (2) he has responded to our TRUE reports by threatening HVLA with litigation, causing the HVLA directors to fight among themselves and attempt to impose a gag rule on all disclosures to members (including director spouses!). THIS IS NOT THE MAN LACC THOUGHT THEY WERE HIRING !!

5. Overly Broad Contract Powers and Sexual Harassment. The contract LACC signed with Archbold not only gives him illegal tenure and very lavish pay, it also gives him unprecedented power to act without oversight by the LACC directors (an improper delegation of their authority). One particular area deals with employees, where the Board is literally NOT ALLOWED to question anything Archbold may do regarding employees. One area of concern is our employment budget, since Archbold expanded the number of employees from a couple dozen to OVER 150 during his 6 years at HVLA. Another is SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION, a sensitive area, and of particular concern given the fact that Archbold was NAMED AS A DEFENDANT in a sexual discrimination and harassment case that ended up costing HVLA $100,000 to settle. (see LINK BELOW)