Beckley Man, Former CEO of Citizens Conservation Corp., Sentenced to Probation for Bankruptcy Fraud

BECKLEY, West Virginia — A Beckley man was sentenced to five years of federal probation for fraudulently receiving property from a debtor.

Robert Martin, 67, was ordered Friday to pay $205,802.49 in restitution in addition to five years of probation.

Martin was previously CEO of Citizens Conservation Corp (CCC) after founding the company in 1993. CCC had operated the Courtesy Patrol roadside assistance service for the state of West Virginia since 1998, and that is when that the company started generating profits. The contract with West Virginia was lost in 2018, and after that, CCC filed for bankruptcy.

Martin testified at a meeting of bankruptcy creditors in May 2019, saying CCC was not generating revenue and therefore was not receiving a salary. Martin also testified that he expected CCC to be paid on the receivables owed to the company. In response, the Southern District of West Virginia informed Martin that he could not collect salary as a controlling officer without approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court.

Later that month, Martin's company received $41,000 from the West Virginia Treasury, from which the money was deposited into CCC's company bank account. After that, Martin transferred a total of $50,000 from this account to a separate account at another bank. During this process, Martin paid himself more than $30,000 through six different checks.

Martin admitted that he did not receive approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the payments made, and also admitted that he did not do so because he intended to conceal payments to the United States Bankruptcy Court. Martin further admitted that he knew that his company, CCC, knowingly spent more than $100,000 that it received from the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service during a three-week period between September and October 2018 .

Additionally, in 2014, CCC entered into an agreement with the National Park Service to hire and train young adults for internship programs in national parks across America. As part of the deal, CCC received more than $110,000 to train and hire these interns, but Martin admitted the company never hired anyone with that funding. Instead, CCC reduced those funds to nearly $2,500 for operating expenses once the contract with the state of West Virginia was signed. Martin also admitted that he was aware of the misuse of these funds.

Jennifer Douglas, CCC's last CEO, pleaded guilty to theft from federal programs on May 6, as did Martin. She also admitted that the company knowingly spent nearly $110,000 it received from the National Park Service. She is awaiting sentencing.

Martin owes $37,072.76 to CCC's bankruptcy estate and $168,729.73 to the National Park Service. Martin paid $37,072.76 owed to the bankruptcy estate two weeks ago.