John Rogers has drawn another contempt of court action after allegedly taking property under the control of the Sports Cards Plus receiver.
Michael McAfee, court-appointed receiver for the company’s photo and sports memorabilia assets and related entities, on Thursday filed a motion for contempt in Pulaski County Circuit Court. In it, McAfee said Rogers unlawfully entered the 115 E. 24th St. building at 11:44 p.m. on Aug. 22 and stole three backup hard drives.
The 5-terabyte hard drives contained more than one million scanned photographs with metadata. “…[T]he only conceivable purpose for which Mr. Rogers could have wanted them was to further his fraudulent schemes,” according to the court filing.
McAfee believes Rogers obtained a security key from his ex-wife, Angelica, to help gain entrance to the building. She gained sole ownership of the couple’s business interests as part of their speedy divorce last year.
In the filing, McAfee says security camera footage shows Rogers entering the building alone. The footage also indicates Rogers called someone on his cell phone to get the current passcode for a security keypad after an unsuccessful first go.
A photograph of Rogers taken from security camera footage, along with a lease agreement signed by Angelica Rogers and McAfee, is included in the motion for contempt.
The lease agreement prohibits Angelica Rogers from entering or allowing anyone else to enter the property without the consent of McAfee. The agreement also precludes John Rogers from exercising any future rights he might gain to the property.
“There was no legitimate reason under the lease for Mr. Rogers, Ms. Rogers, or any person associated with Ms. Rogers to enter the premises at 11:44 p.m. on a Saturday night,” the filing said.
The locks have been changed a second time, and Angelica Rogers was not issued a new key.
Rogers spent a night in the Pulaski County jail last month after being arrested on a contempt warrant for failing to comply with court orders to turn over documents to creditor First Arkansas Bank & Trust.
Security Video
John Rogers Archive Security Footage
A court-appointed receiver for the John Rogers Archive on Thursday filed a motion for contempt in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Rogers, saying Rogers unlawfully entered the archive and took hard drives containing more than one million scanned photographs with metadata. The receiver says security video, included here, shows Rogers entering the building.http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/106805/receiver-seeks-another-contempt-of-court-ruling-against-john-rogers
Posted by Arkansas Business on Thursday, August 27, 2015