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<big><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="-2"><big><font
class="plainsansserif"><font class="storydate">Wednesday, November 7,
2007</font>
<br>
<br>
<font class="storyhead">County Sues Wi-Fi Contractors $1.2M Spent On
Network</font>
<br>
<br>
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2007 <a
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Journal</a>--><!--AUTHOR: Rosalie Rayburn-->
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<span title="E-mail reporter Rosalie Rayburn! " class="popup"><a
href="http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/email_reporter.pl"><font
class="storybyline">By Rosalie Rayburn</font></a> </span><br>
<font class="storycredit"><!--ss-->Journal Staff Writer</font><br>
<font class="storybody"><!--es-->
Sandoval County is suing the two individuals it hired to oversee the
county's broadband project.<br>
The lawsuit alleges Dewayne Hendricks and Jonathan Mann intentionally
deceived the county about their ability to complete the project and
that they took county money without providing the services they
promised.<br>
The lawsuit names Hendricks and his California-based company, the
Dandin Group, Mann and his company, AQV Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah,
and Sandoval Broadband Inc., the company which the two men oversaw.<br>
The county, represented by the Albuquerque law firm of Sutin, Thayer
& Browne, seeks punitive damages, costs and attorneys fees and
whatever further relief the court deems proper.<br>
Hendricks declined to comment on the lawsuit.<br>
"It's just allegations," he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.<br>
A Journal phone message left on Mann's cell phone was not returned.<br>
Sandoval Broadband, originally called Olla Grande, was supposed to
design and build a countywide broadband network that would provide
low-cost Internet access to Internet service providers throughout the
county.<br>
The county has already paid $1.2 million for the network— which doesn't
work.<br>
The lawsuit was filed last month in 13th Judicial District Court in
Bernalillo.<br>
"There were certain deliverables that were not met by the contractor
and we had to move forward legally," said Sandoval County Commission
Chairman Don Leonard, in a phone interview on Tuesday.<br>
The county's allegations against Hendricks and Mann include breach of
trust, violation of the unfair trade practices act, fraud and unjust
enrichment.<br>
Sandoval County hired Mann's company AQV in December 2004 to develop a
broadband plan for the county. The County Commission approved the plan
in July 2005, based on Mann's recommendations, according to the lawsuit.<br>
Low-cost broadband access was supposed to benefit schools, health care
services and residents throughout the county.<br>
Mann created Olla Grande, later called Sandoval Broadband, to do the
work. Olla Grande then hired Hendricks to help Mann.<br>
Hendricks' job was to design, engineer, purchase and install all
necessary equipment for the deployment of the broadband network.<br>
According to court documents, Hendricks and Mann intentionally made
false and misleading oral and written representations to the county
about their credentials and their ability to provide an operational
broadband network.<br>
They, or one of their companies, billed the county for goods and
services they didn't provide, the lawsuit alleges. In some cases, it
contends, they billed the county for new equipment and installed used
equipment instead.<br>
The county relied in good faith on the "false and misleading" oral and
written statements and representations by Hendricks and Mann to hire
them and pay invoices for goods and services they submitted.<br>
"Defendants used exaggeration, innuendo or ambiguity as to material
facts regarding the goods to be provided and the services to be
performed under the Contracts with the intent to deceive the County,
and in did in fact deceive the County," the lawsuit alleges.<br>
The county maintains its reliance was "justifiable and reasonable under
the circumstances."<br>
Despite a demand by the county, Hendricks and Mann or their companies
have refused to complete the broadband network, according to the
lawsuit.<br>
It also alleges that they have not returned any of the county's money
or property purchased for the network, which the county paid for.<br>
The defendants' breach of good faith was done "willfully and
maliciously", resulting in harm to the county and its citizens, the
lawsuit alleges.<br>
As of Tuesday, the defendants had not filed a response.<br>
Independent communications experts raised serious questions about the
ability of Hendricks and Mann to deliver on their promises more than a
year ago, according to published news reports.<br>
The reports say Sandoval County officials steadfastly defended the
project and their hiring choices.<br>
Mann left the project in August 2006. Hendricks quit in May this year.<br>
The state auditor launched an investigation into the broadband project
in February.<br>
The County Commission recently selected NetLogix, a national wireless
consulting firm, to take over the project.<br>
The commission also approved hiring CH2M Hill to provide design,
engineering and implementation services for the project.</font></font></big></font></big>
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