River pilots fleeced by San Diego pirates

Timothy Monahan, a San Diego real estate developer, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Thursday (March 19) in New Orleans.

Monahan and another San Diego real estate operator, Mark Hoffmann, convinced the Crescent River Port Pilots Association, who guide ships upriver, to invest $3 million in two proposed office buildings. Both the San Diegans and their victims were supposed to have access to the $3 million, which was in a bank account.

But, according to court records, Monahan arranged the deal so the pilots didn't have access. Monahan plucked $141,000 out of the account for purposes unrelated to the buildings, and then he and Hoffmann covered up the caper by setting up phony accounts indicating the fund was solvent, when in fact it had a negative balance.

Hoffmann was charged in Louisiana in 2013 and sentenced in San Diego federal court early this year to two years behind bars. Monahan returned $141,000 to the pilots before he was sentenced.