Defendant in Airline Fraud Case Arrested in Movie Scheme

A North Hollywood man awaiting trial for alleged airline fraud was arrested Thursday on suspicion of running a bogus movie promotion, the city attorney’s office said.

Kevin Von Feldt, 37, was taken into custody by Los Angeles police for advertising tickets to 52 movie classics without having received the rights to the films or having made agreements with theaters to show them, according to the city attorney’s office. Some of the films he advertised to show included “The Sound of Music,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Cheaper by the Dozen,” “National Velvet” and “The Music Man.”

The movie promotion, which operated from May until late summer of 1986 under the name of Katon Corp., consisted of a television commercial advertising a coupon book of tickets for a year’s worth of Saturday matinee showings of the classics at local theaters, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office said. The coupon books sold for $39.95 each.

The city attorney maintained, however, that Von Feldt did not have any agreements with theaters to show the films nor had he bought the rights to the films. Von Feldt is believed to have run or attempted to run the commercial on 20 television stations in 13 states, the spokesman said.

Von Feldt is scheduled for trial in September on 108 criminal charges filed last December in which he is accused of advertising for pilots, flight attendants and other airline personnel and then charging them fees ranging from $850 to $10,000 for training that he guaranteed would lead to jobs with the non-existent Hawaiian Pacific Airlines. Victims of the scheme lost more than $100,000.

In the airline scheme, Von Feldt is charged with 78 counts of grand theft, 25 counts of making false and misleading statements and 5 counts of issuing checks to employees that were not payable upon demand.