Ex-Limousine Builders Face Tax Charges

Two former owners of Ultra Limousine, the now-defunct Brea manufacturer of glitzy limousines that included queen-size beds, hot tubs and swimming pools, have been indicted on seven counts of income-tax evasion, federal authorities said Thursday.

Carl Vincent Bergeman, 41, and Kraig Kavanaugh, 32, both of Yorba Linda, are to be arraigned July 27 in federal court on charges that each of them evaded individual income taxes in 1985 and 1986. Kavanaugh was also charged with evading the company’s corporate income taxes for its fiscal years ended in 1984, 1985 and 1986. The company went bankrupt in 1990.

Ultra Limousine, which showcased its flashy inventory surrounded by female models at car shows, once got a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records for a limo with a swimming pool, Jacuzzi and putting green.

The company was once among the nation’s top limousine manufacturers, building cars for such stars as Clint Eastwood, Frank Sinatra and Liberace. It built a $1-million, 41-foot “liMOUSEine” to carry Mickey Mouse on Walt Disney Co.’s promotional tours. The two men’s contacts with entertainers even led them to manage the career of an aspiring singer, Bianca, in 1990.

The business was just one of their exotic, controversial pursuits. Kavanaugh, an offshore powerboat racer, once kept alligators in the back yard of his Yorba Linda home, angering neighbors.

And Bergeman was the manager of Queen Lingerie in Brea, which attracted national attention on tabloid TV shows when residents and the city complained that it was nothing more than a peep show. The shop, which featured back-room modeling by women clad in G-strings and sequins, was closed in April in a settlement with Brea city officials, who had filed misdemeanor charges that the business violated zoning laws.