Judge Orders Station Owner To Surrender To U-S Marshalls

Royce Broadcasting owner Ed Stolz was ordered Thursday by a U.S. District Court judge to surrender to U.S. Marshalls in Riverside, CA on Tuesday Feb. 2 at noon, reports InsideRadio.

Stolz has been held in contempt of court for failing to respect prior orders from Judge Jesus Bernal. In addition, court appointed receiver Larry Patrick recently filed a motion asking the court to punish Stolz for interfering with both the operation of the three FM stations and the FCC approval process of a pending $6 million deal to sell the stations to VCY America, a non-profit religious broadcaster.

Patrick alleges Stolz has not turned over any banking records, account numbers or other financial documents relating to the operation of the stations, has refused to turn over the FCC user ID numbers and passwords necessary to file the paperwork to sell the stations, has not provided control of the station websites, intentionally lied about the owner of a tower, and even refused to hand over studio keys.

The court appointed Patrick to serve as receiver of the stations last July, charging him with overseeing CHRs KREV 92.7 The Revolution in San Francisco,  KFRH 104.3 Now in Las Vegas, and  KRCK Hot Hits 97.7 in Palm Springs, CA while he initiated a sale process.  The naming of Patrick and assignment of the stations’ license to him came after the stations failed to pay ASCAP license fees “over several years” and continued to broadcast songs written and published by the group’s members without permission.

Faced with the loss of ownership of the three stations, Stolz engaged in a series of actions that obstructed Patrick from gaining full control, and moving forward with their sale.