Arthur Curry 12/13/01

Chicago investment broker Arthur Curry came to Northern Michigan in 1986 like a knight on a white horse. Wait a minute: Arthur Curry is the alter ego of DC Comic character Aquaman; he more likely arrived by yacht. His story seemed as if it came off the comic pages. However storybook, Arthur Curry changed the destiny of two community landmarks: The Perry Hotel of Petoskey and the Park Place Hotel of Traverse City.
Curry was born in Indianapolis and spent his summers in Benzie County. He purchased the historic Perry Hotel in 1986. Then he swam in to Traverse City where he did battle with long time Park Place owner Dan Hitchen‘s. After several clashes, made public through the media in which Hitchen‘s stated that he would “never sell the Park Place to Curry,“ a deal was struck December 28, 1987.
It took four months for Curry to close the sale with Hitchens, but on April 19, 1988 the deal was finalized. Curry invited 400 community leaders to attend a reception celebrating the sale. He even flew in comedian Pat Paulson and his Cherry County Playhouse entourage to attend the celebration complete with champagne served fluted by white-glove Park Place employees.

BIG PLANS
Curry stood before the crowd where he laid out his grandiose plans of renovation. He even suggested 25 ft. high covered cross walks that would connect the Park Place with several buildings around town including the Governmental Center. Several community leaders expressed excitement over Curry‘s arrival to town. They compared it to the early ‘60s when Ann Arbor businessman Gene Power bought the Park Place and revitalized a struggling downtown.
What community leaders didn‘t know was that Curry‘s business interests elsewhere were falling apart. His employment with the Chicago-based Singer investment firm was in question due to the company‘s financial struggles. A year earlier Curry promised the Petoskey community a revitalized downtown after he renovated the Perry Hotel, but little had changed. His supporters pointed to his rescuing a decrepit old Perry Hotel, badly in need of renovations. His critics suggested the $3 million-plus dollars spent had put the project into debt was no longer manageable.
Curry brushed aside talk of any struggles, even suggesting he was financially fluent and that experienced individuals managed his projects. In his own words he told the Traverse City Record Eagle that he was making “ a lot of money as a stockbroker.“ Yet “if you put me behind the counter of a hotel, I‘d fiddle it into bankruptcy.“

JUGGLING FUNDS
Prophetic words from a man who may not have realized that he was drowning in the ocean he had created. In fact shortly after Curry struck the Park Place deal he utilized monies from area investors earmarked for the Park Place to purchase the Marquette Ski Mountain in the Upper Peninsula.
By the fall of 1988 Curry was in trouble. The Perry Hotel (now owned by Stafford Hospitality) was bankrupt; he was forced to sell the ski resort. He had a falling out with his employer Singer Investments of Chicago and was without his high paying position. The Park Place was in financial ruins. Local investors were becoming concerned. By December of 1988 the financial woes of the Park Place were public knowledge.
On January 16, 1989 Curry resigned as the head of the general partnership at the Park Place Hotel. Park Place investor‘s brought in Chicago broker Richard Fine, but eventually the Park Place would go bankrupt and be purchased by Rotary Charities who managed it and nursed it back to health before selling it.
Curry seemed to disappear. Family and friends stated he had sunk into deep depression and basically stayed in his bedroom for about10 weeks. He and his wife owned the Sheraton Hotel in Lafayette, Indiana where they were living. On March 15, 1989 Curry spoke to a group of business students at Purdue University. What happened after he gave his presentation became one of the most bizarre news events in Indiana during the ‘80s.

THE KIDNAPPING
Upon leaving the college Curry stole a 1978 Toyota Corolla and went to the home of Bill and Gayle Cook. Bill Cook was among Fortune Magazine‘s list of 400 wealthiest Americans. Curry kidnapped Gayle Cook in the afternoon driving a few blocks and transferring her to a cargo van he had purchased a few weeks earlier.
According to Gayle Cook, who was bound by duct tape around her hands and legs as well as her mouth and eyes, Curry drove around stopping several times. First to make phone calls to Bill Cook asking for a ransom of $1.2 million dollars in cash and $500,000 in gold. Later authorities found out that Curry stopped and hung out with some area strippers while Gayle Cook remained bound and gagged in the back of the van.
Cook, needing to use the bathroom, at one point caught the attention of Curry. He refused; instead he stopped at a store and bought adult diapers. Returning to the van Curry placed a diaper on Mrs. Cook.
During her testimony Cook remembered the diaper incident. Recalling that during the 26 hours she was held captive Curry would stop the van sit next to her and talk. She became worried that he might kill her when he told her “I wouldn‘t want you to spend the rest of your life in a wet diaper.“
Late in the afternoon of March 16, 1989, the FBI apprehended Arthur Curry. FBI agents, who were involved immediately by Mr. Cook, had tapped Cook‘s phone. They were able to trace the final call Curry made to make arrangements for the ransom to be delivered.
Curry would spend 11 months in the Monroe County jail before his hearing would begin in February of 1990. After a two-week trial Curry would be convicted on felony charges of kidnapping, criminal confinement, auto theft and a misdemeanor charge of battery. He was found innocent of a fourth felony on criminal recklessness.

LIFE IN PRISON
The charges meant that Curry could face 58 years in the Indiana prisons, at the age of 42 essentially a life sentence. A month later at his sentencing, Monroe Circuit Court Judge James Dixon sentenced Curry to 32 years and with time served and good behavior Curry would be eligible for parole in 15 years and 27 days. Around May 1, 2005.
While remorseful at his hearing date and apologetic for his actions Curry didn‘t take to prison life and asked for an appeal on the grounds that his friend and attorney Richard Fine had poorly represented him. Judge Dixon in March of 1993 granted a three-day hearing to allow Curry the opportunity to present evidence for an appeal.
Curry, representing himself, called Bill Cook to the stand to answer a series of questions. Curry had learned that his van after the arrest had been taken to a Cook warehouse and suggested that evidence might have been added. County officials admitted that a Cook warehouse was often used to house evidence in crimes but denied that Cook or anyone else would have had access to the van.
Another concern of Curry‘s was that during his trial Cook apparently offered the brother of Curry‘s attorney a job. Curry even suggested that Gayle Cook was a part of the plan and had asked him to kidnap her. Judge Dixon bought none of Curry‘s arguments and denied his appeal.
Curry was returned to the Westville Correctional facility, located between Gary and South Bend, Indiana and close to Lake Michigan, a fitting place for a person who had worked by the big lake most of his life.

PARTIAL FREEDOM
Westville is a medium-security facility. Correctional officials are limited in what they are able to say about offenders under Indiana laws. Administrators at Westville were vague on what Curry was up to while with them. One administrator said that Curry left Westville for a period and was sent to a maximum-security facility due to behavioral problems.
While at Westville another administrator suggested Curry‘s charisma made him popular with other offenders and several of the facility‘s employees. On the condition of remaining anonymous, one official stated the Curry was very “likeable“ and hoped that Curry would succeed after prison life.
Correction officials wouldn‘t comment directly on Curry‘s daily activities but suggested that he worked in one of the in house factories that produced highway signs, outdoor grills, hickory furniture and brooms. He would have earned $1.50 a day.
On October 30, 2001, Curry was granted partial freedom. He was paroled after serving only 12 1/2 years of his sentence. Curry was released to the South Bend Parole District where he is required to report in on his activities once a week. Conditions of parole are that Curry is to remain gainfully employed, maintain a residence and essentially stay out of trouble.

NO COMMENT
According to his parole officer, if Curry stays out trouble for the next year he will be completely free and not subject to any parole violations that would return him to prison to complete his sentence. Parole officers only monitor behavior and enforce Indiana parole laws. They offer no assistance to offenders. Curry is responsible for finding his own job and is restricted to the geographical boundaries of the South Bend District. He could submit a request to transfer to another parole district, even outside the state.
Arthur Curry refused to comment on his future plans. He was contacted at the Westville Correctional Facility days before his release and during his first visit with his parole officer and turned down requests to be interviewed. It is unknown if Curry is still married to Kristine Curry, the former Chicago Tribune Wine Critic, or what his relationship is with his two children who are now aged 21 and 18.
The Cook family refused comment on the Curry release. Cook and his 30+ companies continue to be leaders in the health care field. His company recently struck a deal with the University of Pittsburgh to establish a joint research facility in the controversial stem-cell research.
Arthur Curry loved to talk; like the character Aquaman he was a great storyteller. His decision not to face the media upon his release suggests a changed Curry, one who might not be in pursuit of attention. Yet at the age of 54, with his past somewhat behind him and having 12 years to plan at the expense of Indiana taxpayers Curry might be ready return to his dealing ways. On October 30, 2002, Arthur Curry will be completely free of the Indiana Corrections Department to choose whatever path he pleases; let‘s hope Mrs. Gates remains safe.

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