Wayne Newton Abandons Airplane, Ignores Storage Fees
Wayne Newton parked his plane three years ago at Oakland County International Airport in Waterford, Michigan. There it has sat, abandoned, and unpaid for in storage fees.
Joe Borgesen, president of the small Oakland County airport, has been trying to get singer Wayne Newton to pay up on storage fees for his executive aircraft he has stored for the past three years.
Newton originally had the interior of the plane redone. He then brought the plane to Oakland Airport to store for just a couple of months. Three years have now passed and the storage fees are $61,360.
Borgesen has sent emails repeatedly, but only one has been answered in the past several years. Certified mail comes back as "undeliverable."
A year and a half ago, a buyer from another continent came all the way to look at the two million dollar plane, but when Borgesen opened the plane up for inspection, three people got sick from all the black mold inside. Borgesen said it's only worth scrap metal now.
"I'm just a little business guy here in Michigan trying to survive," he said, explaining how he turned away a client who wanted storage space during last month's auto show in Detroit.
"He wins, somebody gets rid of his junk for nothing."
Borgesen's goal is to get Newton to pay the storage fees owed and to get control of the plane so he can get rid of it.
