Pictured: Keith "Sarge" Gibbs, who is NOT Kelvin "Sarge" McFarland.
Keith Gibbs is concerned that everybody knows he's THE Sarge -- and he's NOT the one who's under arrest.
Kelvin McFarland of Monrovia -- who calls himself "Sarge" -- was arrested May 27 on charges of suspicion of kidnapping, child abuse, false imprisonment, and extortion and unlawful use of a badge. McFarland, who runs Family 1st Boot Camp in Pasadena and Altadena, allegedly handcuffed a 14-year-old girl, drove to a relative's home, and demanded money to let her go and allegedly tried to get the family to enroll her in his boot camp. The Pasadena Star-News' Frank Girardot has the story here, which also details McFarland's record of misdemeanors:
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/marshallhighpreps/ci_18225855
Gibbs, a former Altadena town councilman, also calls himself "Sarge" and has run his own boot camp, Sarge's Community Base, Inc./ Commit II Achieve Boot Camp, in the Altadena/Pasadena area since 2005.
Gibbs says that McFarland began his own boot camp after being "disassociated" from Commit II Achieve in 2009.
" I had to get rid of him because his background came back dirty," Gibbs said. "I told him I couldn't use him -- we don't employ felons or anyone with a bad history."
In a statement, Gibbs says that "McFarland made many contacts while affiliated with CIIA and later tried to build relations with those same contacts. Many of which contacted Keith 'Sarge' Gibbs and they were informed that McFarland was no longer affiliated with CIIA and did not have the necessary documents to conduct a boot camp nor was he cleared through Live Scan for entrance onto school grounds." (Live Scan is a criminal background check service).
According to Gibbs, after leaving his boot camp program, McFarland not only started his own but adopted Gibb's persona: "Sarge," dressed in camouflage attire and drill instructor hat.
"The sad thing about this is that I went to the community and I told people this guy was bad news," Gibbs said. He said he's spent the past few days trying to clear the air and clarify that McFarland is not him.
