I've known Shawn since 1996 or so. He was a student at UMaine for a little while, lived in Searsport, Maine. I knew him because he ran a BBS for the High School he was attending, so I dropped him a line because he happened to be in the #Maine chat room on IRC. Went out, had lunch and all, that was alright. So we kept in touch for a while after that.I had decided to meet some of the other people from the #Maine chat room, which included Cindy Dowling, her daughter Lauren, and later on Jen Reed (Cindy's older daughter) and Pat Reed her husband. Shawn had met these people all a little before I had, and then I went down with him to meet them as well.
Shawn was working for Downeast Technology, which made Salesbook (
www.salesbook.com) in Belfast ME, allegedly making 90K a year, which is possible I guess. He didn't go to work a lot of the time, didn't talk about going to work very often, etc. He was also going to UMaine @ Orono, which is about an hour commute from Searsport. Searsport and Belfast are next door to each other geographically.
Shawn's always been about flashing money. Most of us would have accepted him as an individual, which we had. However, he had to do things like rent vehicles and claim he owned them, buy lavish things to try to impress, rent Limos, etc. Well, here in Maine anyway, we're not interested in people that are like that. After all, I like my truck, my 4 wheeler, mudding, etc. All these things are what make this state unique, there isn't high population or 'big money' all over the place.
Anyway, back to my story here. Shawn left Downeast Tech and decided to pursue other lines of work which included working for the State in Data Entry amongst other things. His family weren't too impressed with him being homosexual supposedly, which later came out. Shawn lived with his grandparents because of poor ties with his mother. He also has a younger brother, who is probably 16 or 17 by now I'd imagine. Shawn tried to convince me I was gay, but that kind of backfired in his face, which is part of why I don't talk to him anymore. I'd disappoint some women if I was gay, besides I like the women. I have homosexual friends and colleagues, but they act a lot different than Shawn does by far.
Through this time we had discussed starting a business, providing ISP access across the state. Not a lot of traffic is in Maine at the time, so it was a solid idea. He had talked to another gay fellow in MD, which funded the expansion of MIN.net, Metro Internetworks in MD. Gary had offered to fund a project here in Maine for Shawn, sent him a check for 20,000$ even. However, Gary had a specific love interest in Shawn, and since Gary was some 40-something years old, that ended up with the check going back. AccessMaine was never born, which is probably better that way.
Shawn and a friend of mine discussed starting a hosting business later in time. This started the name Cyberwing Communications, and logo ideas were discussed at that time as well. However, Shawn and the friend became less close, and then the project was terminated. Shawn later in time reinvented this business when his job at IDEXX Labs in Westbrook Maine failed.
Shawn was at IDEXX as a Purchasing jockey for some time, about a year or two I believe. He ended up leaving because he had 'had enough' supposedly. We're convinced that he was asked to leave, but we don't really have any proof of that. He was flashing around a lot of money during that time though, in the form of rental vehicles and such. I had by this time told him to go away, my family was disinterested in his attitude and could see through him as well. Shawn spent most of his time in Ellsworth trying to buy interest in Cindy, Jen, etc. It worked for a while, but after too many broken promises, he was told to go away as well. It took a LONG time for this all to happen, but noone wants to see him there anymore, finally.
I myself started @Network, which has been a dream of mine since 1994. @Network designs machines and provides testing for products, we're mostly a developmental name right now. Sometime, however, we'll become an organization and expand the system designs and support that people have expected from me over the years. Needless to say, I'm not disappointed that I wasn't involved in any of Shawn's scams.
Shawn also was involved in a lot of MLM traffic, such as Long Distance with Excel Communications, FreedomStarr, and other things. If you do a search on Usenet (
www.dejanews.com) you'll find a lot of various posts he's made over the years. He's always been involved in the quick dollar, but a dollar earned can end up being thousands of dollars lost if it isn't earned properly.
Jen Reed wrote something herself. I only gave a little bit of background because it's hard to remember since much of this happened many years before now. Some of this stuff may be inconsistent, but most of the major facts are there, and it gives you a good idea of what kind of person Shawn is either way. Jen's a little better about keeping track of things than I, but also they just recently managed to push Shawn away, some 6 months or better ago.
Jen Writes:
---
I met Shawn through my mother. She met him over the net. He seemed like a very nice person, he is very convincing and made it known he was gay. He and my mom became friends, my 2 younger sisters also liked him very much. He would come up from Portland to stay the weekend sometimes alone and sometimes with a friend. He was very helpful to my mom, who was very vulnerable due to the recent death of my father. He spent unimaginable amounts of money. He offered to put a car in his name while she paid payments. Everything was fine, until I noticed he wasn't who he seemed. I was standing in his way from getting my mom's house in his name.
He then came from Portland saying he wanted to take it for a test drive (she was having check-engine problems) and never returned. . Turns out his was broken down. He later tried to sue my mom for detailing, replacing tires, and other normal wear. He was very manipulating and conniving. He loves to intimidate people with lawyers he doesn't have. I know this because I called him on his story to sue. He gave me the name of his lawyer. I'm assuming it was meant to intimidate me. He never thought I would call. I did and the lawyer didn't even know Shawn White.
I am just speculating but I believe the reason he no longer works at IDEXX as a purchaser is because he was asked to leave. I believe all the money he was flashing around may not have been his. Shawn buys his friends, you can't believe a word he says. I've been reading the whole Cyberwings thing. It's a classic Shawn: trying to control things with lies and threats. When that doesn't work he threatens with legal action. Doesn't sound like he's changed much.This is just the tip of the iceberg in the Shawn White saga. Please don't be intimidated by his big words and threats. I hope he has finally met his match. He has hurt many people and unless someone calls him on it, he will go on to others.
By the way, when registering for reservation with the State of Maine for Cyberwing Communications (the name), his check bounced.---
That's all Jen had to say, but if you have questions then let me know. I have the following e-mail from the State of Maine when I e-mailed them about this too. I actually considered registering the company so he couldn't:
>From: "Wright, Nancy" <Nancy.Wright@state.me.us>>To: "'droobie@maine.rr.com'" <droobie@maine.rr.com>>Subject: FW:>Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 14:33:09 -0400>Importance: high>X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)>>Mr. Baxter:>Cyberwing Communications was reserved for 120 days beginning on 7/2/01 and>is due to expire 10/29/01 if the check is replaced. If not, the name will be>removed from our records 8/9/01.>The secretary of state's office does not administer taxes - they are handled>by Maine Revenue Services.>Nancy Wright, Supervisor>Corporation Division>Tel: (207) 624-7740 ext. 50380>E-mail:
Nancy.Wright@state.me.us>>>>-----Original Message----->From: Drew Baxter [mailtoroobie@maine.rr.com]>Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 11:30 AM>To: Hanks, Carol>Subject:>>I went and looked up Cyberwing Communications as a business in Maine. This>is what turned up:
http://www.informe.org/icrs/ICRS?CorpSumm=20020001RD>By the looks of it, I'd say he registered the name (similar to state>trademark) and then he bounced the payment for it.. But it doesn't look>like there's any tax paperwork on file for him doing a business.>He claims that the business is registered with a FEIN, but I've always>thought that you need to charge local State tax in your area and thus would>need to be at least registered for state taxes in your state of origin>and/or any places where you have warehouses, etc.
>Of course, it is peculiar that he's been doing 'business' for several years>(
www.cyberwings.com), and admits to doing so. Even though, he just filed>for name reservation on 07-02-2001.>I was namely wondering if his situation is illegal. Mr. White is a pretty>shady individual. Can anyone clarify this for me?>Thanks.>>--->Drew Baxter (Dr. Droo), Project Coordinator>OneEX: The OneNetwork Exchange, @Network of Maine>Phone: 207-942-0275 / Pager: 207-471-2719, 800-498-0077x3203>E-Mail:
Droobie@Maine.rr.com / Web: http://Celeris.Maine.1-X.net