Coast Guard Cutter Storis Held Hostage: New Owner Mark Jurisich Demands Ransom

Cutter Storis at home port in Kodiak, Alaska in 1990
Photo taken by Jim Watkins

The Coast Guard Cutter Storis was decommissioned in 2007 after providing over 60 years of service to her country. In 2012 the Storis was added to the National Registry of Historic Places and was set to be donated to the Storis Museum group who planned to use it as a museum in the city where it was built, Toledo, Ohio.

Earlier this year, some technical issues came up and the ship was pulled away from the Storis Museum group and handed over to the GSA for them to quickly auction the historic ship to the highest bidder on June 27, 2013. The highest bid was $70,100 and even though that amount was less than the $100,000 reserve price set by the GSA, the ship was sold for $70,100.
The Storis Museum group was shocked by all of what happened and it appeared that the Storis would not become a museum.
The new owner of the Storis knew the history of the ship and was aware of the non-profit group wanting to acquire the ship. They contacted the Storis Museum people soon after the auction to see if a sale could be worked out.

The company that bought the Storis from the GSA is US Metals Recovery, LLC. Mark Jurisich of La Jolla, California is the owner of US Metals Recovery. The company is registered in the state of California as a Foreign Limited Liability Company and in Nevada as a Domestic Limited Liability Company. Extensive research has found that the company does not appear to do any actual business.
The address listed for US Metals Recovery, LLC is 2102 Hancock Ste 200, San Diego, CA. 92110. The company does not appear to have an office at that address and there is no listed telephone number for the company.

Another search of the company found it listed with the following address, P.O Box 82712 
401 Hotel Circle South, San Diego 92138.

No phone number is listed with that location as well.

US Metals owner Mark Jurisich does not have a home telephone number listed either.

It turns out that Mark R. Jurisich is not from the United States. He is from New Zeland or Australia and his current immigration status in the US is not known. 

Here is a breakdown of what Jurisich has done under the cloak of his apparent shell company US Metals Revcovery since buying the Storis in June, 2013.

He paid $70,100 for the ship and was required to remove it from Suisan Bay within 10 days of the sale. That has not happened yet. Word is that he will be removing the ship on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 but it is not known where he intends to take it. 

He contacted the Storis group and offered to sell the ship to the non profit group for $250,000. It is interesting to note that the reason Jurisich has not removed the ship from the holding bay is due to not having the resources to have the ship processed thru the steps required in order for him to sell it to a metal scrap yard as he told the Storis group were his intentions unless they wanted to pay the ransom amount nearly five times more than he paid.

It is the opinion of this blogger that Mark Jurisich is a parasite who came to the US, sets up a company that does nothing, buys a valuable piece of American history that is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and immediately attempts to take advantage of the group that had intended to extend the ships service to the public as a museum by threatening to sell the ship for scrap if his price is not met. He did all of that while knowing next to nothing about what was required in order to scrap the ship which means, he bought the ship with the sole intention of flipping it for a quick profit at the expense of the Storis Museum group and their supporters. 

He is the current legal owner of the Storis. He knows the significance of the ship and the history behind it and has indicated to the group that he does not care about any of that. Why would he when he is not even from the United States? Since he has not done what was outlined in the contract with the GSA, the government has a small window of time remaining for them to intervene and void the sale. If the government allows this person to take advantage of a piece of American history and use it as collateral against those trying to preserve it, then I encourage the American public to voice their opinions to their elected officials and also to demand an IRS investigation into US Metals Recovery, LLC. Mark Jurisich is not a man of good moral character nor is he a good person. Anyone who buys a piece of American history and disgraces it as he has done with the Storis deserves to go down with the ship. If the Storis ends up as scrap metal, here is hoping that the greedy, un-American ship swindler goes down with his ship.