Slam Dunk’s Jacobs heads back to prison

This is the time of year area die-hard basketball fans for years looked forward to the Slam Dunk to the Beach basketball tournament. The tournament was a highlight of the holiday season for 14 years, ending in 2004. Today, the tournament director is back behind bars for a second time.

Robert F. “Bobby” Jacobs, 53, will spend two more years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Richard F. Stokes on Friday, Dec. 11, sentenced Jacobs, founder of the Slam Dunk to the Beach basketball tournament, to two years in prison on stalking charges relating to threatening letters he sent to three people associated with the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Jacobs was arrested June 19, six months after he was released from prison having served eight months on a previous charge. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking in Sussex County Superior Court and spent the entire time from his arrest until his trial in jail.

Deputy Attorney General Paula Ryan said there are significant mental-health issues involved in the case and the punishment reflects those issues. “It’s a struggle to find the appropriate resolution to address that need,” Ryan said.

In addition to prison time, Stokes ordered Jacobs to serve two years’ probation, have no contact with the victims, take prescribed medication, undergo a mental-health evaluation and complete any needed treatment.

Ryan said part of that treatment has been ongoing since he has been in jail. He received credit for the 176 days he was in jail following his second arrest, she said.

In the most recent case, Jacobs sent letters to Cape Henlopen School District accusing a teacher of inappropriate behavior with students, to Wesley College accusing a coach of similar behavior and to Legislative Hall accusing a department secretary.

Police linked Jacobs to the letters after finding his fingerprints on the papers and discovering the letters on his computer.

“Everything that was written was totally false,” Ryan said.

The athletic association oversaw the popular Slam Dunk to the Beach tournament at Cape Henlopen High School over the annual Christmas holiday. The three victims targeted by Jacobs were involved in bringing to light the misappropriation of tournament funds, which led to his conviction in 2008.

Jacobs also has pending violation of probation charges pending in Kent County Superior Court, Ryan said.

Charges involved missing funds

After a 14-year run, Jacobs abruptly cancelled the 2004 tournament citing health reasons, and then he disappeared, telling people he had terminal stomach cancer.

Jacobs was charged in August 2006 with theft over $50,000 and 12 counts of forgery in Kent County Superior Court. He was the subject of a nationwide manhunt, and he eluded capture until July 17, 2007, when U.S. marshals arrested him at his Miami home.

In the 2008 case, Jacobs was sentenced to two years in prison for one charge of misappropriation of funds. Superior Court Judge Robert B. Young suspended the sentence so that Jacobs served eight months in prison with a year and four months of probation.

On the four charges of second-degree forgery, Jacobs was sentenced to two years in prison, but the judge reduced the sentence to one year of probation.

He was also ordered to make restitution of nearly $200,000 to several parties and county and state agencies, including the Delaware Auditor’s Office and the Delaware Department of Justice. Ryan was not aware of any restitution.

Jacobs, who was arrested by U.S. marshals in July 2008 near Miami International Airport, pleaded no contest to the five felony charges. He was charged with taking an estimated $65,000 from tournament accounts.

The tournament received in excess of $824,000 in state grants from 1994 to 2003, according to information supplied by the state Controller’s Office. The budget for the tournament approached $750,000 each year, with as much as $100,000 in taxpayer money from the City of Lewes, the state and Sussex County.

The remaining funds came from donations; sponsors; the huge, glossy program book; and sales.

The tournament was an economic windfall for the Cape Region. Estimates are that at least $3 million was poured into the local economy that last week of December, as a result of the tournament.

Following the audit, State Auditor Tom Wager said more than $270,000 in the tourney books was termed questionable transactions, just from July 2003 to December 2004.

Approximately $187,000 had been taken from bank accounts in the form of checks made payable to Jacobs, checks made payable to cash and withdrawals without documentation. The $187,000 total included more than $160,000 returned to one account for nonsufficient funds.

The audit also revealed Jacobs left behind about $86,000 in credit card debt and one line of credit account without any supporting documentation to establish whether the funds were used for tournament purposes.

In the later years of the tournament, referees and others, including Cape Henlopen High School, were not getting paid. “This started to build up after time – this is where it all started,” said Bud Hitchens, former coach and athletic director at Cape Henlopen High School, in an earlier interview.

“There were a couple of years when it came down to the wire if the district was going to let it happen.”

Jacobs also failed to pay numerous vendors who helped support the tournament.