YES Owner Distances Herself From Van Crash

Woman Says She Never Took Control Of Company

MILWAUKEE, Posted 7:05 a.m. June 28, 1999 -- A woman has tried to distance herself from a magazine-selling company involved in a van crash that killed seven people, but she was granted a majority share of the business, a newspaper reports.

Karleen Hillery was granted the majority share of YES in a divorce in January 1997, according to documents from an Oklahoma divorce case that were obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Her ex-husband Choan Lane, who managed the YES sales crew as it traveled in Wisconsin and other states, was awarded a 20-percent share of the company's net profits, divorce records show. De Witt, Iowa-based YES stands for Youth Employment Services.

Hillery' s lawyers said the divorce decree proved nothing because Hillery never actually took control of YES. Hillery had a change of heart after the divorce and simply let her ex-husband keep the business, they said.

Seven magazine peddlers linked to YES were killed March 25 when their van rolled across Interstate 90 near Janesville. Five others were injured.

Jeremy Holmes, 20, of Clinton, Iowa, was driving the van without a valid driver's license when he saw a police car and tried to switch places with a passenger. Holmes, pictured at left, was sentenced to seven years in prison and four years probation.

Hillery's clearinghouse, Subscriptions Plus, contracts with sales crews and helps process their orders

Hillery has forcefully denied controlling YES or having any responsibility for the crew' s actions, the Journal Sentinel reported in Monday's editions.

Hillery filed for divorce in Oklahoma in 1995. Lane also sought a divorce, but in Iowa, where the two lived.

YES was formed in 1996. Lane registered it, but the operating agreement that would reveal ownership interest is not a public record.

Robert Dace, attorney for Subscriptions Plus, said last week that Hillery had never owned any piece of YES and that Hillery had never even seen the operating agreement.

The business practices of Subscriptions Plus and YES are under investigation by Wisconsin officials and the U.S. Labor Department. The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service have received allegations forwarded by Oklahoma labor investigators.

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