Boyle Responds to Allegations That He Stole GlasWeld Customer List; Intends to "Defend [Self] and Expose the Wrongs That Have Been Done" as Case Plays Out
March 16, 2011

Mike Boyle

Former GlasWeld president Mike Boyle responded to the allegations made against him in an indictment filed by the state of Oregon in an exclusive interview with glassBYTEs.com™/AGRR magazine this morning. Boyle is charged with allegedly stealing his former employer's customer list in January 2010, and is accused of the theft of GlasWeld marketing director Lori Patch's identity.

"I've been aware of this for almost a year and a half," says Boyle of the investigation. "It actually started with a phone call from Detective Pat Hartley asking me about [former GlasWeld employee] Mary Mart, and then from there he got into asking me questions and then issued a search warrant to search my home."

That search occurred in June 2010. (The theft of the customer list and Patch's identity is alleged to have occurred in January 2010.)

"We surrendered everything they could have possibly wanted," says Boyle. "They took my children's computers, my wife's Sony reader, and yet left four computers in the garage that they needed to have. I turned those in later as evidence of my innocence."

But Boyle says the search turned up empty.

"We let the police do the investigation and not one of the computers had a bit of information about GlasWeld on them," he adds. "The only thing they have is a reference to an IP address, which both myself and other strangers have, that had accessed [the GlasWeld] computers."

With regard to the charge of identity theft, which is not expounded upon in court documents, Boyle said the following.

"When I was at GlasWeld all of the computers I had at home and at work had access to the website or customer list or whatever," he says. "From what I can take I am assuming they're saying I would have used [Patch's] name and password."

He adds, "There are some facts that they're unaware of on that charge that I can't talk about."

A plea hearing is scheduled for April 4. "I intend to go in guns blazing and defend myself and expose the wrongs that have been done," says Boyle. "I've no intent in backing down now. The veil's been lifted and people are going to have to hear the ugly truth. There isn't a single piece of evidence in the entire document that's connected to me-not one-and yet they raise this indictment."

He adds, "This is not an industry that's full of secrets. If [GlasWeld] spent as much time on the business as they are on me they'd be better off. I look forward to seeing them in court."

Boyle also says he believes that GlasWeld's involvement in taking the case to the police stems from both his resignation from the company in August 2009, and the events that followed. After resigning from the company, he became president of Glass Mechanix-a competing windshield repair and scratch removal system manufacturer; he just recently left there and has opened his own company, Surface Dynamix.

"When I left GlasWeld, six of [the company's] best employees followed me and that created some ill will," he says.

The police issued separate indictments against former GlasWeld director of restoration services Shawn Mart and his wife, former salesperson Mary Mart, on the same day the indictment was filed against Boyle. However, Boyle says the cases are unrelated.

"I would like the public to know that the two are not connected in any way, shape or form," he says.

GlasWeld officials declined to comment further on the case, but company general manager Dennis Garbutt provided the following statement: “As this is an ongoing criminal matter GlasWeld declines to comment beyond the fact that we discovered irregularities in our business and reported those irregularities to the authorities. The Bend Police Department and Deschutes County District Attorney’s office completed a thorough and professional investigation that led to a Grand Jury issuing these indictments. These are criminal matters between the State of Oregon and Mr. Boyle, and the State of Oregon and Mr. and Mrs. Mart.”

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