Bobby Vaughn

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Robert "Bobby" Vaughn (born c. 1975 [1] [2] ) is an American surfer and co-founder of the Von Dutch clothing company. [1] [3] He was acquitted of first-degree murder of his friend Mark Rivas in February 2005 on the grounds of justifiable homicide. [2] [4]

Contents

Early life

He grew up surfing in Santa Cruz, California, and later in Hawaii. [2] He was involved in some manner in a fatal shooting at his high school. [4]

Von Dutch

Art collector Ed Boswell bought the rights to the Von Dutch name from Kenny Howard's daughters after Howard died in 1992. [4] He met Mike Cassel, a former drug dealer turned clothing company entrepreneur. [4] They and Vaughn, an associate of Cassel's, co-founded Von Dutch, at first hoping to start the next hot denim line. [4] However, Boswell and Cassel did not get along, and Cassel ended up driving Boswell out of the business. [4] Then Danish investor Tonny Sorensen was brought in to provide much-needed financing. [4] Vaughn began feeling marginalized when Sorensen was made Chief Executive Officer and installed his own people in the sales and marketing departments. [4] Sorensen eventually bought Vaughn's share of the company and fired him. [4]

Murder charge

In February 2005, Vaughn claimed that his friend Mark Rivas, recently released from prison, attacked him with a broken bottle. Vaughn shot and killed Rivas. He was charged with first-degree murder, but was acquitted by a jury. [1]

Later life

He was later sentenced to five years probation for carrying an unregistered gun. [1]

In April 2009, Vaughn opened a high-end surf shop in Queens called FTW. [1]

Documentaries

He is the subject of the 2010 short documentary Facing the Waves. [5] He is also one of the principal figures in the 2021 Hulu documentary series The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kingannon, Corey (April 5, 2009). "Transplanting the Legend of the Santa Cruz Surf". The New York Times . Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 French, Alex (July 10, 2009). "Gangster Stuff". New York . Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Caruso, Skyler (November 16, 2021). "Here's Everything to Know About 'The Curse of Von Dutch', Hulu's New True-Crime Series". People . Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Roundtree, Cheyenne (November 18, 2021). "How Von Dutch's Trucker Hat Empire Ended in Chaos and Death". The Daily Beast . Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  5. "Facing the Waves". Mountainfilm . Retrieved August 22, 2024.