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Schlitterbahn death: Park owner faces Texas bankruptcy

Posted at 6:26 PM, Mar 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-30 07:52:38-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of the men indicted for the death of 10-year-old boy on a water slide in 2016 is also facing a bankruptcy in Texas.

Jeff Henry, the co-owner of Schlitterbahn water parks in Kansas City, Kansas and Corpus Christi, Texas is scheduled to appear in a Kansas City, Kansas, courtroom next week.

The Corpus Christi location is part of an ongoing bankruptcy.

According to court records, Jeff Henry and his brother Gary Henry were behind a company called Upper Padre Partners (UPP).

Those same records show UPP had more than $30 million in unexplained cost overruns for the Corpus Christi water park.

That figure is more than double what it was expected to cost to build the complex, which also includes a nine-hole golf course.

Companies the Henrys borrowed money from accuse them of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.

Right now, a court-appointed trustee runs Upper Padre Partners, and submits monthly financial reports to the court.

The newest report, for February, was submitted last week.

Court records show a company called Axys loaned UPP $16 million in February 2015.

By November 2016, three months after 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was killed while riding a slide in the Kansas City park, that $16 million was in default.

Axys foreclosed on a piece of property next to the Corpus Christi water park and is attempting to sell it to get some of its money back.

An attorney for Axys said UPP still owes the company millions of dollars.

Court records show UPP also owes International Bank of Commerce more than $28 million.

That bank has put claims known as liens on both the water park and the golf course.