91-Year-Old Says He Was SCAMMED By Theme Park Developers

About a five-hour drive from Dallas in Vinita, Oklahoma, there is supposed to be a theme park comparable in size to the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland.

This 1,000-acre development with the largest campground in the central U.S. was known as the American Heartland Theme Park. This theme park was supposed to have a water park, cabins, an RV park, a dinner theatre, an amphitheater, a swimming pool, a clubhouse, and more, all built by former Disney Imagineers.

The American Heartland Theme Park was announced in 2023 with an opening date of 2026, and now the owner, Gene Bicknell, 92, is suing the theme park developers for fraud.

According to NPR, the lawsuit is against Richard Silanskas Jr., Stephen Hedrick, and Larry Wilhite for “running a criminal enterprise that manipulated Bicknell into offering more than $60 million for the proposed $2.5 billion project in Vinita.”

Bicknell’s lawyers say Wilhite and Silanskas “defrauded Bicknell by impersonating God and religious figures through hundreds of electronic messages.”

The lawsuit says, “Silanskas and Wilhite made Gene believe that God Himself was commanding Gene to infuse ever more cash into the project and to trust them completely with its management. For years, those electronic messages preyed upon Gene’s devout Christian faith and admonished Gene to obey ‘God’s’ will without doubts or second-guessing.”

Some of the emails sent say “Trust them completely” and “I have a connection with God. He has chosen a triune with me and my two associates. I am undeserving and humbled,” all about the developers.

After listening to the emails and continuing to put more and more money into the project, Bicknell went bankrupt in late 2023.

The mayor of Vinita is still hopeful that the project will continue, although the park’s website is no longer running, and the land remains empty besides fencing, signs, and minor developments.

In the meantime, we’re going to be looking for additional updates about this lawsuit and American Heartland, but make sure you’re following AllEars for more.

What do you think of this lawsuit? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.