Nashville Bike Week: Organizer Still At-Large, New Venue Still Unknown

NASHVILLE, TN — The organizer of Nashville Bike Week has yet to turn himself in on any of his numerous warrants, is no longer living at his last known address and still hasn't announced the event's new venue despite promising to due so more than a week ago.

Event organizer Mike Axle — real name Michael Leffingwell — is wanted to answer for outstanding warrants in Sumner and Maury counties, as well as Georgia and Missouri, but WKRN reports he still hasn't done so.

The news station went to the address registered the company behind Nashville Bike Week — scheduled for September 14-24 in Humphreys County — and was told by a woman there that Leffingwell was no longer at that address and that she didn't know where he was (for more on Nashville Bike Week and other local news, subscribe to your Middle Tennessee Patch).

The event was originally to be held at Loretta Lynn's ranch in Hurricane Mills, but that venue pulled out. Organizers posted on Facebook that a new venue would be announced February 10, but 10 days on, there's been no announcement. WKRN was told the venue would be announced "within the week."

After Loretta Lynn's ranch backed out, questions began to be raised about the legitimacy of the event and that of its organizer. Leffingwell has been charged several times in Davidson County for theft. He was sentenced to years of jail time after scamming a home owner by taking a deposit for fencing work and never completing the job or returning the deposit. He's also been charged with similar crimes in Williamson and Maury counties, according to NewsChannel 5.

In 2007, Leffingwell was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered by a U.S. District Court Judge in Missouri to pay nearly a quarter of a million dollars in restitution after defrauding numerous companies by presenting himself as a NASCAR truck series driver and signing those companies up for advertising deals for the 2006 NASCAR season. Leffingwell drove in just four NASCAR events between September 2001 and July 2005 and in none after engaging in his scheme. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and for failure to appear.

Leffingwell has also been the subject of numerous Better Business Bureau complaints, not just in Tennessee but in West Virginia as well, typically about uncompleted but paid-for work.

The Humphreys County Sheriff has become involved, launching a web site to gather information from people concerned about the veracity of the event. Even if the event is legit, the sheriff told WKRN he needs to talk to the organizers because an influx of 30,000 people would more than double his county's population.