Larry Wilcox — better known as Ponch's sidekick Jon from the 70's-80's cop show CHiPs — was caught in a sting operation by FBI agents and the Securities and Exchange Commission allegedly seeking kickbacks in exchange for penny-stock manipulation.

Wilcox, along with over a dozen others, has been charged with promoting "various illicit kickback schemes to manipulate the volume and price of microcap stocks and illegally generate stock sales" by the SEC. What a bummer. Wilcox runs a company called UC Hub Group Inc. The SEC's statement, from The Los Angeles Times, burns Wilcox and his co-conspirators:

What the promoters and insiders did not know was that the people with whom they arranged these illegal transactions were actually undercover FBI agents or confidential sources participating in undercover operations."

Shouldn't Jon, the faithful do-gooder cop from CHiPs have been able to smell a sting operation from a mile away? Oh well. Ponch was better anyway. In an ironic twist, Wilcox also runs a charity tied to his company called "Gems for Gems," that helps children of police officers and FBI agents who have died in the line of duty.

Wilcox in better days:

[LAT]