By Sean McAfee
Tribune reporter

     The WPHL was biased against the New Mexico Scorpions and was trying to profit from the situation when it fined them and stripped them of 34 points for salary-cap violations, the team's owner says.
     "This needs to go to a body that is impartial," said Scorpions owner Michael Plaman, who wants to fight the penalty in court.
     "And I don't believe the league is impartial. This is a situation where the league brought the charges, the league decided the guilt and then profits from the outcome."
     The penalty, which was announced Friday, has placed the Scorpions in danger of missing the playoffs after holding the league's best record for much of the season. It also included a fine that Plaman says was $50,000.
     WPHL President Brad Treliving defended the league's investigation and its decision to penalize the Scorpions.
     "Through our information-gathering process we determined there was an infraction and the penalties are such," Treliving said. "I can't comment on the specifics, but we took the appropriate steps and we did our job."
     The Scorpions have five games left, all on the road, and trail San Angelo, which is holding the final playoff spot, by seven points. San Angelo can eliminate the Scorpions by winning two of its final four games.
     The Scorpions also trail fifth-place Amarillo by six points.
     The season ends March 27.
     "It's not going to be easy, but it's possible," coach Tony Martino said. "I'm not worried about Amarillo, but we're going to need some help to catch (San Angelo)."
     WPHL teams are limited to a payroll of $10,000 per week, divided among the 18 players on the active roster. Salaries of players on injured reserve don't count against the cap.
     League officials wouldn't comment on the specifics of their investigation and findings, but the Scorpions confirmed that they had been investigated for allegedly making cash payments in violation of the cap to former player Brad Englehart.
     Plaman said he has has contacted a lawyer in Phoenix, where the WPHL is based, and has begun the process of seeking a court injunction to prevent the league from carrying out the penalties it levied against the club.
     The penalties assessed were the loss of the points in the standings accrued while Englehart was in the lineup for the team's first 25 games.
     The league's case against the Scorpions reportedly revolved around Englehart's sworn affidavit, an e-mail from Martino to Englehart which purported to promise Englehart cash payments and a grainy videotape which allegedly showed Englehart receiving cash in an envelope but was inconclusive at best.
     Treliving didn't comment on the e-mail or Englehart's statement, but said the video "was a small piece of the information we gathered," and that Scorpions' attempts to refute the evidence, including Martino producing a copy of the original e-mail from his computer, weren't enough to prevent the league's finding.
     "The video was one of a number of pieces," Treliving said. "Other pieces were much more relevant and I won't comment on them other than to say they led us to believe the violation occurred."
     Plaman said that he sees the situation differently, and that the league's case amounts to little more than Englehart's word against Martino's.
     "The evidence as presented to us is a joke," he said. "It was refuted categorically."
     Englehart, who plays for Tulsa in the Central League, said in an interview with The Tribune on March 9 that he "got a raw deal" in New Mexico. Englehart had 11 points on five goals and six assists before Martino traded him to Corpus Christi in December.
     Plaman says he is so convinced of his team and his coach's innocence -- and what he perceives to be the league's financially driven agenda -- that he will do whatever it takes to exonerate them.
     "I feel it's my right, my obligation to defend Tony's honor, to defend the interests of the fans, and defend the interests of the players who have worked so hard to get to first place," he said. "It's my duty to defend them when all their interests are set aside by a league that wants $50,000.
     "They said Englehart was very convincing, and he's willing to go to court. I said fine, we'll see him there."