UK tabloid profiles Hillbroom

SANDPOINT — Junior Larry Hillbroom, a Hope resident and scion of the DHL Worldwide Express founder, is the subject of an extensive profile published by a British tabloid while he awaits trial on drug-trafficking charges in Micronesia.

The Daily Mail story traces the arc of Hillbroom’s life growing up in Palau, receiving a staggering $100 million windfall following the death of Larry Lee Hillblom, his misspent youth and his various scrapes with law here and abroad.

“Life is good, man. It doesn’t get better much than this,” Hillbroom said in the interview.

It’s a remarkably easygoing remark considering Hillbroom is facing trial for trafficking methamphetamine. He’s accused of persuading two woman to smuggle meth from the Philippines to Palau in February 2016. The drug mules fingered Hillbroom as the mastermind of the plot when they were arrested, according to published news accounts.

Hillbroom, 32, denied the charges and escaped custody after arrest, but he was apprehended a few days later. He appears to be free on his own recognizance, although he’s prohibited from leaving Palau because a drug test came back positive for meth, the article states.

Paternity tests confirmed he was the son of the shipping magnate, who died in a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean in 1995. Three other children from southeast Asia were also confirmed as the children of Hillblom.

The article notes that Hillbroom went from being the wealthiest teen in America to living in a dilapidated apartment complex and largely unable to access his vast inheritance.

It also recounts Hillbroom’s residency in Idaho. He attended Elk Mountain Academy in Clark Fork and another therapeutic boarding school in Bonners Ferry in attempt to get his life on track, but fell into a life of drugs, partying and spending.

He acquired a spacious home in Hope valued at three-quarters of a million dollars and went about relocating nearly two dozen relatives from Palau to the Panhandle, the article said. The party atmosphere at the home, however, drew complaints from neighbors.

Hillbroom also invested in Hog Flatz, a barbecue place and biker hangout, and the Cabinet Mountain Bar & Grill in Clark Fork, which burned to the ground in 2015.

Hillbroom said he has been overly generous over the years due to his wealth.

“It’s important to me that I’m on the same level as everyone else, I don’t ever pre-judge, I make fun of myself to get people comfortable because I think they expect me to be something I’m not,” he said in the article.

Hillbroom works as a fishing guide while he awaits trial on the trafficking charges, which do not appear to faze him.

“I go surfing, fishing, whatever I want to do. I live in paradise - what’s not to like? I hang out with my kids, life is good. I don’t need much, we eat the fish I catch, if I want lobster or crab I’ll jump in and get one, I don’t want to go to fancy restaurants,” Hillbroom said.

Information: www.dailymail.co.uk

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.