Lying cop comes clean and WTF are "Brady Cops"?

Somehow our story that started with a simple mortgage fraud case has morphed into a convoluted tale that ranges from the sloppy investigative skills of the lead detective on a headline mortgage fraud case to the less than stellar performance from a "veteran" prosecutor.  Its saddening to see cops and prosecutors misbehaving as its these very people that have sworn an oath to uphold the laws that govern the citizenry, its that much more disheartening when they are the ones on the wrong side of the law.  I came across this article regarding a veteran police officer from New Orleans that was accused of shooting six people and killing two that were searching for food during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  From the article...

Michael Lohman, a 21-year veteran of the force, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors said Lohman and other unidentified officers conspired to fabricate witness statements, falsify reports of the incident and plant a gun in an attempt to make it appear the killings were justified.

Simply unforgivable, yet the terms "fabricating witness statements" and "falsify reports of the incident" aren't foreign to us or Detective Baluja now are they?  What are we left with if we can't trust the very cops whose job it is to protect and serve the citizenry?  If a cops got a history of lying or "bending the truth", can he possibly be of any use as a police officer?  Cops that have a history of lying are known as "Brady Cops", that name comes from a landmark Supreme Court case from 1963 called Brady v. Maryland.  From what we've been able to glean from this case, apparently a prosecutor is required to disclose to the defendent and their attorneys if a law enforcement officer involved in their case has a record of knowingly lying in their official capacity.  That's interesting isn't it?  I think we've illustrated more than enough evidence of Detective Baluja being somewhat less than honest haven't we?  I wonder if any such disclosures were made regarding Detective Baluja during any of the cases he's been involved in?

 This "Brady Rule" has another critical component as well, from the definition:

1. Duty to Disclose: The landmark decision of Brady v Maryland (1963) places an affirmative constitutional duty on a prosecutor to disclose exculpatory evidence to a defendant. This duty has been extended to police agencies through case law, requiring law enforcement agencies to notify the prosecutor of any potential exculpatory information.
2. Exculpatory Evidence/Brady Material: Evidence in the government’s possession that is favorable to the accused and that is material to either guilt or punishment, including evidence that may impact the credibility of a witness.

No kidding?  What if you're stuck in a situation with a prosecutor like Mr. Kostrzewski who likes to play hide and go seek with the evidence?  We find this document that we found in the Bernardo Barrera Mortgage Fraud case file most interesting...

 

The fourth motion to compel the state to produce discovery?  Nice!  From the same motion...

 

"Despite repeated requests and multiple court orders, the state has failed to provide Mr. Martinez's statements...."  

Why?  There's more of the same throughout this motion, we find this quote most notable...

"The states lackluster effort in complying with its discovery obligations is delaying the discovery process and delaying the defense investigation."

So what kind of nonsense is this?  From what we've seen in the case file, it looks like ASA Bill Kostrzewski has been playing hide and go seek with evidence for well over a year, what gives here?  Aren't the defendants in this case entitled to this evidence?  What happened to due process?  What kind of games are being played here?  Is this the cowardly strategy employed by inept prosecutors who try to drag cases on for years on end in hope that the defendants will throw their hands up and cut a plea?  If so, that's a really $hitty strategy Bill, unfair, unethical and immoral.  We'll leave off with a guest commentators opinion of Mr. Kostrzewski's behavior in this case...

Have a great weekend!

The new Mortgage Fraud unit in the State Attorneys Office and the Straw Buyer misses the Mortgage Fraud summit!

Last week while cruising the docket of one of the mortgage fraud cases that we've written about we noticed that the original prosecutor assigned to the case, Bill Kostrzewski, was replaced by a new prosecutor from the State Attorneys Office new "Mortgage Fraud" unit.  We then heard the new prosecutor tell the judge that he needed additional time to "reevaluate the case", understandable.  That's all well and good, you have to wonder though, what prompted the creation of this new trial unit within the State Attorneys Office?

For months now we've been hearing about discord between the MDPD Mortgage Fraud Task Force and the State Attorneys Office regarding how the cases that they developed were prosecuted.  Back in December we randomly picked 15 cases prepared by the MDPD Mortgage Fraud Task Force that totaled over $4.5 million dollars, yet when the cases were handed off to the State Attorneys Office for prosecution, none of the defendants were punished with anything more than probation.  That must be frustrating, imagine being the detective that put together a labor intensive, complicated Mortgage Fraud case only to have the prosecutor let the defendant off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist?  We can only imagine the level of frustration and disappointment that the PD must have experienced, especially when the leader of the task force makes this statement to the press:

"Probation is not an option"

Based on the prosecutors performance, it looks like the prosecutors must have misread that quote...

"Probation is not an is the only option"

For a while it seemed like all the Task Forces Mortgage Fraud prosecutions were either going through a state wide prosecutor or the feds, basically completely sidestepping the local State Attorneys Office.  If indeed that isn't just an anomaly and indeed an intentional move, can you blame the task force for bypassing the local prosecutors?  With the kind of punishments that we've outlined for the fraudsters, it's understandable.  Our theory is that it's because of this "lackluster" performance by the prosecutors in the cases that we've found that the State Attorneys Office went ahead and created this specialized Mortgage Fraud trial unit, after all, we know how complicated these cases are and the fact that it takes years (not days) of training and experience to properly understand the nature of these crimes.  Let's not forget the how the expertly prepared case (by real estate industry veteran Sgt. Richard Davis) against Attorney David Rodriguez was bungled by a prosecutor from the SAO.  With that said, We'd like to wish the new Mortgage Fraud Trial unit the best of luck.

Unbeknown to us here at The Straw Buyer, there was a Mortgage Fraud Summit here in Miami yesterday!  Unfortunately we didn't find out about it until it was over!  Even worse, WE WEREN'T INVITED!  CRAP!  

Can you imagine if we were able to attend?  We could have come face to face with the people running these cases!  Can you imagine the face to face discourse that would have been possible?  DAMN!  Enough of that!  


Now, for our hardcore readers that have a little too much time on their hands, here's a bit of a riddle for you.  Go back through the $4.5 million in mortgage fraud cases that we've outlined in the links above and see if you can figure out what they all have in common...

Another prominent attorney goes down and guess what? ANOTHER SURRENDER!

What a damn shame, prominent local attorney Lew Freeman gets indicted for embezzling millions of dollars from his firms trust account, from the AP article...

South Fla. attorney charged in $2.5M fraud scheme

The Associated Press

MIAMI -- A prominent South Florida attorney has been charged with embezzling $2.5 million from his own clients' trust funds.
Federal prosecutors say 60-year-old Lewis Freeman stole from 250 clients and covered it up with false court filings. Freeman has frequently been appointed by judges as a receiver and trustee in fraud and bankruptcy cases.
Freeman is charged with mail fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
Freeman has not entered a plea. His attorneys issued a statement acknowledging he made mistakes and will accept the consequences of his actions.
The FBI raided Freeman's 30-employee firm in October, after which it was dissolved. Freeman was honored in 2005 as the University of Miami's alumnus of the year.

Incredible, besides being an attorney, Mr. Freeman was a forensic accountant who was frequently appointed trustee in many large bankruptcies, in other words he was responsible for going through the financial wreckages of these cases and sorting out where the money went.  What strikes me as strange is how someone who is charged with protecting the assets of those in bankruptcy would actually steal from the very same people that he was entrusted to protect.  Like we said, a damn shame and another black eye for the legal community.


There is something that did catch our eye regarding the Freeman story, from the Miami Herald headline...

 

Did anyone catch it?

See that?  Paying attention Mr. Kostrzewski?  Looks like the prosecutors that were working on Mr. Freemans case extended the common courtesy of allowing Mr. Freeman to surrender himself to the authorities.  We've discussed several high profile white collar crimes and how the defendants were allowed to surrender, we even got the opinion of a local judge on white collar crimes and the subject of surrender.   I have to wonder, considering the fact that its common knowledge that people who are charged with white collar crimes are allowed to surrender themselves and avoid the humiliation of being carted out in cuffs in front of friends, family and business associates, why is it that ASA Kostrzewski
insisted that the defendants in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case be arrested the way they were?  I understand that at least one of the defendants may have been a flight risk but what about the others?  Rumors suggest that the defendant that was a flight risk was already working with the feds, so why would he have even been considered a flight risk?  There has to be more to the story, we're going down to the courthouse today to see if we can find some answers.

"We're in the process of reevaluating this case."

Did we hear right?  That's exactly what the new assistant state attorney on the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case told Judge Barzee last week at John Romney's last plea hearing, after all, you can't expect the new ASA just to pick up where the previous assistant state attorney Bill Kostrzewski left off can you?  Keep in mind, whatever plea deal was made before the new ASA took over was between the old ASA and Mr. Romneys attorney, we have to wonder, is the new ASA bound to that plea agreement?  What if the new ASA was to discover some inconsistencies in the previous statements that Mr. Romney gave the state?  So it's 30 more days before we find out what kind of punishment the state hands down to Mr. Romney, the fourth delay in his plea agreement but at least we can stomach this last delay, that "reevaluating" part makes it bearable.

During the hearing, the new assistant state attorney explains to the court that there's a new division within the State Attorneys Office set up specifically to prosecute mortgage fraud cases, this is fantastic news.  I don't know the details of this new department, but I can only hope that its made up of seasoned prosecutors who have some sense of how a mortgage fraud case goes down.  The question that begs to be asked though is why was ASA Kostrzewski left off of this new mortgage fraud unit within the SAO?  After all, according to the New Times article a few months back, ASA Kostrzewski was characterized as...

 "a veteran state prosecutor...Bill Kostrzewski, a Miami-Dade assistant state attorney who has specialized in economic crimes for more than ten years."

So what happened here?  No spot on the new department for ASA Kostrzewski?  If he's specialized in economic crimes for nearly ten years, wouldn't he be ideally suited for this task force?  We're going to have to take a closer look at this matter over the next few days.

There was one comment that the judge made during the hearing that caught our attention, at the very end of the hearing after the date was set for the next plea hearing, she addressed Mr. Romney and said:

"Mr. Romney, keep in touch with your lawyer between now and then..."

Hmmm, you have to wonder, was that a boiler plate instruction to a defendant (we previously discussed that term here) or was the judge referring to the statement that ASA Kostrzewski made during the last hearing where he mentioned that...

Mr. Romney's attorney had been having trouble getting in touch with Mr. Romney, he's been out of contact with this client for some time therefore making working out the plea agreement impossible.

I guess we'll never know, just to be safe though, keep in touch with your attorney Mr. Romney.

 

The Straw Buyer weekend edition! The perils of cross dressing...

Once in a rare while we here at the Straw Buyer feel it necessary to post something on the weekend, this is one of those rare events.  We try to accommodate everyone that's involved in our story at some point or another, today we have a public service announcement for our readers and a little something for the member of our mortgage fraud story that's into cross dressing, we were sent these photos and thought it was our duty to share them....

Out at the club, obviously the young chap has had a few drinks...

 

Things are beginning to get a little hot...

Stepping it up a bit then a friend notices a problem...

Houston, we have a problem...

 

Friend needs to clarify the situation...

The gravity of the situation sets in...

 

And now the problem is revealed...

BREAKING NEWS!

Today, February 19 is the day of reckoning for one of the defendants in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, it was today at 9 am that Mr. John Arthur Romney was supposed to enter his plea and begin whatever lame ass sentence that Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski had agreed to give him.  But wait a minute!  Going through the court docket for Mr. Romneys case revealed a startling new development...


The case originally came in under ASA Kostrzewski name...

 

Then it was assigned to ASA Kostrzewski for trial...

 

But now, three days before his plea was FINALLY GOING TO BE ENTERED, we have this...

 

OH NO!  This new prosecutor ain't no Bill "let's make a deal" Kostrzewski!  I really wonder if the new prosecutor in charge of this case is going to honor the plea deal set in place by the previous ASA?  Should be interesting, we'll have a mid day update!

Update! In court today Mr Leclair tells the judge that he needs time to "evaluate" this case and that he needs another 30 days to do so. Interesting. I suppose now that there's a new prosecutor on the case, everything the previous prosecutor has done to date will come under scrutiny. Considering this is now the FOURTH time Mr Romney has come before the judge to enter his plea, in retrospect it may have not been such a good idea for his attorney to have cooperated with Mr Kostrzewski on all those senseless continuances...

MDPD saves the environment and some trust fund shenanigans.

We're not talking about trust fund monkey business like disbarred attorneys Roger Besu or Sally Sawh allegedly ripping off their clients of millions of dollars, we're talking about our own MDPD misappropriating (what stealing is called when the government does it) money from a federally funded trust fund!  YUP!  Uncle same sets aside millions of dollars in a trust fund for the MDPD to go after people breaking federal and state environmental laws, FANTASTIC!  But how does that money get spent?  Jim DeFede does a great job of breaking down how some of that money was spent, let's take a look...


Hybrid SUV's for the MDPD top brass  $300,000...

They're now reporting they actually spent $900,000 on those SUV's, so maybe they looked like this...

Camper $8,000.  Wait a minute, what kind of camper does $8,000 buy?!

Travel expenses $180,000...

DirecTV subscriptions $10,000...

30 Smith and Wesson assault rifles $20,000...

High powered rifle scopes $15,000...

 

Good lord!  What the hell does any of that stuff have to do with investigating people breaking environmental laws?  I'm not sure, I can only imagine the justification for these purchases that the taxpayers are going to be offered by the MDPD.  Regardless though, according to Mr. DeFede's article, all purchases must be authorized by both a local EPA representative and the director of the MDPD, based on Mr. DeFede's examination of the documents authorizing these purchases, he suggests that someone else signed off on those purchases, someone familiar to our mortgage fraud stories...

In today's follow up column to first story from the CBS I-Team investigation, Mr. DeFede claims that these questionable purchases were authorized by none other than MDPD Chief legal counsel Mr. Glenn Theobald who also happens to be the head of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud task force!  Mr. Defede states that Mr. Theobald approved those purchases back in February 2008 allowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to be diverted from this federal environmental fund to other parts of the MDPD.  YIKES!  Apparently Mr. DeFede's inquiry into this matter prompted Mr. Theobald to issue a memorandum stating the following on January 29, 2010...

"This memorandum rescinds the previous opinion regarding your memo to this writer...trust fund monies in the account can only be used to further environmental investigations...A direct nexus with the expenditure and the furtherance of environmental investigations is required...Any other interpretation was mistaken due to the information provided at the time the memorandum was presented."

That certainly sounds like a CYA move if I've ever seen one!  As our readers know, we hold Mr. Theobald in high regard, so hopefully there's a good explanation for what went on here.  Nice work Mr. DeFede, we're waiting with bated breath...

The man on the grassy knoll and in other news, some lying cops get arrested!

Everyone remember the man on the grassy knoll that conspiracy theorists are convinced was the second (maybe third) shooter that fateful day in 1963 when JFK was shot?  There are several compelling arguments to support the theory of a second shooter that was on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza when the President was shot, sure we know about Oswald in the sixth floor of the book depository, but one can't discount the possibility of the second shooter.  Some believe that this second shooter was the man that really killed JFK and that Oswald was just a "patsy" or a pawn for the real culprits responsible for the assassination, if you follow this theory, the man on the grassy knoll was an indispensable member of the conspiracy.  Unfortunately though, no one was ever able to locate the man on the grassy knoll, whether through poor investigatory work or (get your tin foil hat on) some sort of conspiracy, this second shooter has disappeared into the annals of history without a trace and all we're left to believe is the "official" version of events proffered by the government from that day.

Can you imagine being able to go back to the grassy knoll and finding the second shooter?  Imagine being able to talk with and question this indispensable member of the "conspiracy"?  What does the grassy knoll have to do with our story?  Put the tin foil hats away, we don't need a stretch of the imagination or a conspiracy theory for this one.  Let's take a look at some rare footage of said "grassy knoll" and see if we can find any clues...

Wait a minute!  Take a look between the tree and the building on the upper right hand of the photo, what is that there?  Is that actually "the man on the grassy knoll"?!  Let's use some of the high tech investigatory skills that we've gleaned from watching CSI shows on TV to blow up this blurry image...

WHOA!  I can almost make out his face!  Let's blow it up a bit more...

 

My god!  Could it be?!  Let's blow it up once more...

ZOINKS!  It's none other than Bernardo Barrera, the man who claimed that his identity was stolen for the purchase of the Oak Avenue home that's at the center of one of our mortgage fraud stories!!  Now, of course Mr. Barrera wasn't at the grassy knoll back in 1963 (or was he?), but he's just as important to our theory of how the mortgage fraud involving the Oak Avenue home went down as the second shooter aka "the man on the grassy knoll" was to the assassination of JFK.  The man on the grassy knoll may have gotten away, but ole Bernie is still right here in Miami, for those of you in the PD or the SAO with a modicum of common sense, don't you think it may be a good idea to take another look at Bernie again?  There's so much that ace Detective Baluja and "veteran" prosecutor Kostrzewski missed, in their investigation, take our word for it, there's a treasure trove of information in the case file that's been overlooked.  Perhaps we're naive though, maybe the powers that be really do know what time it is with Mr. Barrera and are just refusing to do anything about it, no worries though, we'll outline our findings here regardless...

I'm sure by now everyone's heard about the story from last Friday regarding the three Miami Dade county cops that were federally indicted for "their involvement in a conspiracy to obstruct justice, make false statements, and commit perjury...".  WHOA!  What was that Detective Baluja?  Let's take a look at the press release from the FBI website...

Jeffrey H. Sloman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office; and James K. Loftus, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, announced that a federal grand jury returned an Indictment against three Miami-Dade Police Department officers in connection with their involvement in a conspiracy to obstruct justice, make false statements, and commit perjury in a federal criminal case.
The Indictment charges Officers Jorge Luis Gonzalez, 27, and Alkibiades Dodge, 37, and Sergeant Waell Majed Farraj, 33, with conspiracy to make false statements, obstruct justice, and commit perjury, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, making false statements to a federal agent, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, and obstruction of justice, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1503. In addition, Officer Gonzalez and Sergeant Farraj are charged with committing perjury in their sworn testimony before a United States District Judge, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1623(a).
The charges in the Indictment arise out of the actions of these three defendants in connection with the arrest and subsequent federal prosecution of an individual (“P.M.”) on a firearms possession charge. As alleged in the Indictment, the three defendants made false statements, and wrote and used Miami-Dade Police Department documents containing false statements, concerning the circumstances surrounding the stop and search of a vehicle in which P.M. was a passenger. The defendants then allegedly provided this false information and these documents to an agent of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives on the evening of the stop and seizure, and P.M. was arrested by federal authorities.
After P.M. was charged federally, all three defendants allegedly perpetuated the obstruction of justice scheme, and Gonzalez and Farraj committed perjury by testifying to the same false account while under oath at a hearing before the presiding judge, United States District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga. This material false sworn testimony was given in a suppression hearing which Judge Altonaga was conducting to determine whether the firearm seized from the vehicle, and the statements made by P.M., would be admissible against P.M. in his trial. When the criminal conduct of these three officers was uncovered, the government then dismissed the case against P.M.
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman said, “Our system of justice is based on the integrity and truthfulness of every witness that testifies in court. Law enforcement officers, like any other witnesses, are sworn to tell the truth. When any witness lies under oath or conspires to obstruct justice, our system of justice is undermined. The damage is twofold when it is a police officer who lies or obstructs justice: it not only weakens the public’s faith in our legal system, but also shakes the public’s confidence in police officers who are sworn to uphold the laws. As prosecutors and law enforcement officers, it is our responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the legal system.”
John V. Gilles, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Office, added, "A police officer’s integrity is never negotiable. It is the backbone of every law enforcement agency and a department will not be successful if it doesn’t have the trust of the people it serves. We are fortunate to have a professional, well-respected organization such as the Miami-Dade County Police Department. Unfortunately, a few police officers have betrayed the oath they took and will be held accountable for their actions, losing not only their jobs but their reputations. The FBI will continue to work with our partners to root out those officers who have not lived up to the high ethical standards law enforcement officers are proud to uphold."
Miami-Dade Police Department Director James K. Loftus states, “Anytime there is an allegation of official misconduct against a member of the Miami-Dade Police Department, that questions integrity and professionalism, we will cooperate and conduct an impartial and thorough investigation. Although the allegation of perjury is very serious, the majority of the men and women of the Miami-Dade Police Department are hardworking dedicated individuals that do an outstanding job of protecting the citizens and enforcing the laws of the State of Florida. Miami-Dade Police Department will continue to work with our federal, state and local partners to address all allegations of criminal behavior, even if it hits home.”
If convicted of all the charges, defendant Gonzalez faces a maximum possible term of imprisonment of 30 years, defendant Farraj faces a maximum possible term of imprisonment of 25 years, and defendant Dodge faces a maximum possible term of imprisonment of 20 years. The initial appearance will be Friday, February 12, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. before the Honorable Chris M. McAliley in Miami. The case has been assigned to District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks.

 Oh boy.  Pay specific attention to the new MDPD director James K. Loftus when he states the following:

“Anytime there is an allegation of official misconduct against a member of the Miami-Dade Police Department, that questions integrity and professionalism, we will cooperate and conduct an impartial and thorough investigation.  Although the allegation of perjury is very serious..."

Oh really?  The allegation of of official misconduct and perjury is serious?  Director Loftus, how many instances of obstruction of justice, perjury and suborning perjury by Detective Jorge Baluja would you like me to illustrate?  Do you really take these allegations seriously or is that just lip service for a press release?  As much as I'd like to believe Director Loftus, it sounds like the latter to me.

Time for a GARAGE SALE at the Besu residence!

So, you've ripped off a client for two million +++, what are you going to do next?  Have a garage sale of course!  We received this email a couple of days ago regarding disgraced attorney Roger Besu who is accused of stealing over two million dollars from one of his clients.  Take a look:

"As soon as Roger Besu and his wife left the country, the whole family mobilized they sold off the property on palm island, the twin engine airplane etc, they went with a U-haul and removed all of there personal belonging and took it to Babelyn Gonzalez (step-daughters) house she sold most of it for cash (garage sale). Several times Babelyn traveled out of the country ie costa Rica were Rogers wifes (barbara) brother lives ?, and other central and south american countries, the family new were they Roger and Barbara were, they are all guilty. In late August Babelyn went to NYC to visit Rebecca Besu to see Barbara Besu she was flying in to see them. why dont the police interview Babelyn Gonzalez, Christopher, George Besu, Rebecca Besu, Cristy Besu. "

Wow.  I haven't been able to confirm any of that information from our anonymous tipster yet, so take the information in the email with a grain of salt.  We're off to the courthouse to get some new information, we'll have an update a little later.

A fantastic new TV series, U.S. naval shipyard and disbarred attorney Roger Besu...

Perhaps one of the contributing factors to the creation of this blog is the lack of anything good to watch on TV, seems like as the years go by, there's less and less worth watching, even the evening news has become unwatchable.  For reasons that I can't understand, I just couldn't summon the energy to sit down and write the latest installment of our blog last night, so I decided to give TV a try and started surfing the channels.  Just as I was about to give up,

I come across a new series on HBO called "How to Make It in America", a spectacular show about a group of kids in their 20's trying to make it in the big apple.  In one of the scenes, the main characters are buying some stolen merchandise from a shady looking character at a location that they call "the docks", the scene only lasts about a minute, but somehow there was something about the location that caught my eye. 
I couldn't figure out why, but somehow I felt like "the docks" were familiar, almost like I'd been there before.  There was no mention of the location during the closing credits, so the location remained a mystery until it came to me, I'd actually been there as a child, the location the scene was shot at was the Brooklyn Navy Shipyard.  

So what's some TV show and a shipyard got to do with our blog?  The Navy decommissioned the ship yard in 1966, since then its been used as a commercial shipyard, most recently it was owned by a company called GMD Shipyard. 

Still confused?  A few years back when the owner of the shipyard sold it, he had the proceeds of the sale of the shipyard deposited into disbarred attorney Roger Besu's trust account.  It's from these proceeds that Mr. Besu allegedly stole over $2 million dollars then fled the country.

Small world isn't it?

Who's our favorite puppet master? Bill Kostrzewski is!

Here we are at the end of another week, as our readers must know by now, we usually try to wrap up the week with some levity, so today, were going to take look at a performance by master puppet master Bill Kostrzewski.  For sure some of you must think by now that I'm off my meds or something, but bare with me.  From the inception of our blog when discussing the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, I've suggested that Detective Jorge Baluja was not running the investigation nor was anyone in the MDPD, in fact it's our theory that the entire investigation was run directly by none other than assistant state attorney Bill Kostrzewski. 

I've poured over detective Baluja's depositions over and over again and I get the weird feeling that although the detective is at the deposition and talking, he's really not really the one answering the questions, sure his mouth is moving, but it seems to me like he's just a mouthpiece or for lack of a better term a "puppet" for Mr. Kostrzewski.  This would fall in line perfectly with our theory that Detective Baluja was nothing but a tool for Mr. Kostrzewski throughout this case and in my opinion proves that it was assistant state attorney Kostrzewski that created and ran the entire Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud investigation.

Lets take a look at some excerpts from detective Baluja's deposition transcripts and you guys judge for yourself what's going on.  Pardon the poor quality photos of the actual transcripts, they're taken by a camera phone, as always click on the image to enlarge it.  First we find that Mr. Baluja had gone to the state attorneys office the day before and prepared for the deposition with ASA Kostrzewski...

 

Anything wrong with the detective getting together and preparing for the next days depo?  I don't know, as long as everything is on the up and up right?  I guess it's kosher as long as the ASA didn't ask the detective to say, lie or testify to things that he didn't have first hand knowledge of?  Somehow this idea of rehearsing for the deposition doesn't sit right with me, it fits right in with our theory of the asa controlling the detective, regardless let's move on.  As the deposition moves forward, you can see several instances where the detective seems confused and has forgotten what Mr. Kostrzewski wanted him to say, so what does he do?   HE STARTS WHISPERING TO KOSTRZEWSKI LOOKING FOR THE ANSWER!

WHAT THE FCUK IS THAT?! I'm no lawyer, but this just doesn't seem right to me.  When asa Kostrzewski is called to the carpet by the other attorneys, he responds with...

 

Pobrecito!  Jorgito is confused!  If he's confused then what in the fcuk is the assistant state attorney supposed to do about it?!  Moving on, I guess once asa Kostrzewski tells detective Baluja what to say, he then speaks up and tells him to answer...

SI PAPI!  I think you get the idea, the depositions are full of this kind of crap, towards the end of the depositions asa Kostrzewski tires of having to speak through the detective, so he starts answering questions for the detective!  Take a look...

 

NO $HIT!  How efficient!  Why bother with the middle man just go ahead and answer for him!  INCREDIBLE!

See what I'm getting at folks?  Based on what we've seen in these depositions, is there any doubt who's in charge?  Is there any doubt left that it was indeed asa Bill Kostrzewski that ran the entire investigation?  It seems clear to me that Detective Baluja was nothing more than a do boy or messenger for Mr. Kostrzewski.  Now we at least have some insight as to why Mr. Kostrzewski has taken this case so personally and gets worked up and defensive when there's been criticism of how the investigation was handled.  I can only imagine the "deer caught in the headlights" look on Detective Baluja's face during the depositions!  In fact, based on what I've read from these depositions, I have to wonder if any of the other attorneys checked to see if asa Kostrzewski's hand wasn't up the detectives a$$ running him like puppet.

Have a great weekend folks!

Timing is everything...

I've learned over the last few months while studying these cases of fraud and identity theft that timing is everything.  Whether we're talking about the exact date and time Bernardo Barrera claimed his identity was stolen, when the purchase contract for the Oak avenue property was signed or when the arrests in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case were made, none of these events occurred randomly, each and every one of those events were precisely timed by the people involved.  Why is it though that no one in the PD or the SAO can see what's happened?  How could the states version of events be so different from what really happened?  After all it's not like I summoned up some sort of super powers to gain some insight into this case!

For those of you in the Miami Dade Police Department and the State Attorneys Office, let me tell you a little story from back when my identity was stolen nearly 15 years ago.  Some miscreant decided to pose as me and use my identity to get a bunch of credit cards, once I found out about it, I quickly contacted all the financial institutions that I worked with and put them on notice.  All the charges were reversed and I was let off the hook for any liability that arose from the ID theft.  The problem was for nearly five years after the incident, obtaining ANY KIND OF CREDIT was a major hassle for me.  No more instant credit approvals, everything I applied for had to be manually reviewed by the company who was offering me credit so they could verify that it was really me that was trying to obtain the credit.  From there on out, my name was flagged and anything involving credit had become a nightmare for me.  A total disaster.

With that in mind, consider that Mr. Barrera had claimed that his identity was stolen in ANOTHER FRAUD case less than 30 days before he reported the ID theft in the mortgage fraud case!  With what I know from my ID theft experience, I know it would have been damn near impossible for Mr. Barrera or someone posing as Mr. Barrera to get a mortgage shortly after he cried ID theft on the other case!  Sure they would have eventually given him the mortgage, but they would have gone through the loan application with a fine tooth comb and probably looked up Mr. Barreras ass before they ever gave him a cent!  So what happened here?  I'm sure Detective Baluja went through the first identity theft case and left no stone unturned in his quest for the facts right?  I think we know better than that by now!

An apology to our readers with mental health issues and a brief discusion regarding boiler parts...

I guess our post from last friday where we discussed the Department of Justice looking for attorneys with mental health issues was in poor taste.  I apologize for suggesting that our readers with mental health issues may want to contact the DOJ to possibly fill one of the ten positions that were available, as a matter of fact I apologize to all our readers for simply suggesting that any of them pursue a career in the legal profession period!  YUCK!

 

So what was the point of last fridays post?   Was it simply a cheap shot at people with mental disabilities?  A chance to make fun of the DOJ making a silly error in a job posting?  NO SIR!  What we illustrated in last fridays post was a common error that's made with BOILERPLATE documents.  So what does the term "Boilerplate" mean?  Let's look:

The term "boilerplate" has been adopted by lawyers to describe those parts of a contract that are considered "standard language"

In other words, the standard legal mumbo jumbo that virtually no one reads.  In the case of the DOJ job posting, someone took a standard Boilerplate form and cut and pasted the specific requirements for the job up top and left the bottom unchanged, in this instance no one took the time to read the "boilerplate" instructions at the bottom of the page that stated that they were looking for people with the targeted disabilities that we got such a laugh out of.  Does it make sense now?

There's a problem with legal boilerplate though, these documents are rarely read because of their complicated legal terms coupled with the often large amount of time needed to read the terms, the expected payoff from reading the document is low and few people would be expected to read it.  Often times people pay attention to the salient parts of such a document and skip over the fine print, it's because of this that many courts have developed special rules with respect to boilerplate documents since it's unclear whether the signor to the document read or understood the terms.  It's precisely because of this that the specific terms or instructions of such documents are clear and up front while the rest of the terms that are in fine print are more of a legal catch all, a CYA that literally no one reads.

So why the soliloquy on boilerplate documents?  Can you imagine someone building an entire criminal case on the boilerplate language in a legal document?  Consider for a moment a mentally disabled attorney (HAH!) suing the DOJ over the mistake in that job posting?  Or imagine an entire criminal prosecution based on such a document?  Absurd isn't it?  Can you guess where we're going folks?

Assistant State Attorney Kostrzewski demonstrates the Jedi mind trick.

Does everyone remember the Jedi mind trick from the movie Star Wars?  Without getting too geeky and talk Star Wars nonsense that I'm not to familiar with, the Jedi mind trick was a technique used by the Jedi to influence and control the minds of others through the use of the "Force" that only they posessed, take a look at this example of the mind trick in use...

So what does this have to do with our story?  Simple.  As you read through the hundreds of pages of deposition transcripts from the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, you come away with the feeling that Detective Jorge Baluja was being told what to do and say by Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski.  The more you read, the more you realize that the Detective didn't do anything on his own, but was instead following orders from the ASA.  Why?  I can't answer that question as I thought the ASA wasn't to meddle in the actual investigation of a crime, I was under the impression that his role was strictly as an advocate for the court.  Regardless, in one instance during one of Detective Baluja's depositions, the defense attorneys seem to be having a hard time getting the Detective to cooperate with their questions and in an effort to make things move along, ASA Kostrzewski offers to ask the Detective a few questions perhaps to clarify a few points for the defense, let's take a look...

OH!  That's great!  Now, watch as ASA Kostrzewski's attempt at using the Jedi mind trick on Detective Baluja backfires...

WHAT?!  The Detective clearly answers yes and through ASA Kostrzewski's incredible lawyering and deposition skills he turns that "yes" into a useless "I can't recall"!  NICE WORK!  I can't wait to see Mr. Kostrzewski perform his magic in court!