We're getting close?

According to one of our commenters over the weekend...

"Anonymous said...

You're so close to the real story but you just can't seem to nail it. 1:49"

That's great, a little help would be appreciated!  Let's look at what we do know, a few weeks back we reported on some chatter overheard at the courthouse, Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski utters these words...

"...I was under a lot of pressure."

Ok, but who was putting you under so much pressure to bring in a case?  Was it self imposed pressure to bring in a case on the one year anniversary of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task forces first arrest?  Or was it pressure from the Mayors office not just make a headline case on the task forces one year anniversary but to bring in a "headline" case to support Senator Martinez and his bill to create a nationwide mortgage fraud task force to be modeled after the Mayor Carlos Alverez's own Miami Dade Mortgage Fraud task force?  Again, from our comments section, let's take a look at the subject line of the email that Senator Martinez's senior policy adviser Nilda R. Pedrosa sent out on October 1, 2008 to what we can only assume was members of the MDPD command staff and perhaps the Mayors office...

"MARTINEZ CALLS FOR ACTION ON MORTGAGE FRAUD TASK FORCE"

WOW!  So come on guys, Mel's got a bill before the senate to create a nationwide mortgage fraud task force modeled after the Mayors own task force, give us a case that we can PLASTER ALL OVER THE MEDIA to help his cause.  So now we know why there was a last minute rush to slam together a case, in fact one of our readers gives us this juicy bit of information...

Here's an early christmas present for you, Bill K was out sick all day on October 2, 2008 with an upper GI tract malady, intubated and undergoing tests, he actually came back to work very late in the day and was up with that weasel Baluja till the wee hours of the morning on the 3rd getting the arrest affidavit ready for the judge to sign.

 So if Detective Baluja working till 4 am throwing together the arrest affidavit wasn't enough, now we have a sickly emaciated prosecutor sitting along side him all night writing the arrest affidavit.  Are the defendants charged flight risks?  Violent criminals?  Nope.


At least now we know why Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski ordered the cops to go in and raid the attorneys office rather than give her the common courtesy of surrendering, we now know why the defendants had over $500,000 bail amounts when defendants charged with worse financial crimes get only a fraction of that and we know why there was pressure to bring this case in on October 3, 2008.  This was nothing more than a publicity stunt to further the political ambitions of the task forces leaders and to get more federal funding for the task force.  After all, more recognition, means more federal funding and with the creation of a nationwide mortgage fraud task force that's modeled after the Miami Dade Mortgage Fraud Task force, there certainly has to be all sorts of federal money for members of the task force to fly around the country and train Detectives in other jurisdictions about mortgage fraud, right?  Can you imagine Detective Baluja flying around the country teaching people about mortgages and real estate?  YIKES!  Also, take into account how having your name associated with this task force would look on your resume when running for a higher office...

So tell us 1:49, are we getting closer?