Friday, April 16, 2010

What's the damn rush Detective Baluja?

One thing that has struck us as strange throughout the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud story was how hastily the case was put together.  From what we can see in the states file, things were moving along at a conservative pace and then all of a sudden at the very beginning of October 2008 it seemed like someone lit a fire under the states ass, in fact Detective Baluja openly bragged about being up till 4 am on the date of the arrests getting the arrest affidavit ready for the judge to sign.  Why the damn rush all of a sudden?


While we were down at the courthouse the other day going through the case file, we noticed something that struck us as very strange, take a look...


That's the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case file, notice that according the dates stamped on the folder the warrants were issued on October 3, 2008 and the arrests were made the same day, in fact the arrests were made mid morning on October 3.


Let's look at that time line again...
  1. Detective Baluja is up till 4 am on October 3, 2008 preparing the arrest affidavit.
  2. Arrest warrants signed by Judge Julio Jimenez sometime during the morning of October 3, 2008.
  3. Defendants arrested by mid morning October 3, 2008.
Does that sound kosher to you guys?  Certainly doesn't to us.  You get the feeling these arrests had to be done on October 3?  What's the damn rush?  We've asked several different law enforcement officers about how this went down and if they'd ever stayed up till four in the morning writing an arrest affidavit, believe it or not, not a single one of them ever had.  So why the rush to make these arrests happen?  Based on the time line above, doesn't it seem like someone was insisting that the arrests happen on Oct 3, no matter what?  Why?  Was it a deadline imposed on the Detective by the Mortgage Fraud Task Force?  Maybe a self imposed deadline by Assistant State Attorney Kostrzewski?  Who knows.  We have our own hypothesis as to why this case was hastily thrown together at the last minute and why the arrests HAD TO BE MADE on October 3, 2008.  To understand why we have to take a closer look at the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force's case number one's arrest date, state case number F07-34446...


See the date outlined in red?  Need we say more?  Anyone wanna guess who the prosecutor was on that case?  Isn't that fantastic?  People getting railroaded just so the task force can make headlines on the anniversary of the arrests in their first case.  Way to go guys.

8 comments:

  1. In this case you can tell they needed to do the arrests the same day.

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  2. Obviously, but why and under whose direction?

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  3. Sent: Wed Oct 01 19:01:40 2008
    Subject: MARTINEZ CALLS FOR ACTION ON MORTGAGE FRAUD TASK FORCE

    Hi Joe – FYI and please pass along.



    Thanks, Nilda



    Nilda R. Pedrosa

    Senior Policy Advisor

    U.S. Senator Mel Martinez

    nilda_pedrosa@martinez.senate.gov







    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Wednesday, October 1, 2008





    MARTINEZ CALLS FOR ACTION ON MORTGAGE FRAUD TASK FORCE



    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) today renewed his call for the U.S. Senate to pass legislation for the creation of a Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Task Force within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The task force, introduced in the Senate by Senator Martinez along with Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), aims to help reduce and prevent mortgage fraud through law enforcement, legislation and public education.



    “Mortgage fraud is a serious problem in Florida and it was one of the factors that contributed to the current housing and economic crisis,” said Martinez. “I urge my senate colleagues to support and pass this legislation.”



    The Task Force would solicit the participation of federal, state and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies to address mortgage fraud. The Task Force is targeted at enhancing the enforcement of state mortgage fraud laws.



    The measure is modeled after Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force. Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-Miami) introduced the House companion bill.

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  4. Holy $hit! Mystery solved! Thanks for that 1:49!

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  5. You're so close to the real story but you just can't seem to nail it.

    1:49

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  6. 1:49! You're killing me! I'm glad we're close! Feel free to email us at thestrawbuyer@gmail.com.

    As always, comments are greatly appreciated.

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  7. You're getting real close, any closer and Alvarezhole is going to make sure your behind bars.

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  8. 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.

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