An admission of guilt from one of the defendants involved in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case and an unintelligible riddle courtesy of Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski.

Just when you think there's nothing else to write about regarding Detective Baluja and ASA Bill Kostrzewski's handling of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, somehow something else always pops up.  It's amazing, every time we go through the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case file we find more to write about.  After rereading the transcript of Detective Baluja's second deposition, we accidentally bumped into the Detective telling the attorneys that one of the mortgage fraudsters basically admitted to his involvement in the fraud!  Take a look for yourselves, from the deposition...

John Arthur Romney Admits That He's Guilty of the Crimes He Was Charged With in the Bernardo Barrera Mortga...


Now this is huge isn't it?  Look again...

So according to Detective Baluja's testimony, Mr. Romney incriminated himself.  Great, let's keep going...

Even worse!  Now Mr. Romney admits to knowing that the sale of the property was a fraud!  It get's worse...

Wonderful, now he admits to knowing that the person appearing at the closing was not Bernardo Barrera?  Let's look at the crimes Mr. Romney was charged with back in October 3, 2008:

1. Organized Scheme to Defraud
2. Grand Theft
3. Identity Theft

If indeed Detective Baluja's recollections are correct and Mr. Romney has spilled the beans regarding his involvement in this fraud, according to what we just read, didn't he just confess to being guilty of all the counts that he was charged with?  The question that begs to be asked then is why is it that twenty months after he was initially charged and at least a year and half after this alleged confession hasn't Mr. Romney been sentenced?  Perhaps it's because of some sort of stellar cooperation that he's been giving the state?  That would be plausible if not for this...

Now, isn't that a problem?  Prosecutor Kosztrewski contends that the attorney was the mastermind of this fraud and that it was the attorney who artificially inflated the value of the home three fold yet here we have the man that made nearly $500,000 from this fraud who's admitted his role in the fraud to the police and he can't implicate the attorney?  WTF?  Perhaps sensing the trouble that this alleged confession creates during the deposition, in an effort to save his sinking ship, Assistant State Attorney Kostrzewski presents the witness and the defense attorneys with this riddle...

Billl Kostrzewski Telling Us a Riddle

We've spent nearly a day trying to figure that one out, perhaps it's some sort of code or language that only seasoned veteran economic crimes prosecutors understand?  

The real question that we're left with here today is why the hell isn't John Arthur Romney behind bars?  Nearly two years after he was charged, he's still out on the street, even after his admission of guilt on just about all the crimes he was charged with?  If indeed Detective Baluja's recollection is correct and Mr. Romney did admit to his involvement in the fraud, why would you need to cut a deal with him?  Doesn't this alleged confession make the rumors of Mr. Kostrzewski cutting a deal and giving Mr. Romney probation even more egregious?