I reckon we got fraud, UH HUH!

Somehow I found myself switching between watching Slingblade on cable last night and reading Detective Jorge Baluja's deposition transcripts from the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case.  Strange combination, as the night wore on the line between the movie and the transcripts started to get blurry until they became one and the same.  From the depo...

Can you picture it?  In case you can't, here's a visual aid...

Back to the depo...

Easy enough right?  Let's try again...

AGAIN?!

JEEZE!  Detective Baluja goes on to say...

You sure about that Jorge?  I mean, you would have to be absolutely positively certain that the facts were as you stated before making the arrests right?  You're suggesting that the attorney fraudulently represented to Citi Mortgage that the earnest money was already received before the closing took place?  Go back and check your file or even better, go sit down with ASA Bill Kostrzewski and have him read it to you.  If you still don't get it, don't worry, I'm going to make sure you understand before I'm done.


It's obvious after following our blog over the last year that investigating mortgage fraud was above Detective Baluja and ASA Kostrzewski's pay grade.  After going through the case files again and again, you almost feel bad for these two, if only investigating these cases was as easy as what you see on TV...

Stay tuned folks, things are about to get much, much more interesting...