Just how much shit can you feed a cop before he figures out you're lying to him? Revisiting Bernardo Barrera's first identity theft, the case of Ocean Waves Powerboats and Alex Orriols.

Honestly, just how much bullshit can you feed a detective before the detective figures out that somethings haywire?  The man at the center of one of the mortgage fraud stories that we've discussed during the course of our blog, Bernardo Barrera, was involved in another identity theft case four months before the Oak Avenue mortgage fraud.  Strange how Mr. Barrera had the misfortune to fall prey to not just one but two identity theft schemes in such a short period of time.  I'm going to propose that the two identity thefts were somehow related, regardless of whether or not Mr. Barrera was involved in the crimes, somehow I get the feeling that there's more to these two cases that meets the eye and that if you look at the two cases together you'll get a strong sense that somethings awry.

Let's start by taking a good look at the police report Mr. Barrera filed for the identity theft case involving the purchase of a boat from Ocean Waves Powerboats that was financed through GE Money Bank...

Bernardo Barrera Police Report for Identity Theft Involving Ocean Waves Powerboats

OK, simple enough, for the purposes of today's discussion, let's pay particular attention to this excerpt, I've underlined the pertinent facts in red and as always, click on the document to enlarge it to full size...

In this excerpt Mr. Alex Orriols, the principal of Ocean Waves Powerboats, tells the detective investigating the case that:

"On November 1, 2007, an unknown male walked into the boat show located in the Miami Beach Convention Center to purchase a boat. After looking around at all the boats on display, the unknown subject walked up to the Ocean Waves Powerboats display and spoke with the manager Alex Orioles about purchasing a boat and filled out all the necessary paperwork for the boat."

We already talked about the first major flaw with this statement several months ago,  THERE IS NO BOAT SHOW LOCATED IN THE MIAMI BEACH CONVENTION CENTER IN NOVEMBER!  Let's not split hairs now, that's a minor detail.  Moving on, according to the statement, Mr. Orriols and Mr. Barrera (or impostor) filled out all the necessary paperwork for the boat.  Fair enough, guy finds a boat at an imaginary boat show and he fills out the necessary paperwork to purchase the boat.  Next we're told that Mr. Orriols...

"...sent the paperwork to GE Money Bank for their review. In about a week GE Money Bank had approved the deal and sent the paperwork back to Mr. Orriols. On November 10, 2008, the unknown subject came to the office at Ocean Waves Power Boats LLC to sign the final papers and pick up the boat."

Ok, got it?  Mr. Orriols met with Mr. Barrera (or impostor) at the imaginary boat show on November 1, 2007 then filled out the necessary paperwork for the purchase of the boat, he then sent the paperwork to GE Money Bank who returned it a week later (November 8, I presume) and on November 10, 2007 Mr. Barrera (or impostor) picked up the boat from Ocean Waves Powerboats place of business.  Fair enough.


Bare with me now, I've come across some paperwork from this transaction that creates some serious issues with Mr. Orriols statement, pay particular attention to the parts outlined in red.  Let's start with the manufacturers statement of origin for the boat in question. 

Notice the date outlined in red?  An MSO is the document that's used to transfer ownership for a new vehicle from the manufacturer to it's first owner, so why is the MSO for this boat dated November 1, 2007, the date Mr. Barrera (or impostor) first filled out the paperwork and loan application for the purchase of said vessel?  Perhaps a mistake on the part of the boat manufacturer?  


Now, let's take a gander at the MSO for the boats engines, again this document is transferring ownership of the boats engines from the manufacturer to the boats first owner...

Oh Crap, there's that date again, November 1, 2007.  Why is the ownership of the vessels engines being transferred before the bank approved the loan for the acquisition of the boat?  Somethings not adding up here, it gets worse though.  Take a look at this application for title for the vessel in question...

Why is it dated November 1, 2007 as well?  If the bank didn't approve the loan for the boat until November 8, 2007 and the boat wasn't picked up till November 10, 2007, wouldn't logic dictate that all these documents should be dated some time between the 8th and 10th of November?  Also take note that on this application for "Certificate of Title" Ocean Waves Powerboats is recording a lien in favor of GE Money Bank, isn't that bizarre since the bank hadn't even approved the loan yet and more than likely wasn't even aware of the loan application on November 1, 2007?  According to the police report the loan that was funding the purchase of this boat wasn't even approved until at least November 8, 2007, so why are these guys recording a lien with the state of Florida on November 1st?

Even more disturbing is "Dealers tax statement" that was filed for this boat...

If I'm reading this document correctly it suggests that the company that sold the boat to Mr. Barrera (or impostor) collected $5,964.61 in sales tax on November 1, 2007.  Am I the only one that finds collecting sales tax on a sale that has not occurred yet a little strange?


Oh, what the hell.  Maybe this transaction really happened at the imaginary boat show on November 1, 2007 and just for shits and grins, the principal of Ocean Waves Powerboats decided to transfer ownership of the boat to the buyer, record a lien in favor of the bank and collect the sales tax for the transaction before the loan to purchase the boat was even approved let alone funded.  Anything is possible I guess, but then how do you explain the purchase order for the boat that would have been signed that day at the imaginary boat show?  Pay attention to the dates outlined in red...

WHOOPSIE!  Did you all catch that?  The date on the purchase contract for the boat in question is October 19, 2007.  HUH?!  According to the police report and Mr. Orriols testimony, his first contact with Mr. Barrera (or impostor) was on November 1, 2007 so how the hell do you explain this purchase contract dated several weeks before they ever met?


Can it get worse?  Of course it can!  Let's take a look at this excerpt from Mr. Barrera's credit report that shows all the inquiries that were made by the different lending institutions at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008...

Notice that inquiry outlined in red?  That inquiry was made by "GEMB" aka "GE Money Bank" on October 26, 2007 which means Mr. Orriols not only had all of Mr. Barrera's information and applied for financing for the boat well before November 1, 2007 when he allegedly met Mr. Barrera (or impostor) at the imaginary boat show, it also proves that he was somewhat less than truthful in his statement to the detective investigating this case of identity theft.  Let's not forget Mr. Orriol's rap sheet which the Detective would have pulled before interviewing him, look at the charges the state pressed against him on one case alone...

For fcuks sake, how the hell did this detective go and question this guy regarding a crime involving bank fraud and identity theft without arresting him on the spot?!  WTF?!  What about all the conflicting dates he gave in his statement?!  For christ's sakes, what the hell is wrong here?  Can cops be this stupid?  Whether or not Bernardo Barrera's identity was stolen or not for the commission of this crime, the guy the detective is interviewing who's at the center of this crime is not only lying through his teeth but has a history of bank fraud and identity theft.  What exactly does it take to make this detective suspicious of this Orriols character?!  What's worse, is here we are 3 years later, what do you think the status of this case according to the Miami Dade Police Department?

Did you really expect any different?  Am I the only one that thinks the identity theft case involving the boat and the identity theft case involving the Oak Avenue home have anything to do with each other?  At the very least, if I was investigating the Barrera mortgage fraud case, wouldn't this previous instance of Mr. Barrera getting his identity stolen be of importance to me?  What if there was the slightest chance that the two cases were related?  Of course, anyone with a modicum of common sense investigating the mortgage fraud case would want to comb over the first identity theft case with a fine tooth comb in search of leads right?  Let's see what Detective Jorge Baluja, the lead detective in the Barrera mortgage fraud case tells us during his deposition regarding the first case where Mr. Barrera got his identity stolen...

That's it huh?  He didn't "get into specifics about it."  So this previous case of your victim getting his identity stolen wasn't important to the case that you were currently investigating where your victim also gets his identity stolen?

No $hit?  Ok, at the very least, you noted this identity theft case that occurred just four months prior to the case you were investigating in your report Detective Baluja, correct?

Oh, crap.  So the previous identity theft case wasn't even mentioned in the report that Detective Baluja wrote regarding the mortgage fraud case?  Surely the Detective must have thought it a little strange that Mr. Barrera's identity was stolen twice within four months, couldn't the two cases have been related Detective Baluja?  Wouldn't you want to know details about the first case, who knows the two cases may have something in common? 

Two instances where the same "victim" gets his identity stolen for the commission of six figure frauds and this idiot didn't think he needed to look into both cases?  Can anyone figure out how this guy became a detective?

Don't fret folks, we're working on another angle, there may be justice after all...