Who's this Patrick Brinson character? And so much for Veldora Arthur's motion to dismiss her indictment...

In researching City of Miami assistant fire chief Veldora Arthur's mortgage fraud case we've come across a new character that wasn't part of the original federal indictment, a guy named Patrick Brinson.  Somehow in all the hoopla over her indictment I managed to overlook Mr. Brinson, as we discussed yesterday, Mr. Brinson has come forward with a motion to dismiss the federal mortgage fraud indictment on the grounds that his rights to a speedy trial had been violated.  The government submitted an accurate accounting of the actual days that are to be counted towards his "speedy trial" time frame yesterday and pretty much closes the door on that motion...

Speedy Trial Report for Patrick Brinson and Veldora Arthur

So who is this Patrick Brinson?  According to the government, Mr. Brinson was indicted on February 11, 2011 with the group that Veldora was involved in, but then something interesting happens just thirteen days later, Mr. Brinson gets indicted for mortgage fraud again...

Second Federal Mortgage Fraud Indictment for Patrick l. Brinson

Now, among other things this creates a problem for Veldora and her other co-defendants, fighting one federal indictment is tough but doable but fighting two simultaneously is something else all together.  You may have a decent chance of marshaling your resources and getting out from under the weight of a federal investigation and subsequent criminal trial, but when the government slams you with a second similar indictment, the chances of you being able to defeat both go up exponentially.  If I had to guess, I'd say that at some point in the near future, Mr. Brinson will cut a deal and testify against his co-defendants unless he has a massive war chest set aside for defending both indictments.  This could potentially be the remaining co-defendants worse nightmare.


Regardless of what Mr. Brinson decides to do, there's another interesting detail that bears mentioning, let's take a look the first page of his mortgage fraud indictment again...

Take a look at those two items indicated by the red arrows, co-defendant David Lam and a community called Versailles.  For those of you who've been following another federal mortgage fraud case involving another veteran City of Miami firefighter, the name and community may sound familiar, anyone remember Thomas Thelusma?  Here's a copy of his indictment...

Thomas Thelusma Federal Mortgage Fraud Indictment

It looks like Veldora Arthur's co-defendant Patrick Brinson was also indicted in a mortgage fraud involving homes in the Versailles community in Palm Beach along with David Lam who was indicted with Thomas Thelusma in another alleged mortgage fraud scheme in the very same community!  That's a tight group of people over at the city of Miami fire department, isn't it now?

What remains to be seen though is how much longer will she be on paid administrative leave?  Or worse, what happens if she's found guilty?  Will the she still collect a paycheck from the city if she's behind bars?  Oh well.  Veldora's trial is just around the corner, we'll see what happens soon enough.