Thursday, January 31, 2013

Where are all the South Miami cops going?



I overheard some interesting statistics yesterday regarding the City of South Miami police department.  This 2.5 square mile city has a police department that consists of 35 officers and detectives, seems a bit much for such a small city, but whatever.  What's interesting though is that recently, three of those thirty five have left and six more have applied for work in different police departments.  A quick glance at the Leoaffairs.com South Miami forum shows several thread topics where cops are discussing looking at work in other departments.

So what's the deal here?  Based on these stats nearly 26% of the pd is either gone or about to leave, that doesn't say much about the pd and those who lead it.  Could it have something to do with the Chief's overreaching political machinations or just low moral based on the poor leadership under the current administration?  

Regardless, whenever you have a quarter of your police force heading out the door, that kind of turnover is never good for the city...

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tales of extended detention and botched penile implant surgery from Krome detention center...



You all may remember the story of former South Miami resident, Warren Papove, the local handy man who as a result of the war between the police chief and several of the towns residents was unjustly detained and subsequently sent to Krome detention center for deportation because of an old minor drug possession charge.  Despite the fact that the deportation case against Mr. Papove was dismissed back in August of last year, Mr. Papove is still sitting in Krome.  

Mr. Papove has managed to send us a few letters during his detention, most recently he wrote us about a botched detainee penile implant surgery, from his letter...
Against my strongest warnings a friend has done it. Self surgery bordering on self mutilation. Listening to jerks who've spent most of their lives in prisons, a friend has gone ahead with penile implant surgery, inserting a heart carved out go dice using the concrete wall to shape it. Instead of using a razor he used a semi-sharpened fork to make the incision. I've seen the wound. It's a botched job and he's torn up. he now listened to my advice and removed it. I've told him to stop touching it with anything after using "the cream" as a disinfectant and to pray like hell it doesn't get infected. If it does he'll have to go to medical for proper antibiotics. I've told him that infections that make it up to the heart kill you and prevention can mean loss of limb. He's scared now and the jerks are mostly laughing at him.     If ICE gave a crap about safety they'd institute a one fork tray in, one fork tray out procedures in the cafeteria. One or two people could do this. Instead we have 1/2 dozen or more guards in a search line outside the cafeteria.      After passing through the search line the birds are fed bread, lots of it. Back at the Pod 1/2 chickens, burritos, Jamaican patties, Pop Tarts are eaten or traded. I could smuggle as many utensils as I wanted to. There's food machines (profitable) on the Pods so the search lines are not about health/hygiene issues. Job securitty? Prioritizing profit and job security over detainee safety leads to the ultimate release of a detainee needlessly infuriated and humiliated. Is that to society's benefit? It also leads to self-performed surgeries using plastic forks as scalpels.

Jesus christ!  What the fuck?!  Mr. Papove goes on to say...
As for myself, I'm starting to come out of a 'Holiday in Krome' depression, I think. Every day brings new challenges to my sanity and composure. This is Day 182. People who've served time might laugh, but they might not fully understand. They knew their sentences. They weren't subject to multiple unannounced transfers to unknown places. Their reason for incarceration was being found to be guilty of something, so they shouldn't be laughing too loudly.
Incredible.  This poor man has been sitting in Krome for over 200 days now and still no idea when he's going to be released or deported.  Needless to say, there are several South Miami residents as well as a few good attorneys working diligently on getting Mr. Papove out of the hell that he's currently in.  I can't fathom how the political operatives who got Mr. Papove to where he is right now can possibly live with themselves, especially since one of them is a known drug user themselves and considering that it's a minor drug possession charge that has Mr. Papove where he is today.

Friday, January 25, 2013

An opinion from the Ethics Commission, definitely one for the WTF files...



So it looks like someone from over at the City of South Miami requested an opinion from the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission, considering that the opinion was regarding whether or not the city could continue doing business with one of their vendors after the vendor hired the police chief's son, it only stands to reason that the person asking for the opinion was none other than the chief himself, Orlando Martinez de Castro...


Let's take a look at the opinion issued by the ethics commission yesterday...
In response to a Request for Opinion (RQO 12-14), the Ethics Commission determined that the City of South Miami may continue to purchase police equipment from a company that employs the son of the Chief of Police.  Lou’s Police & Security Equipment has been a vendor with the city for more than two years and the purchasing contract was most recently approved on Oct. 1, 2012.  A month later, Christopher Martinez de Castro, son of Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro, was hired by Lou’s as Vice President of International Sales.  Because the son has no direct or indirect financial ownership in the company and will not be involved in the local contract, or profit from it, there is no prohibition from the police department continuing to do business with the firm.
Huh?  So let's get this straight, the City of South Miami does business with Lou's Police & Security Equipment and has done so for several years.  Most recently on October 1, 2012, the City of South Miami approved a purchasing contract with the vendor and then just a month later, the police chief's son gets hired by the vendor that was just awarded the purchasing contract as the "Vice President of International sales?"  While the chief's son may not be "involved in the local contract or profit from it" doesn't giving the chief's son a job after getting a contract from the city sound like a classic example of quid pro quo?  Honestly, WTF?


I don't know what's more surprising, the fact that the City's vendor hired the Chief's son or that all of a sudden the chief is concerned about getting opinions from the ethics commission!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Going after the people who really caused the worldwide economic meltdown.


Let's take a break from the two and a half square mile circus known as South Miami for a day.  A few years back we wrote a piece called "The unindicted co-conspirators in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud case..." where we discussed how to date we had only seen the government go after low level players in the mortgage fraud meltdown and how not a single lender had been held responsible for their actions.  From the post...
These lenders were at the center of each and every mortgage fraud case I've written about, none of the frauds we've discussed could have been possible without these guys. They all knew what was going on, the paperwork proves it. Even worse, the entire real estate bubble happened because of their lax lending standards and the fact that they looked the other way while their pockets were getting full as a result of them bundling the garbage loans that they wrote into worthless triple A rated mortgage backed securities.

Haven't we had enough of street level mortgage fraudsters getting racked over the coals during these nonsensical mortgage fraud trials? When is a prosecutor going to have enough balls to go after the real criminals that got us to where we are today?
The other night, PBS's fantastic investigative program, Frontline, finally did a piece on the very subject we wrote about, it was called "The Untouchables".  The episode can be found here on the PBS website and here's the episode itself, trust me, it's a must watch!


Watch The Untouchables on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The height of stupidity...




As much as I hate to feed the troll that's been leaving the nasty comments over the last few days worth of posts, I think it's important to show just how hypocritical the posts are.  Take for example this masterpiece where I'm accused of sitting around smoking pot with the City of South Miami's mayor and several commissioners...
Must have been having another all-night smoker with Harris,Welch, and Stoddard...Remember "Puff Puff Give...Puff Puff Give"
That's all well and dandy, nothing wrong with people who smoke pot I suppose although there is a small detail that upsets the whole theory of an "all-night smoker", first off, I don't smoke nor do I do any kind of drugs, not now or ever.  Secondly, I'll let one of the people the commenter accused of being involved in that "all-night smoker", Eda Harris, wife of Commissioner Harris, explain for themselves...
now in regards to the topic of POT. let me refresh YOUR memory, since you know it up close and personal. here it is: more than a decade ago i almost died. i had a very aggressive viral pericarditis, that went on misdiagnosed and mistreated for almost a year. by the time my chest was full with fluid, they finally diagnosed it and after spending time in most of the hospitals in miami, it permanently damaged my heart and my lungs. since then i can not even be close to any place or anybody who smokes ANYTHING, let alone smoking pot myself. so nobody in MY household smokes anything at all.
WHOOPS!  All I've been hearing from the Chief's cronies over the last year about Commissioner Harris and his wife is how they have an insatiable appetite for pot and now this?  If indeed Mrs. Harris can't be anywhere near pot or any kind of smoke, what kind of potheads could they be?  That makes this statement from the commenter even more hilarious...
I'm sorry if I don't believe every rumor, innuendo, and hearsay that a "Blogger" puts on the web.

LOL!  It looks like the one spreading rumor, innuendo and hearsay is none other than our favorite anonymous commenter!  Let's not forget this...
Wait, do the idiots that read this crap actually believe that Mike the one sided piece of crap does his homework? Mike couldn't investigate himself out of a paper bag.
How's that again?  Go back and read the facts and documents that I've posted over the last year regarding the tag agency case and then tell me who can't investigate himself out of a paper bag.  And lastly I'll leave you all with this gem from our esteemed commenter...
Talk about being one sided and protecting idiots like the Mayors puppet Welch. Where have you seen anything about Welch's ethics complaint that he plead no contest to and paid his fine? You won't find it here.
You don't say?  Take a peek out of the wet paper bag you're in and use either Google or our blogs own search function, if you did have a modicum of common sense you'd find yourself landed on this page from June 27, 2012...


WHOOPS!  WTF is that you say?  Whatever the fuck ever.  I'm done with your stupid ass and your grossly misinformed "rumor, innuendo, and hearsay".


Now, here's the takeaway from this whole bout of nastiness.  We've been given logs of when and how our dear commenter has been online reading our blog and commenting, how does this guy have so much time on his hands to make all these comments?  Shouldn't he be doing something worthwhile while on the clock?  While I have all the commenter's pertinent information, I'm not going to post it here, there will be a time and place to expose him, we'll deal with him then.  

Thanks to our friends over at Verizon who prove once again, there really is no such thing as anonymity on the web...

Monday, January 21, 2013

Should I stop blogging?


Over the last several days, we've gotten some nasty derogatory comments on our previous posts, here's a few of them...
Hey Mikey, maybe we need that Prosecutor that charged Aaron Swartz down here to get Chief Martinez de Castro...Huh? You would love that, right Mikey...No Innocent people being railroaded in your blog, right Mikey?? Must have been having another all-night smoker with Harris,Welch, and Stoddard...Remember "Puff Puff Give...Puff Puff Give" 
Then this... 
I'm sorry if I don't believe every rumor, innuendo, and hearsay that a "Blogger" puts on the web.He put's alot of emphasis on future insider info, but then goes nowhere with it. Only 1 person has given deposition to the Ethics Committee. They have already seen that this case is going nowhere, so they are postponing it until summer to see if someone "Legitimate" would come forward with "Real" info. Not Bloggers Rumors or Hearsay. Capiche??
And finally this... 
Wait, do the idiots that read this crap actually believe that Mike the one sided piece of crap does his homework? Mike couldn't investigate himself out of a paper bag. Talk about conspiracy theories that never come true. Talk about being one sided and protecting idiots like the Mayors puppet Welch. Where have you seen anything about Welch's ethics complaint that he plead no contest to and paid his fine? You won't find it here. What about one of the three poor little tag agency employees who lives in a marijuana grow house where her husband was arrested for possession. Nope, you won't find it here either. And what about the leaving the scene of accident that was so minor that she only received a ticket. What the great investigator Mike failed to tell you idiots is that the ticket was a criminal citation and in fact the pot head was arrested and will have to answer for what she did in a courtroom. No, you won't see that here because Mike is a one sided piece of garbage. And as for the city blocking your website, don't kid yourself Mike, your not that special, they blocked the use of the Internet so that the cops could spend their time doing their job and stop eating shit on the Internet while on duty. But what do you expect from a person that hates authority because he was arrested for fraud. And his business practices are great. Read what people actually say about his business practices. Mike has zero for credibility and does of you that follow his bullshit are as dumb as he is. Tell us Mike, when is it that the Chief is suppose to be fired? I mean you've been saying his day's are numbered forever now. Because with his contract it appears he's not going anywhere. Unless of course the city idiots pay his contract off. Can you say $400,00.00. Why haven't you said anything about the Chief's contract Mike? Is it that you don't know? Or is it that you don't want the idiots that read your crap to know the truth. Only two reasons the Chief can get fired Mike, a misdemeanor moral fortitude offense or a felony. Does your dumb ass belive that ethic violations result in either of the two? Your so stupid is pathetic. New City Manager, same results. The Chief isn't going anywhere unless of course, they breach his contract and get sued for even more money. Do yourself a favor Mike, write about something you know. Try writing about fraud, lies and conspiracy theories, you seem to be an expert at it. You see Mike, the thing is that no matter what you say or what you do, you will always be a guy that broke the law, got caught and now you want to write shit about everyone in Law Enforcement and those who risk their life's to protect even you. I hope you don't look for help one day and the person who responds is one you have talked shit about. What a great example you are to your children. Yeah I know, you tell them your standing up for the little people. But we all know the truth, your a rat with a problem for authority. Hey Mike, try not to blame this on OMC, it wasn't him. Oh yeah, you don't care, it's not about the truth, it's about your theories..
Karma's a bitch ain't it Mike?
OH GOD!


Such harsh words, my feelings are genuinely hurt.  I especially love this part though...
...now you want to write shit about everyone in Law Enforcement and those who risk their life's to protect even you. I hope you don't look for help one day and the person who responds is one you have talked shit about.
It's funny cause every time I find myself in South Miami and see a member of the South Miami PD I walk over and politely engage them in a conversation about the chief and his administration.  Would you believe not a single one of them has anything good to say about their chief?  What's that all about?  Even worse is when you ask a black South Miami PD about the chief.  Give it a shot Mr. Anonymous commenter and see what you find, of course you won't because you already know what time it is.  

Our esteemed commenter leaves us with the following...
Karma's a bitch ain't it Mike?
Yes it is, that's right on the money and as far as having "..all night smokers...",
Unless of course the city idiots pay his contract off. Can you say $400,00.00. Why haven't you said anything about the Chief's contract Mike?
Any idiot that believes that bullshit must be smoking MAD TREES YO!

So I guess the conclusion is that we'll take a pass on quitting this blogging thing for now, once Orlando Martinez de Castro is gone, we'll revisit quitting but for now our esteemed commenter has done nothing but stoke the fire.  Keep those nasty comments coming cause Mikey likes it!





Thursday, January 17, 2013

…a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach.


That's the way the parents of Aaron Swartz, internet activist and founder of Reddit, described the system that criminally prosecuted their son and ultimately brought about his death.  Take a look at this video from CNN that lays out some of the back story...



The U.S. Attorneys office indicted Aaron computer fraud for stealing academic documents from MIT, his intent was to take the documents from a fee based service and post them online for free.  The charges the U.S. attorneys office filed carried a maximum of 30 years behind bars.  What's interesting about this case though is that even the institution the documents were stolen from didn't wan't Aaron charged criminally, regardless, the U.S. attorney decided to go forward pursue the charges.  Just another example of an out of control pig headed prosecutor.  Aaron's friend and former lawyer, Larry Lessig, sums it up the aftermath of Aaron's suicide best here...


“The Prosecutor As Bully” ~ Larry Lessig On Aaron Swartz

Boston Wiki Meetup

Some will say this is not the time. I disagree. This is the time when every mixed emotion needs to find voice.

Since his arrest in January, 2011, I have known more about the events that began this spiral than I have wanted to know. Aaron consulted me as a friend and lawyer. He shared with me what went down and why, and I worked with him to get help. When my obligations to Harvard created a conflict that made it impossible for me to continue as a lawyer, I continued as a friend. Not a good enough friend, no doubt, but nothing was going to draw that friendship into doubt.
The billions of snippets of sadness and bewilderment spinning across the Net confirm who this amazing boy was to all of us. But as I’ve read these aches, there’s one strain I wish we could resist:
Please don’t pathologize this story.
No doubt it is a certain crazy that brings a person as loved as Aaron was loved (and he was surrounded in NY by people who loved him) to do what Aaron did. It angers me that he did what he did. But if we’re going to learn from this, we can’t let slide what brought him here.
First, of course, Aaron brought Aaron here. As I said when I wrote about the case (when obligations required I say something publicly), if what the government alleged was true — and I say “if” because I am not revealing what Aaron said to me then — then what he did was wrong. And if not legally wrong, then at least morally wrong. The causes that Aaron fought for are my causes too. But as much as I respect those who disagree with me about this, these means are not mine.
But all this shows is that if the government proved its case, some punishment was appropriate. So what was that appropriate punishment? Was Aaron a terrorist? Or a cracker trying to profit from stolen goods? Or was this something completely different?
Early on, and to its great credit, JSTOR figured “appropriate” out: They declined to pursue their own action against Aaron, and they asked the government to drop its. MIT, to its great shame, was not as clear, and so the prosecutor had the excuse he needed to continue his war against the “criminal” who we who loved him knew as Aaron.
Here is where we need a better sense of justice, and shame. For the outrageousness in this story is not just Aaron. It is also the absurdity of the prosecutor’s behavior. From the beginning, the government worked as hard as it could to characterize what Aaron did in the most extreme and absurd way. The “property” Aaron had “stolen,” we were told, was worth “millions of dollars” — with the hint, and then the suggestion, that his aim must have been to profit from his crime. But anyone who says that there is money to be made in a stash of ACADEMIC ARTICLES is either an idiot or a liar. It was clear what this was not, yet our government continued to push as if it had caught the 9/11 terrorists red-handed.
Aaron had literally done nothing in his life “to make money.” He was fortunate Reddit turned out as it did, but from his work building the RSS standard, to his work architecting Creative Commons, to his work liberating public records, to his work building a free public library, to his work supporting Change Congress/FixCongressFirst/Rootstrikers, and then Demand Progress, Aaron was always and only working for (at least his conception of) the public good. He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you.
For remember, we live in a world where the architects of the financial crisis regularly dine at the White House — and where even those brought to “justice” never even have to admit any wrongdoing, let alone be labeled “felons.”
In that world, the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a “felon.” For in the 18 months of negotiations, that was what he was not willing to accept, and so that was the reason he was facing a million dollar trial in April — his wealth bled dry, yet unable to appeal openly to us for the financial help he needed to fund his defense, at least without risking the ire of a district court judge. And so as wrong and misguided and fucking sad as this is, I get how the prospect of this fight, defenseless, made it make sense to this brilliant but troubled boy to end it.
Fifty years in jail, charges our government. Somehow, we need to get beyond the “I’m right so I’m right to nuke you” ethics that dominates our time. That begins with one word: Shame.
One word, and endless tears.



Wednesday, January 16, 2013

An interesting thought...



I lay awake last night thinking about the Airways Auto Tag mess, the three girls that were railroaded by our favorite police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro and asshat former MDPD detective Jorge Baluja when it dawned on me that the investigation into the alleged theft of tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars from the tag agency was done all wrong.

Considering the alleged theft occurred using computers and the internet, it seems to me that the jurisdiction wasn't correct.  See, the agency that investigated and subsequently arrested the three tellers was Miami Dade County, while they have the authority to do anything throughout the county, I would think that because the wires (internet, phone lines etc) were used, the proper jurisdiction would have been federal.  Take a look at the federal wire fraud statute and tell me what you think...

18 U.S.C. § 1343 provides:
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.[3]
See what I mean?  So why weren't the feds called in to investigate this case? It's simple.  If the feds did come in they would have done a proper investigation and Chief Martinez de Castro wouldn't have been able to influence the investigation the way he did with the county cops.  More importantly, I'm sure the feds don't have anyone nearly as stupid as former MDPD detective Jorge Baluja on their payroll!

Now, go back and review the events surrounding the Airways Auto Tag mess, tell me, how do you think a real cop would perceive things?  I wonder if it's worthwhile to give the feds a call.  What do you guys think?

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

We're banned AGAIN!




How do you know that you're getting under the skin of the people that you're writing about?  Simple, they do whatever they can to stop your message from getting out!  Much like the way our website was banned from the City of Miami computers a few years back, one of our readers tells us that when you now go to a City of South Miami computer and try to get on to our site, you get this message...


What a shame!!  A few years ago I might have been upset but today with the proliferation of smart phones, I don't thin it really makes that much of a difference.  With that said though, anyone want to guess who's got control of the IT department over at the city?  If you guessed fatman, you guessed right!  I'm told that the IT department is run by a friend/hack of our favorite embattled police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro.  No worries folks, the fact that we're banned from the city computers just goes to show how much of a pain in his ass we've become.

Thanks to the reader that sent me the screenshot from their city computer, as always if any of you folks over at the city, whether at city hall or at the police department, have a tip for me, feel free to drop me an email at thestrawbuyer@gmail.com or if you'd like to remain anonymous, use the services of www.silentsender.com.

Now, moving on, some of you have expressed displeasure with the postponement of the chief's ethics hearing into late spring or early summer.  Don't fret as the postponement doesn't mean that the chief is out of the woods, in fact the upside to the delay is that those working to oust the chief have more time to gather and present more evidence and testimony of wrongdoing to the ethics commission and other authorities and trust me, there's a lot more dirt on the chief coming.

On another note, we had an interesting comment on one of last weeks posts, take a look for yourselves...

AnonymousJanuary 9, 2013 at 8:49 PMSo how did the interview go between the Chief and New Times?

What exactly was that about?  Did the Chief interview the embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro and if so, what exactly happened?  I'll do a little digging and see what we can find out....

Monday, January 14, 2013

So what about that ethics hearing that was supposed to happen this month?


Several months ago the Miami Dade Ethics Commission sent out a press release stating that they were going to move forward with a public hearing into the alleged ethics violations committed by City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro.  In case you missed it, here it is again...
Police Chief faces ethics violations
The police chief of South Miami is facing four charges of violating ethics laws for steering city business to his wife’s companies. The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust (COE) today found probable cause that Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro violated South Miami’s “prohibition on transacting business with the city,” as well the County Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance’s “prohibition on exploitation of official position.” The complaint against Martinez de Castro (C 12-31) cites three times during 2011when the South Miami Police Department contracted with Airways Auto Tag Agency for tags and titles for forfeiture vehicles. Airways is owned by Ileana Martinez de Castro, the police chief’s wife. She also owns Beck & Lo’s Insurance Agency, Inc. Last April, Chief de Castro used his city e-mail account to solicit business for his wife’s agency. The case will proceed to a public hearing.
Shortly after the press release, our sources from within the ethics commission told us that the case was going to proceed to a public hearing at some point during January 2013.  Well, guess what?  Here we are smack dab in the middle of January 2013 and I haven't heard word about an ethics commission hearing regarding the police chief.  WTF is that about?


In fact, to add insult to injury, last Friday I was told that the hearing has been postponed till some time this summer!  HUH?


How the hell could that be?  From our standpoint, this seemed like a slam dunk, open and shut case, what in the hell is Joe Centerino and his cohorts on the ethics commission thinking about?  Isn't it amazing how quickly the ethics commission acts with certain politicians and how they drag their feet with others?  Could the ethics commission's decision to postpone the hearing have anything to do with embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro's relationship with Centorino's former boss and state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle?  Who knows, at the very least, this is a disappointing turn for Centorino's commission and possibly just another example of how when it comes to "let em go Joe" nothing has changed.

We'll drop the Ethics Commission an email and see what they have to say.

Friday, January 11, 2013

A rumor heard around the City of South Miami PD and a correction from yesterday's post.



There's a nasty rumor going on over at the City of South Miami PD the last couple of days.  Our sources at the PD are suggesting that embattled police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro, is going to be suspended by the new city manager.  Like I said, at this point it's nothing but an unsubstantiated rumor and until which time I can provide some sort of proof we should treat it as such.  My sources also tell me that there are several members of the South Miami PD brass that are angling for the chief's job, I have to wonder though, considering that the chief has stacked his management team chock full of cronies, would the commission allow his replacement to be chosen from within the ranks?


On another note, the Miami Herald reporter that I quote yesterday as saying "Commissioner Harris was involved in a hit and run" contacted me and asked me to make a correction.  According the the Herald reporter the PD source told them that...
 "A South Miami commissioner was involved in a hit and run near Dadeland Mall".  
While it's not exactly what I had quoted, the source's intent was the same, to create a scandal when there wasn't one.

Stay tuned...


Thursday, January 10, 2013

How not to make friends over at the City of South Miami Commission!


Over the last several years embattled City of South Miami police chief has enjoyed the support of the city commission, that is until we started shedding light on his nefarious schemes and unethical, perhaps illegal, activities.  Even after we exposed the chief's activities, he still enjoyed the support of three of the five city commissioners, specifically commissioners Newman, Liebman and Harris.  While commissioners Liebman and Newman still support the chief, recently Commissioner Harris has dropped his support for the chief and has become the swing vote in a number of important votes involving the chief, namely removing the code enforcement department and the city's parking department from the command and control of the chief, not to mention Tuesday's critical vote of no confidence.

With Commissioner Harris now firmly in the anti Orlando Martinez de Castro camp, the chief seems like he's now turned on his former ally.  You may remember that the chief and his cronies have been trying to flex their muscles on the other two commission members who were working to get rid of him, namely the Warren Papove mess that was used to some how exact revenge on Commissioner Welsh and that whole circus surrounding the break in at Mayor Stoddard's home that was designed to slander and embarrass the mayor. 

So logic would dictate that now that Commissioner Harris has switched sides, it's time for the chief to go after him, the way he chose to do so was rather embarrassing and fairly transparent.  The story starts with Commissioner Harris' wife Eda visiting a shopping mall called Dadeland Station located at 8312 South Dixie Highway.  At some point while leaving the mall, Mrs. Harris unknowingly bumped into a car parked next to hers, after pulling out of the spot, she then proceeded to go home.  A short while later, a Miami Dade Police Officer arrives at Mrs. Harris' home and informs her that she had bumped into a parked car while pulling out of the parking garage at the mall and issues her a ticket for leaving the scene of the accident.  To understand the severity of the "accident", one must first look at a photo of Mrs. Harris' car...


Upon first glance, there is no visible damage to the car.  After a closer look at the left front of the vehicle, there appears to be a couple of minor scratches to the front bumper, as always click on the photo to enlarge...


No big deal right?  It's barely noticeable  not to mention that the minor damage that's visible will more than likely buff out.  Whatever, shit happens, right?  The Miami Dade police officer goes ahead and writes a "Florida uniform traffic citation" that cites Mrs. Harris for "leaving the scene of an accident" which cites Florida statute 316.061(1) whose penalty is as follows:
A person who violates this subsection commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, $5 shall be added to a fine imposed pursuant to this section, which $5 shall be deposited in the Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund.
Big deal right?  Here's the ticket in question:


After receiving the ticket, Mrs. Harris is told that it would take three to four weeks to get a police report and that she should call the MDPD with the case number in order to check when the police report is ready.  All well and good right?  This is where things get interesting, now I'm told that two, you read that right, TWO city of South Miami police cars roll up to the Harris residence to deal with this situation.  Does that sound reasonable?  Four police cars in total roll up to a sitting commissioners home for a county cop write a ticket for an incident that occurred outside their jurisdiction?  WTF?  Even better, after being told by the MDPD that there wouldn't be a police report four several weeks, out of no where the City of South Miami pd prepares a report for the same incident on the SAME DAY!  WTF?!!!  Here's the City of South Miami police report...


But now according to the South Miami pd, this is no longer a matter of "leaving the scene of an accident" but instead a "hit and run".  Now, what comes to mind when you hear "hit and run"?  For me I picture something like this...


Not something like this...


Even better, according to the South Miami PD report, this accident didn't just involve Commissioner Harris' wife, they some how managed to get the Commissioner himself in to the report!  Now according the South Miami police report, one would be led to believe that the commissioner himself was involved in the accident.


WTF?!  What in the hell is this all about?  None of it made sense to me until I was told that there was a call from one of the local police departments to the Miami Herald stating that "Commissioner Harris was involved in a hit and run" after which the Herald dispatched one of their reporters to the South Miami PD to find out exactly what had gone on.  

Lame, lame, lame lame Chief.  This is the poorest excuse I've ever seen for creating a scandal.  What else would you expect though from a chief who's just weeks or perhaps days away from getting fired?  

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

City of South Miami commission decides that they have "no confidence" in their embattled police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro!



Just like that at Tuesdays city commission meeting, the commission voted, 3/2, that they do not have confidence in the city's embattled police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro.  In my opinion that moves the chief one step closer to the door.  I guess you guys know how we feel about the subject...


After the "no confidence" vote, the commission went on to discuss taking away the control of the parking department from the chief.  What leaves me baffled is the assertions from Commissioner Newman and some of her cohorts that somehow the chief was responsible for boosting parking revenues and that the chief is on call 24/7 in case there's anything awry with the parking in the City of South Miami.  WTF?  Honestly, it's one thing to have us believe that the chief single handedly stopped all the crime in the city, but how the hell do you expect us to believe that parking revenues are up because of the chief's running of the parking department?  And once again, just like that, poof!  The commission went on to take away control of the parking department from the chief!

So what do you think chief?  Did you ever think a little over a year ago when we started writing about your wife's tag agency and the railroading of the poor tellers that you blamed for stealing tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars from her rinky dink three window tag agency that we'd end up here?  

Karma's a bitch, isn't it Chief?

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

City of South Miami Commission calls for a vote of no confidence on embattled chief Orlando Martinez de Castro!






As the title states, our sources tell us that the city of South Miami city commission will be calling for a vote of no confidence regarding embattled police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro.

I'm not exactly sure what the ramifications of such a vote would be if successful but one thing I can tell you for sure is that if the vote goes against the chief, it puts him one step closer to the door!

Here is the add on agenda item for this evening's commission meeting...


Orlando Martinez de Castro Lack of Confidence Resolution City of South Miami

Stay tuned, I'll update as soon as there's more info...

Monday, January 7, 2013

The start of a new year and a proposition for the Martinez de Castro clan.



Party's over.  After spending the last two or so weeks lounging around and doing nothing, it's back to the grind.  I apologize to our readers for not posting as I had promised during the holiday break, trust me, I really did need the time off.

Now, during the holiday break I had plenty of time to think things over, especially regarding the City of South Miami Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro and his upcoming hearing with the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission.  Since we started to write about the Chief and his wife's tag agency over a year ago, it never once dawned on me to see things from the Chief's perspective, I've always approached the subject of the chief's behavior and the situation with his wife's tag agency from my perspective, that is the perspective I was able develop from my examination of the documents associated with the various cases and incidents.  Perhaps there's an explanation for everything?  After all these years of writing about how unfair the cops and prosecutors are, have I found myself guilty of the same faults that I've accused them of making?  Whatever happened to "the presumption of innocence?"

With that said, I'd like to start the new year off on a new leaf and would like to afford both the Chief and his wife the opportunity to explain themselves.  I know that might sound a little outrageous to some, why would they want to talk to some jerk with a blog on the last page of the internet?  Let's not forget that it was our humble little blog that put the chief in the position he's in today where he risks losing his job if he's found guilty of the ethics violations that were levied against him and as far as his wife's tag agency and the three girls that they accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from, I suspect if not for our actions throughout the course of last year, the three girls would probably already be serving time behind bars.

So how about Chief?  I'd be more than willing to listen if you'd like to talk.  I'm sure by now you know how to reach me, I'll be waiting...