Not exactly a surprise but after a meeting yesterday with MDPD director James Loftus, Frank Vecin tendered his resignation. We first met Mr. Vecin a few months back when he was at the center of the green fund mismanagement scandal then last Friday we find Mr. Vecin neck deep in another scandal. Once again from the WFOR story by Jim Defede...
Frank Vecin, the Miami-Dade police commander who has allegedly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by developers to expedite their request for permits and provide access to top county administrators, has agreed to retire.
The announcement followed a CBS4 News investigation last week into Vecin's role as a consultant for some of the county's biggest developers. His ties to those developers are also the focus of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Miami-Dade State Attorney and the county's Inspector General.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez called Vecin's actions on behalf of developers "troubling and disappointing" and said he agreed with Vecin's decision to step down.
"He realized he had become a distraction for the Miami-Dade Police Department, a place he called home for 20 years, and that it was the right thing to do," Alvarez told CBS4 News. "He wasn't kicked out the door, he made that decision."
Following the CBS4 News reports last week, Vecin met with Police Director Jim Loftus Tuesday morning. Vecin then spoke at length with Alvarez, who has been friends with Vecin for nearly two decades.
"He was again very forthright," Alvarez said of his conversation with Vecin. "He said, `You know I realize it's time to go.' He was relieved that he had made the decision and that he was going to get on with his life."
While it is not uncommon for developers to hire consultants to assist them in navigating the maze of county permitting procedures, it is highly unusual for that person to be a current county employee.
At the same time Vecin was assisting various developers as CEO and President of Oak Tree Development he was also in charge of the police department's Intergovernmental Bureau, which is responsible for investigating illegal contractors and criminal violations of the county's building code.
In other words, he was being paid by the very same developers and builders his police unit might be called upon to investigate. Instead it was the developers who found themselves with a valuable friend in the police department.
Alvarez said he had no idea Vecin was working as a consultant for local developers and lobbying county employees on their behalf.
"He made a mistake then there are consequences to pay," Alvarez said.
That's all well and good but don't you find it strange that considering Mayor Alvarez and Mr. Vecin were friends for over twenty years that the Mayor had no idea what kind of business he was engaged in outside of the police department?
Alvarez said he had no idea Vecin was working as a consultant for local developers and lobbying county employees on their behalf.
Does that sound plausible? Anything is possible, but it seems highly unlikely. Also in the news, MDPD Sgt Dennis Morales gets fined $1500 for working in Panama while on paid leave from the PD. Morales, former chief of staff for Mayor Alvarez and another member of his inner circle was removed from his post and sent back to work at the PD. When was the last time this many people close to the mayor started falling by the wayside like this? First Major Bernie Gonzalez retires amidst allegations of wrong doing, then self styled mortgage fraud czar Glenn Theobald and now Frank Vecin?For those who doubted that Director Loftus was cleaning house over at the PD, what do you have to say now? True to form, the Miami Herald just picks up the story of Mr Vecin's consulting business... WELCOME TO LAST WEEK!
Back to mortgage fraud! A quick review of John Arthur Romneys court docket shows that Mr. Romney has asked for a modification of his bond while he's awaiting trial...
You all remember Mr. Vecin of the Miami Dade County Police Department don't you? We discussed Mr. Vecin and the MDPD Green fund a few months back, now it seems like Mr. Vecin has found himself in quite a mess! Jim Defede does a great job covering the story here, from the CBS4 story...
A Miami Dade police commander, with close ties to Mayor Carlos Alvarez, has allegedly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by developers to expedite their request for permits and provide access to top county administrators, according to a CBS4 News investigation.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of $625,000 from one developer alone since 2007 to be exact! Close ties to Mayor Carlos Alvarez no less!
We digress...
Miami Dade Police Chief Frank Vecin is now under criminal investigation by both the Miami Dade State Attorney and the Inspector General's Office.
That explains all the blog traffic we've been getting from different state and federal law enforcement agencies googling his name.
Richard Sharpstein, an attorney for The Terra Group, one of the developers that hired Vecin, acknowledged that the developer had recently been served a subpoena for contracts and financial records relating to Terra's involvement with Vecin.
No es bueno...
...he was also in charge of the police department's Intergovernmental Bureau, which is responsible for investigating illegal contractors and criminal violations of the county's building code.
Can you say conflict of interest?!
In one instance, according to e-mails obtained by CBS4 News, the Terra Group used Vecin's clout and status inside the police department to initiate an investigation into a condo board member who was giving the developer trouble.
WHOOPSIE!
...Vecin's fees would range anywhere from $2,500 a month to $50,000 a month depending on what he was asked to do.
SHAZAM! When the hell was all this work being done? Wasn't the PD job a day job? WTF?
This is not the first time Vecin's conduct has been questioned. Earlier this year, CBS4 News exposed questionable spending by the police department's environmental task force. Vecin was in charge of the fund and monies that were supposed to be used to investigate environmental crimes – such as illegal dumping – were instead used to purchase new computers and hybrid SUVs for police commanders. Vecin even provided one of the SUVs to the mayor. After the news reports surfaced, control of the environmental funds was taken away from Vecin.
Uh, yeah?! You all remember former chief legal counsel for the MDPD Glenn Theobald and that "Green Fund" mess don't you?
The county ethics commission even goes so far as to tell Mr. Vecin...
"As a county employee you are not allowed to interact with county officials or county employees representing third party clients,"
In case he didn't get the message the first time, the ethics commission made sure to tell him again the next day...
"I just want to reiterate that you are not permitted to have conversations with county employees or officials at any point in time as a representative of the owners,"
What the hell is going on over at the PD? How are all these high ranking cops finding the time to fight crime and run other businesses? Considering that according to this report Mr. Vecin was getting paid as much as $50k per month, is it conceivable that he was doing the work to earn that money during breaks or days off from his job at the PD? WTF people?! We're in the throws of one of the worst economic downturns in the history of our country and we have people working part time at the PD while making up to $50k per month at their day job full time at the PD that are pulling down $50k per month on the side? Come on folks, enough is enough!
Considering how long Mr. Vecin has been at the PD, the question that begs to be asked is does he have enough dirt on the command staff to stop any kind of meaningful investigation into his "side" business and the allegations of wrong doing or will the director of the Miami Dade Police Department, James Loftus take the initiative and root out this sort of corruption from his department?
Moving along, we've read several press releases stating that there was some sort of huge nationwide mortgage fraud crackdown, one account suggests that nearly 500 people were charged while another suggests that there were 1200 people charged? Regardless of whether it was 500 or 1200, the feds mean business, this isn't the old Koztrzewski/Baluja dog and pony show we're used to! In spite of the federal crackdown though, a quick look around Miami Dade county reveals the same characters that orchestrated these frauds still at work ripping people and banks off, just with a different bag of tricks...
Back to mortgage fraud hijinks on Monday, have a great weekend!
That's what we were told by one of our sources this morning. From what we were told, today will be Glenn Theobalds last day working for the MDPD. We've discussed Mr. Theobald before, he was the chief legal counsel of the Miami Dade Police Department as well as the man responsible for drafting and lobbying for Florida State Statute 817.545 and the creator of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force. To say that this comes as a surprise is an understatement. Take a look at Mr. Theobald testifying on January 14, 2010 before the Financial Crisis Inquiry commission in DC...
After watching Mr. Theobalds testimony, does he seem like someone that's going to resign his post just four months later? What the hell happened? Was it the MDPD Green Fund Scandal? Was it simply the new Miami Dade County Police Department Director James Loftus cleaning house? Considering the magnitude of what Mr. Theobald has accomplished in the field of mortgage fraud, how the hell was he allowed to resign, if indeed he did? Who's going to take his place that has his credentials and qualifications? It's a damn shame.
It's been a bad few weeks for the command staff over at the MDPD, partly because of the ruckus surrounding the misspending of the federally funded "green fund" set up to investigate environmental crimes. We discussed how some of that money was spent earlier this month, today the Miami Herald adds more fuel to the fire, take a look at some of the new expenditures that have come to light...
440 shirts purchased in two batches in February and May 2009. The ``Bureau Cubaveras,'' which came in colors from black to khaki, cost $13,150.
Oh really? I guess the environmental crimes investigators had to blend in to the surroundings right? No camouflage but Cubaveras instead? I guess the khaki ones were for investigatory work in "rural remote" locations?
Six flat screen TVs -- three Sharp 52-inch HDTV costing $1,986 apiece and three 32-inch units at $734 each. The TVs were requested to ``provide command personnel with up to date news . . . during any environmentally related emergency operations.'' The larger TVs came with motorized swing-arm mounts costing $1,117 each, allowing viewers to move the units' location by remote control.
TVs! WTF FOR!?
Uh huh. That speaks for itself, I couldn't make that $hit up.
More than 125 computers costing $173,296, including 107 Dell desktops and pricey laptops like Panasonic Toughbooks costing nearly $3,000 each. The purchases made in the past two years come after more than $95,000 was spent in 2007 on personal computers.
Miami-Dade police could not say where the computers are or who they were issued to. An internal county police investigation is under way to locate the items.
So the MDPD needs a team of investigators to figure out where the computers the environmental crimes unit had are?
More than $30,000 for 30 banquet tables and 152 chairs, two high pressure 24-inch misting fans ($2,169.93 each), two portable air conditioning units ($2,606 each) and tents.
Never know when they'll need to pitch a tent...
A Gmax II 5900 Airless Paint Sprayer for $3,802 and a RTX900 Texture Sprayer for $790.50. Both were requested to help with ``cleaning and restoring preserves, monuments and historical sites in Miami-Dade County.''
Sure, you know, ``cleaning and restoring preserves, monuments and historical sites in Miami-Dade County'' while conducting an environmental crimes investigation. Come on! You don't think this paint equipment ended up getting used by Mr. Vecin's construction business now do you?
At the end of the day, from what we've learned the millions of dollars spent from this fund had nothing to do with investigating "Environmental Crimes", this fund was used as nothing more than a personal slush fund for certain members of the command staff of the MDPD. As you know though, Mr. Vecin couldn't have pulled this off on his own, there had to be more than one person in the PD involved in this mess, we find this comment most telling...
Sadly, even Glenn Theobald, the department’s Legal Bureau chief, engaged in fine legal “wordsmithing” to accommodate Vecin’s request. A deed Theobald now surely regrets...
Let's not forget, if not for a memo authorizing the misspending of these funds, this mess may not have happened. For those of you thinking that the investigation of this mess is going to be left to the MDPD IA and then get swept under the rug, don't fret. Our sources tell us that the Feds are all over this mess and that if there was criminal misconduct, charges will be brought against those responsible.
So what about the new mortgage fraud case we discussed this week? What was the conclusion? The case was put together by the pride and joy of the MDPD Mortgage Fraud Task Force, Jorge Baluja and the subject was arrested on 6/12/2008 then the case was no actioned on 7/9/2008. Why? Because once the Detectives case was reviewed by a fair, unbiased, impartial prosecutor, the
prosecutor concluded that the case was either too weak to get a conviction or that the case (at least in our opinion) was nothing more than an unintelligible STEAMING PILE OF $HIT that could not be taken to trial. After all, we all read Detective Baluja's handy work, was anyone able to understand what the hell the case was about?
This is how things are supposed to work, unfortunately for the subject, he had to endure getting arrested but once the prosecutor reviewed the case, the charges were dropped. That's why the prosecutor is supposed to ONLY act as an advocate and is not supposed to have role as an investigator or administrator during the course of building the case. Makes sense, let the cops do the police work and let the lawyers do the damn lawyering! That's not what happened in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case though, ASA Bill Kostrzewski was intimately involved in every aspect of the investigation, writing witness statements, typing up arrests affidavits etc, basically stepping outside his role as an advocate and therefore losing the absolute immunity afforded to prosecutors in case there was any wrong doing. Why do you ask would a veteran prosecutor do such a thing? We'll answer that question next week.
Has anyone been able to make sense of the mortgage fraud case that we began discussing this past Tuesday? You remember, the case where the mortgage broker who denied a loan then got arrested for referring the loan to another broker who was able to get the transaction closed? Our interpretation of the arrest affidavit left us a bit perplexed, there seemed to be several key players involved in the transaction that weren't mentioned let alone arrested, namely the people simply identified as "co-def's", someone named "PETER" and the buyer for the home the state alleges was involved in the fraudulent transaction.
Let's give the state the benefit of the doubt and assume that the sellers of the home located at 610 NW 184th Terrace were not involved in the state alleged "fraud" even though the man who was arrested for referring the loan insists that the buyer and sellers were some how related.
According to the property appraisers office, the property is owned by Semone Smith who purchased the home for $280,000 on 11/07...
That would be the same transaction that is mentioned on the arrest affidavit as having occurred at HRH Title on 11/07. Since the state alleges that this transaction was fraudulent, surely the buyer, Semone Smith who participated in this alleged fraud, must have been arrested right? WRONG! Does that make sense? If indeed this was some sort of "organized scheme to defraud" the victims, why wasn't the buyer arrested? Let's not lose sight of the fact that over 2 years after the alleged fraud happened, the buyer that was involved in the fraudulent purchase STILL OWNS AND IS STILL LIVING IN THE HOME THAT WAS INVOLVED IN THE ALLEGED FRAUD!
Moving on, how about the principal of HRH Title, Nannette Colon? Nothing their either. What about the man simply referred to as "PETER" in the arrest affidavit? From our brief investigatory work we've deduced that "PETER" must have been Peter Lella, the owner of Syracuse Capital Management, the mortgage brokers who got the loan financed, so was he arrested? NOPE! Believe it or not, from what we've been able to see through researching the file, the only person that was arrested in this case was THE POOR MORTGAGE BROKER THAT DENIED THE LOAN THEN REFERRED IT TO ANOTHER MORTGAGE BROKER! Once again, we defer to our expert mortgage fraud investigator to give an opinion of Detective Baluja's work on this case, his opinion can be found here...
No biggie, just another botched mortgage fraud investigation, another persons life permanently altered, just another day at work for Detective Jorge Baluja. We'll discuss how this case ended and why tomorrow. We mentioned earlier this week that the Chief Legal Counsel of the MDPD, Glenn Theobald was in some sort of trouble over the authorization of questionable spending by the MDPD of monies from a federal trust fund set aside for the investigation of environmental crimes. Somehow the local media has been very quiet about this subject and aside from our sources, we haven't heard anything anywhere regarding this story, that is until last night when we caught this on the evening news...
We discussed a mortgage fraud story yesterday that didn't make any sense to either us or the poor guy that got arrested. The story came to us in the form of an email and got our curiosity going so we went down to the Miami Dade County Criminal courthouse to see what was in the case file in order to get a better understanding of what the case was about. Unfortunately after reading the arrest affidavit, we got more confused. See for yourselves, as always, click on the image for a larger view...
Let's break it down...
On the above date, the victims advised that they attended a closing for the sale of their home located at 610 NW 184 Terr at HRH title service. The victims stated that they contacted the Co-Def in regards to helping them sell their home. At some point during the sales process, the Co-Def approached the Def and asked if the company he works at was interested in this mortgage transaction. The def (stated during previous interview) that he could not get the loan approved by his lender so he referred the Co-Def to another Co-Def (mortgage broker) at Syracuse Capital Management.
Ok, the report identifies a Defendant (the man who's email we discussed yesterday) and then identifies two co defendants, one that could possibly be a realtor (who else would help the victims sell their home?) while the other co defendant is identified as being a "mortgage broker".
The def stated at the previous interview that he was paid $1500.00 by the Co-Def (Syracuse Capital Management) for sending him this fraudulent mortgage transaction. The interview was stopped and the Def was advised of his Miranda Rights at which time he decided he wanted an attorney.
There's nothing wrong with a broker getting a commission for referring a loan, it happens all the time. Why the hell would this trigger the Detective to Mirandize the poor guy? Why the hell shouldn't he ask for an attorney at this point?! Oh, I forgot how our favorite mortgage fraud detective responds to people "lawyering up"!
When the victims arrived at the closing on November 15, 2007, also present at the closing was the Def and the Co-Def's, they were presented with paperwork stating that the house was selling for $280,000. Once the victim questioned the Co-Def in regards to the fraudulently inflated sales price of the home the Co-def stated not to worry because you are getting what you wanted for your house ($160,000).
This is starting to sound a little hokey right around here.
After the paperwork was signed, the Co-Def instructed the Def and Co-Def to accompany the victim to his bank and to obtain two checks from the fraudulently obtained proceeds. The Co-Def stated to the Def and Co-Def to make sure that one of the two checks that would be obtained from the victim could not be traced back to "PETER" The Co-Def then asked who would be taking the second victim to the bank at which time another Co-Def stated that he would be.
Have you all started to cry yet? Can you understand what the hell is going on here? If we're reading right, we now have the Defendant, Co-Def who was helping the victims sell their home (perhaps a realtor?), a second co-def (who may have been previously referenced as the "mortgage broker"?), a third Co-Def who is simply referred to as "another Co-Def" and a fourth person simply referred to as "Peter". Moving along...
The victims advised that the Def & Co-Def's followed them to their respective banks in order to have them withdraw $50,265.84 that was obtained, via a wire transfer of $109,307.41, from HRH Title Service. When the Def & Co-Def's arrived at the banks with the victims the funds were available and the victims withdrew the money. One victim had it split into two different checks. Both checks were made payable to the Co-Def on in the amount of $28,000 and other for $22,265.84. Upon receiving the checks from the victim the Def & Co-Def left the bank.
Ok, so defendant so far has followed one of the two "victims" to a bank while a Co-Def picked up two checks totaling $50,265.84.
The second victim stated that she provided another Co-Def with one check from her bank for $50,265.84. That Co-Def then left the bank. The Co-Def deposited both checks he received into an account at another bank bearing his name.
The victim provides a check for $50,265.84 to ANOTHER Co-Def?! HUH?! Now I'm really confused, let's take a quick inventory of the people involved in this report. Here we go:
1- Victim #1 who was selling their half of their marital home. 2- Victim #2 who was selling their half of their marital home. 3- Defendant, this is the man that was the subject of this arrest affidavit and who emailed us his story. 4- Co-Defendant #1 who was "helping the victims sell their home", perhaps a realtor. 5- Co-Defendant #2 who was identified as being a "mortgage broker" 6- Co-Defendant #3 he's not identified, we have no idea what his role was. 7- A man simply identified as "Peter". 8- Co-Defendant #4 the man who was given a check by the victims for $50,265.84.
One of these Co Defendants (not #8) received two checks totaling $50,265.84. Ok, is that clear? Does that make sense?
What in the fcuk is that ?! Can anyone make any sense of that affidavit?! We've identified at least six "defendants" in this report, we know one was the man who was the subject of the report, so accoring to that narrative there should be at least five other people labled as Co Defendants on the report right? Let's take a look...
WHAT?! Just one other Co Defendant?! WTF is this $hit?! Can any of our esteemed readers figure out what the hell is going on in this case? Does it sound plausable that the "victims" just handed over $100,531.68 just for $hits and grins? Even worse, from what we've been able to find, the only person arrested in this case was the poor guy who denied the loan and referred it to another mortgage company!
Hey pride and joy of the Mortgage Fraud Task Force, Detective Jorge Baluja, WHAT ABOUT ARRESTING THE BUYER WHO HAD TO BE IN ON THIS "FRAUD"!? What about the mortgage broker? How about arresting the guy who deposited the $100,531.68 from the "victims" in his bank account?! What about investigating a possible link between the buyer and the seller?! Or even better, if there was a realtor involved (or as you describe him in your report the man who was "helping the victims sell their home") wouldn't they have some explaining to do about why the sales price went from $160,000 to $280,000? After all, the REALTORS SIGNATURE HAD TO HAVE BEEN ON THE CONTRACT! WTF?!
Can you believe this $hit?! While the leaders of the Mortgage Fraud Task Force are giving their press conferences, holding their meetings and hyping their achievements, who the hell is watching what their underlings are doing? In this case their detectives arrested a poor guy and permanently altered the course of his life with this arrest affidavit that doesn't even make sense! How many times do you have to read this incoherent document before you realize that it's author must have been either drunk or stoned when they were writing it?! Does it seem like the Detective investigating this transaction had any idea what he was doing? Before we get all carried away and blow a gasket, let's not forget that the author was none other than Detective Jorge Baluja...
Enough of that for now. Based on our blog comments from the last two days and some anonymous emails we've received, it seems like there is a major shake up going on in the command staff of the MDPD. We learned last week that Major Bernie Gonzalez from the MDPD Training Bureau abruptly and unexpectedly retired. The Herald broke the news about the Chief of the Centralized Services Division, Frank Vecin being demoted and our sources (unconfirmed as of yet) have told us that MDPD Chief Legal Counsel Glenn Theobald has also abruptly retired. Now we're hearing rumors of Assistant Director Oscar Vigoa being shown the door as well and some no nonsense Feds from DC overseeing an investigation into how money in the MDPD has been spent over the last few years. What's going on at the MDPD? At the very least it looks like Director James Loftus is cleaning house and is wasting no time doing so. We're waiting with bated breath for updates on the shake up at the PD and will update the blog accordingly.
Say it ain't so!!! That's right, Glenn Theobald, chief legal counsel for the MDPD and the creator and head of the MDPD Mortgage Fraud Task force is in hot water over the misspending of monies set aside by the federal government in a trust fund for the MDPD to go after people committing environmental crimes. We learned a few weeks ago that Mr. Theobald had authorized the purchase of some rather strange items that I suppose the MDPD intended to use for the purpose of fighting environmental crime, when he was called to task for authorizing the trust fund money to be spent on these items, he made a quick about face in the form of a memo rescinding a previous memo where he OK'd the purchases:
"This memorandum rescinds the previous opinion regarding your memo to this writer...trust fund monies in the account can only be used to further environmental investigations...A direct nexus with the expenditure and the furtherance of environmental investigations is required...Any other interpretation was mistaken due to the information provided at the time the memorandum was presented."
I suppose that wasn't good enough, since both Mr. Theobald and the man that was the head of the MDPD environmental crimes investigation unit, Frank Vecin were both reassigned from their posts by MDPD Director James Loftus last week (according to Jim DeFede of WFOR). What difference does it make to us? In the case of Mr. Vecin, it makes none, but what about Mr. Theobald, the head of the Mortgage Fraud Task Force and the MDPD chief legal counsel? Where does he go? Let's see what an online source tells us regarding this matter...
"Theobald will be gone in 30 days. He was allowed to retire in lieu of a demotion as the Major of Crime Scene."
OH SNAP! While that statement should be considered nothing more than rumor at this point, it certainly does sound plausible. If indeed it is true, we're sure the MDPD will quickly find another attorney to fill his spot as chief legal counsel, but who's going to take over his position as the head of the Mayors Mortgage Fraud Task Force?! After all, the task force was Mr. Theobald's pet project, the vehicle with which he gained national press coverage. So what now? Who's going to be the new leader of the "Fraud Squad"?
Considering how the top brass at the MDPD misspent the millions of dollars set aside for the prosecution of environmental crimes, what's going to happen with the $50,000,000 of federal money that the Mortgage Fraud Task Force was supposed to get over the next five years? From what we've read, Mr. Theobald has been lobbying Uncle Sam incessantly over the last three years for tens of millions of dollars of funding for his Mortgage Fraud Task Force, you have to wonder considering what's gone on with the green fund money if anyone has looked into how the mortgage fraud money has been spent?
Our hats are off to the new director of the MDPD, Mr. James Loftus for getting to the bottom of this mess and taking swift action. It's about time the citizens of Dade county had someone in the PD that was serious about cleaning up corruption within the department. Consider for a moment though, since we started our story, the lead detective in one of our mortgage fraud stories get's taken off a headline case and demoted to auto theft, a veteran economic crimes prosecutor get's taken off the same headline case and now, the head of the Mayor's heralded Mortgage Fraud task force may have lost his job. Strange times.
I read a story in the Miami Herald on October 7, 2008 regarding a mortgage fraud case that didn't make any sense to me, I did a little digging and what I found left me stunned. A tale of a task force head whose political ambitions have run amuck, a detective without a modicum of common sense, a reporter that prints anything that's put in front of him, the railroading of an attorney by this machine to further the ambitions of its head and the lengths that those involved will go to in order to salvage a case that should have never been. Please take the time to start from the oldest post first and enjoy...
