I was reading through the Herald the other day when I came across this article regarding former City of Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito...
Former Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito’s case to be heard in court By David Ovalle dovalle@MiamiHerald.comOusted Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito, seeking to get his job back, will get his day in court Thursday. A panel of three Miami-Dade circuit judges will hear Exposito’s argument that the Miami City Commission wrongly fired him in September. During his tenure, Exposito picked very public battles with elected officials and Mayor Tomás Regalado, whom he accused of being in bed with owners of video gaming machines that his department had targeted for seizure. In March, three judges denied a move by city attorneys to throw out the appeal because Exposito had been scheduled to retire anyway when he was terminated. Despite his ouster, Exposito, former Maj. Al Alvarez and Exposito’s personal attorney Ruben Chavez sat in on a civil hearing last week between the city and the video machine owners. The owners have sued the city seeking return of more than 100 machines seized by Exposito’s police officers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward refused to throw out the suit, and now an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled.
In the article Mr. Ovalle briefly mentions a hearing that I attended for a case filed by the maquinita owners in order to get a hundred or so machines back that are in police custody.
Despite his ouster, Exposito, former Maj. Al Alvarez and Exposito’s personal attorney Ruben Chavez sat in on a civil hearing last week between the city and the video machine owners. The owners have sued the city seeking return of more than 100 machines seized by Exposito’s police officers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward refused to throw out the suit, and now an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled.
It was at this hearing that I finally got a chance to speak to the city attorney who's assigned to this case, George Wysong, about the city not paying the expert witness they had hired in order to examine the machines that they had in custody. Mr. Wysong's explanation was that he wasn't going to rely on the expert testimony to win the case but instead was relying on a series of laws that basically stated that since the machines were contraband, the city had no obligation to return them to their owners. He quoted case law from the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church case where the police had seized the followers marijuana and then didn't return it after the church members sued for replevin, once again the theory is that since the marijuana was illegal, the police couldn't return it to its owners.
Mr. Wysong's theory kind of makes sense in this instance but Judge Diane Ward wanted more, essentially she wanted an expert to determine whether or not the machines in custody were illegal and therefore asked both sides, the maquinita owners and the City of Miami to hire experts to determine whether or not the machines in custody are indeed illegal. That brings us back to the expert witness report that the city wouldn't pay for, perhaps if the city was armed with the report for this hearing, Judge Ward would have gone ahead and thrown out the maquinita owners replevin lawsuit. No big deal I guess, the expert that the City of Miami had hired has already examined the one hundred and four machines in question, now it's up to the maquinita owners to hire an expert to examine the machines in custody. Considering that each of these machines is worth anywhere from three to five thousand dollars, I doubt the owners will walk away from several hundred thousand dollars worth of gaming equipment, legal or not, now it becomes a case of expert witness vs. expert witness and to see who makes a more compelling argument as to the legality of these machines.
The funniest part of this whole encounter? I asked City of Miami attorney George Wysong whether or not the city was going to pay the expert now for his report to which he responded...
"why when I can download it from your website for free?"
I have to hand it to Mr. Wysong, that was some funny shit!
While I'm waiting on documents for the Airways Auto Tag agency story, I stumbled upon the investigation report for the Commissioner Marc Sarnoff attack on Coconut Grove gadfly Reid Welch. From the looks of the report and eyewitness testimony, it looks like Mr Welch was telling the truth, City of Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff did attack Mr. Welch, punched him and wrestled him to the ground. Here are a few excerpts of eyewitness statements from the report...
Ok, first let's look at what Mr. Maruri told the police...
In no uncertain terms Mr. Maruri witnessed Commissioner Sarnoff run from his house, punch Mr. Welch then wrestle him to the ground. Now, Mr. Maruri is a unbiased third party with no ties to either Sarnoff or Welch so theoretically he's got no reason to lie about what he saw. Now, onto another unbiased witness...
Once again, in no uncertain terms this witness says that Sarnoff hauled ass from his home, ran over to Welch, punched him in the back of the head and mounted him. Wait WTF?
Ok, now that we have two unbiased witnesses that clearly state that Sarnoff attacked Welch, punched him on the back of the head then mounted him, what's the third witness say? Let's look...
Convenient as this third witness, Sue McConnell, has a long standing relationship with Mr Sarnoff, even the cops don't buy her bullshit, in their report they state clearly "...conveniently she could not recall how they ended up on the ground."
Now, understand, I have no sympathy for Mr Welch, but if it was anyone else doing the attacking other than Sarnoff, surely they would have been arrested. Here we have two witnesses who clearly witnessed Mr. Sarnoff running at Welch, sucker punching him, mounting him from the rear and keeping him on the ground while holding his legs (insert laugh here) yet no arrest. This is a clear cut case of assault and like I said, I can't even blame Commissioner Sarnoff for attacking Welch but still, Sarnoff should have been arrested for assault no matter how justified he was in attacking Welch. But like our friend Al Crespo is so fond of saying, "It's Miami Bitches!"
Mr. Wysong serves as the Police Legal Advisor for the City of Miami Police Department. In that capacity, he handles matters which affect the Police Department, and provides counsel and advice to the Chief of Police and his staff, litigates contraband forfeiture cases, prepares legal bulletins for dissemination to the sworn police officers, provides advices and counsel to the City's Emergency Operations Center in times of emergency. In addition to those duties, Mr. Wysong also reviews contracts and agreements relating to the Police Department and drafts legislation relating to quality of life issues.
As we stated before, the conflict created by Mr. Wysong representing Mr. Sarnoff and the City of Miami Police department is blatantly obvious. From our November 23 blog post...
So Mr Wysong is the City of Miami police liason, from his bio says his job is to "handle matters which affect the Police Department." If that's the case, why was he representing Sarnoff at this hearing? In fact, based on his bio, shouldn't he have been attending this hearing on behalf of the City of Miami police department who should have arrested Mr. Sarnoff for his assault on Mr. Welch? Doesn't this constitute a serious conflict of interest for Mr. Wysong?
Based on all of the above, you would think the judge would have ruled in Welch's favor and disqualified Wysong, correct? Not so fast, check the judge's motion that we received yesterday...
We're all aware of the ongoing feud between City of Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and Coconut Grove resident Reid Welch which last month culminated in Sarnoff getting a restraining order against Reid. For those of us that have been following the story, we knew it was only a matter of time before Sarnoff figured out a way to get Reid arrested. Well, last week that's exactly what happened, Reid allegedly sent Mr. Sarnoff an email and next thing you know according to the word on the street, six City of Miami cops (unconfirmed) showed up and arrested Reid. Here's a copy of the arrest report...
Does anyone see the problem with this arrest report? I mean other than the fact that it states that the poor guy was arrested for simply sending an email? Take a look at the text of the report...
On November 21, 2011, the defendant was served with an injunction for protection. The terms of the injunction dictate that the defendant shall not contact the listed victim directly or indirectly. In addition, the court order also stipulates that the defendant shall not contact the listed victim via e-mail or any in any other manner. On 12-14-11, the victim discovered an electronic mail that was sent by the defendant to his e-mail account. The e-mail is clearly identified with the defendant's name and his e-mail address information. The content of the electronic mail leads the victim to a specific blog in which a clear message is sent to the victim. The nature of the message is directly sent to the victim and it clearly describes prior episodes and specific information that would entail and describe the defendant's previous encounters with the victim. The defendant's actions constitutes a violation of the injunction and his behavior serves as in irritant to the victim who has endured substantial emotional distress from a defendant who is unwilling to cease the harassment despite the active court order that prohibits him from engaging in this type of behavior. The defendant was arrested.
Now, honestly, I don't mean any disrespect to the Detective that supposedly wrote that arrest affidavit, but I sincerely doubt that this affidavit was authored by anyone other than an attorney. Am I the only one that thinks so? Does that sound like a cop talking or a veteran attorney making a closing argument? Could this arrest report have been written by none other than City of Miami attorney George Wysong who not only represents the City of Miami Police but in this case somehow represents City of Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff against Reid Welch as well?
This brings us to another point, back in November, we alleged that City of Miami attorney George Wysong's representation of Mr. Sarnoff against Reid Welch in the restraining order hearing was clearly in our oppinon a conflict of interest, from that blog post...
So Mr Wysong is the City of Miami police liaison, from his bio says his job is to "handle matters which affect the Police Department." If that's the case, why was he representing Sarnoff at this hearing? In fact, based on his bio, shouldn't he have been attending this hearing on behalf of the City of Miami police department who should have arrested Mr. Sarnoff for his assault on Mr. Welch? Doesn't this constitute a serious conflict of interest for Mr. Wysong?
Now, this isn't the first time that I've found Mr. Wysong wearing two hats, there are several other instances where Mr. Wysong has found himself in places where he shouldn't be where there is a clear and undeniable conflict, we're going to have to wait a couple of weeks before we can reveal those stories. Regardless, if this was any other city, I'd be shocked and appalled at Mr. Wysong's behavior but it's Miami so it's par for the course!
Jason Wandner
Well, apparently we're not the only ones that believe that there is a clear conflict of interest as a result of Mr. Wysong representing both the City of Miami's Police department and representing Mr. Sarnoff on a matter that nothing to do with his capacity as a City Commissioner. Mr Welch's attorney, Jason Wandner, filed this motion with the court to disqualify Mr. Wysong from the restraining order matter, take a look...
George Wysong Motion to Disqualify Clearly this is a textbook example of a conflict of interest. The motion speaks for itself, I find this part most damning...
4. Moreover, the respondent intends to call certain police officers from the City of Miami Police Department as witnesses in the instant matter. Attorney Wysong is the lawyer for those "independent" witnesses. Representing both, a party to a case and an adverse witness, is inherently a non-waivable conflict of interest, especially if the "independent" witnesses' testimony is skewed toward the Plaintiff due to their relationship with his lawyer.
Even better...
5. Moreover, the undersigned sent the defendant to the City of Miami Clerk to obtain certain documents in his defense in the instant matter, and needless to say, the clerk directed him to Mr. Wysong. In other words, the opposing counsel is now aware of my trial strategy and has the authority to block access to public records.
DUH! What the fuck is this shit Mr. Wysong?
Honestly? In what alternative universe is this nonsense supposed to fly? Perhaps this may only make sense within the City of Miami Attorneys office and in Mr. Sarnoff's crooked mind but in the real world this is straight up bullshit. If my guess is right, what we have here is a well coordinated conspiracy between Mr. Sarnoff and Mr. Wysong to railroad Mr. Welch. From the suspicious arrest report, which in my opinion was not written by anyone other than Mr. Wysong, to this monkey grab ass bullshit where Mr. Wysong is representing the City of Miami Police department and also representing Mr. Sarnoff in a private matter before the court, this is a City of Miami Mob style inside job. We'll have to wait and see what the judge thinks of this matter...
By now all of you here in the City of Miami must be familiar with the ongoing feud between long time Coconut Grove resident Reid Welch and City of Miami commissioner Marc Sarnoff which culminated in Mr. Sarnoff violently attacking Mr. Welch a few weeks back. Our friend Al Crespo covered the story, here is the Police incident report where Mr. Welch is clearly identified as the "victim"...
That's all well and good until Mr. Sarnoff's wife decided to serve Mr. Welch with a restraining order...
Ok, whatever. Now this is where things get interesting, on Monday Mr. Welch had to appear before a Miami circuit court judge regarding this restraining order where the judge continued the case till January 6, 2012. Mrs. Sarnoff was represented by an attorney named Jay Solowsky while Mr. Sarnoff was represented by a City of Miami attorney named George Wysong, this is where things get a little interesting. Let's take a look at Mr. Wysong's bio from the City of Miami website...
Mr. Wysong serves as the Police Legal Advisor for the City of Miami Police Department. In that capacity, he handles matters which affect the Police Department, and provides counsel and advice to the Chief of Police and his staff, litigates contraband forfeiture cases, prepares legal bulletins for dissemination to the sworn police officers, provides advices and counsel to the City's Emergency Operations Center in times of emergency. In addition to those duties, Mr. Wysong also reviews contracts and agreements relating to the Police Department and drafts legislation relating to quality of life issues.
So Mr Wysong is the City of Miami police liason, from his bio says his job is to "handle matters which affect the Police Department." If that's the case, why was he representing Sarnoff at this hearing? In fact, based on his bio, shouldn't he have been attending this hearing on behalf of the City of Miami police department who should have arrested Mr. Sarnoff for his assault on Mr. Welch? Doesn't this constitute a serious conflict of interest for Mr. Wysong?
Now, this isn't the first time that I've found Mr. Wysong wearing two hats, there are several other instances where Mr. Wysong has found himself in places where he shouldn't be where there is a clear and undeniable conflict, we're going to have to wait a couple of weeks before we can reveal those stories. Regardless, if this was any other city, I'd be shocked and appalled at Mr. Wysong's behavior but it's Miami so it's par for the course!
On another note, for those of you that have been following my story regarding the "body wire at attorney's office", things are about to get a lot more interesting. It seems as if the attorney whose privileged conversations were recorded at the behest of assistant state attorney Bill Kostrzewski isn't too happy about those recordings being made...
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...
