Five more minutes and a $1,080,000 later...

We left off last week demonstrating how we could find a massive mortgage fraud case with a bare minimum of effort and about five minutes of searching on the Miami Dade County Recorders office.  First we did a quick search and found a warranty deed for a property purchased by convicted mortgage fraudster John Arthur Romney through his company "Property Collateral". 

After examining the deed we were able to conclude that although the deed wasn't recorded till over four years later, the actual transaction had occurred on November 21, 2006.  Through the cost of the documentary stamps, we were able to deduce that the purchase price of the home in question was $755,000 and since we were not able to find a recorded mortgage for the purchase of this property by Property Collateral Inc, we can only assume that it was a cash purchase.

Next we found that there was a lis pendens filed on the property on November 4, 2009 which signaled the beginning of a foreclosure action against the property.  What struck us as strange was that although the company that purchased the property for what we presumed was all cash, they were still named in the foreclosure action.  The property was purchased on November 21, 2006 for all cash yet they're still named in a foreclosure suit?  We then searched for mortgages on the property by using the names of the other people named in the foreclosure suit and found that there was another lis pendens filed against the property, this one on September 22, 2008, a little more than year before the first one was filed.  Even worse now, two different lis pendens on the property and still no recorded mortgage!  Once again we attempt to search using the names of the other people named in the foreclosure suit for the subject property when we stumble upon this...

Here we find two mortgages recorded on the same day June 4, 2007 for the same property for a borrower named Leonor Essonreid.  Interesting?  Let's summarize what we have at this point...

• John Romney aka Property Collateral, Inc. purchases subject property located at 911 Columbus Blvd for $755,000 on November 21, 2006 for what we presume is all cash since there is no recorded mortgage.
• Mortgage is recorded against the property on June 4, 2007 naming Leonor Essonreid as the borrower even though there is no record of the ownership of the property being transferred to her.
• Lis pendens filed against the property on September 22, 2008.
• A second lis pendens filed against the property on November 21, 2009.
• A deed filed on August 3, 2010 conveying ownership of the property from Raul Romero to Property Collateral, Inc. even though the documents were originally signed four years earlier on Novermber 21, 2006.

With me so far or does the time line not make any sense to you?  It's not supposed to but a quick look at Leonor Essonreid's mortgages should explain everything.  Here are the first two pages of the first mortgage, as always, click on the image to enlarge it...

Did anyone catch it?  Even though the mortgage for reasons that can't be explained was recorded on June 4, 2007, the actual closing took place on November 21, 2006!  Who would have guessed it?!  Also note on page two that the amount of the mortgage was $880,000.  As if that wasn't bad enough, take a look at the second mortgage for the same property...

Brilliant, another mortgage recorded on the same day as the first for an additional $200,000 bringing the total amount borrowed against this property to $1,080,000.

I'm sure the astute among you have already realized that John Romney aka Property Collateral, Inc didn't purchase this property for cash on November 21, 2006.  What happened here was that the lender had already funded the loan for Leonor Essonreid in the amount of $1,080,000 and the attorney who was handling the closing had the money sitting in their trust account.  As soon as the money was available, the attorney paid the original seller of the property ($755,000), prepared a deed for the transfer of the property to John Romney aka Property Collateral who simultaneously sold the property to Leonor Essonreid whose loan proceeds were used to fund the entire fraud.  At the end of the day a deed was never recorded conveying the property to Ms. Essonreid, after all what was the point?  I'm sure Ms Essonreid had no interest in the property other than what came along with her role as a straw buyer, since the entire deal was a scam, why would the closing agent worry about recording a deed?  When all was said and done, Mr Romney and his co conspirators in this seven figure fraud walked away with a tidy profit of $325,000.  Not bad for a days work.

Amazing what you can find with as little as five minutes worth of searching online, isn't it?  Tomorrow, we're going to try to find Ms Essonreid and get some idea what a million dollar home buyer looks like.

We're still number one DAMN IT!!

HELL YES! Despite law enforcements best efforts, it turns out Miami is still number one for mortgage fraud! From today's Miami Herald...

South Florida's still a national leader in mortgage fraud

By TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA

South Florida's mortgage market had the nation's highest number of suspicious activity reports in the third quarter of 2010, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's third-quarter mortgage fraud report released Thursday. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties logged 3,039 reports of questionable mortgage loan activity between July and September, about 33 per day, and more than any other metropolitan area in the nation. Florida's 5,404 suspicious activity reports, or SARs, during that time period ranked it second in the nation, behind California. On a per capita basis, Florida ranks ahead of California.
Miami-Dade County had the lion's share of South Florida's fraud reports, with 1,784 in the third quarter, second only to Los Angeles County, which had 1,967.
Jonathan Heller, a Miami defense lawyer defending a client who he believes was a victim of mortgage fraud, said he is not surprised by South Florida's ranking.
``When you have mortgage brokers who are unsavory, who are fueled by irresponsible lenders, it's like the perfect storm,'' he said.
Nationwide, there were 16,693 suspicious activity reports in the third quarter of 2010, up 2 percent from the same period in 2009. Florida was responsible for 32.3 percent of the nation's mortgage loan fraud reports that quarter, the report found.
The top types of mortgage fraud reported were false statements, debt elimination scams, identity theft and money laundering.
Most reports of mortgage loan fraud occur more than two years after the original loan was made. Of Miami-Dade's 1,784 reports logged in the third quarter of last year, only 404 involved loans made after Jan. 1, 2008.
That is consistent with the national trend, as those reporting fraud are focusing more on older incidents.
In the third quarter, 76 percent of SARs occurred before 2008, compared to 54 percent in 2009.

That's great to know isn't it? Meanwhile back in the Magic City our Mayor believes that there are men in black SUV's following him and one of the commissioners around...

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado said Thursday he believes he and a city commissioner are under surveillance by the city's police department, taking the battle between the mayor and the police chief to a new level.
Regalado and Commissioner Richard P. Dunn II -- the two most outspoken critics of Chief Miguel Exposito -- said they had been told by ``credible'' law enforcement sources that Miami police officers have been tailing them. Twice in the past two weeks, Regalado said, he has noticed cars in front of his home that he didn't recognize, but which left as soon as he opened the front door.
``I just feel very threatened,'' Regalado said. The mayor said he's been warned by officers loyal to him in the police department that he was being followed, though he would not identify them.

And just when you thought the streets were safe, our local state attorneys office files charges against another cop with a penchant for fraud. It most be something in the water down here...

Other homes in the area...

Before we get to the interviews we mentioned yesterday, I think we need to revisit some of the homes that we discussed last summer that surround the Oak Avenue home that was at the heart of the Barrera mortgage fraud case.  The first two are particularly important since they are directly across the street from the home used in the Barrera mortgage fraud.

How can we forget 3379 Oak Ave?  Last sale December 2008, sales price $397,000 or $616.00 PER SQUARE FOOT!


Or just next door, 3375 Oak Ave, last sale date September 2008, sales price $490,000 or $425.00 PER SQUARE FOOT!


Around the corner...

3551 Frow Ave, last sale May 2008, sales price $500,000 or $438.00 PER SQUARE FOOT!


and just a few doors away...

3309 William Ave, last sale June 2008, sales price $450,000 or $511.00 PER SQUARE FOOT!


One more...
3146 Hibiscus St, last sale June 2008, sale price $490,000 or $471.00 PER SQUARE FOOT!



We discussed these transactions in detail last summer (here, here and here), we've learned recently they may have much more in common.  Notice all these homes that we mentioned were within one square mile of each were all purchased within months of each other.  Coincidence or brilliantly engineered scam to loot this poor area of Coconut Grove?  We'll discuss on Monday...

Another anniversary...

Depending on how you look at it, yesterday was the three year anniversary of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task force's first arrests or the two year anniversary of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud arrests.  So where are we at three years later?  We discovered last week that the we're knee deep in a foreclosure fraud crisis where it's not the borrowers that are committing fraud but the banks through submitting fake and forged documents to the courts.  Does anyone think that the members of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud task force is working over time to prepare cases against these guys?  We also learned a few weeks back that the City of Miami Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff may have committed mortgage fraud, does anyone believe that the people over at the mortgage fraud task force are busy investigating these allegations and preparing a case against him?  Don't hold your breath.


So here we are three years since the inception of the Mortgage Fraud task force that was supposed to be a model for the rest of the nation and what's the impression we're left with?  Based on everything I've seen the only impression I'm left with is selective enforcement of the law.

Submitting fake documents and lying on your mortgage application...

I keep going through the Plantation Cop mortgage fraud case over and over again, this bit from the federal indictment keeps bothering me...

Fair enough, right?  Part of the governments case against the cops is that they allege that they lied about their jobs and falsified their incomes.  That may seem like nothing, but at the end of the day lying on a 1003 mortgage application is against the law, splitting hairs perhaps, but still against the law.  With that in mind, let's revisit the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case for a moment.  Let's assume that Mr. Barrera did get his identity stolen during the commission of this fraud, how did the fraudsters verify his employment and income?  From what we've been able to glean from the files, the real Mr. Barrera hasn't been gainfully employed since late 2005, so how was he or the people who stole his identity able to get him qualified for a $600,000 home purchase?  This document that was sent to CitiMortgage may answer that question...

Bernardo Barrera Verification of Employment

Interesting isn't it?  After reading that document, isn't it safe to say that a reasonably prudent detective or prosecutor would investigate this verification of employment letter before moving forward with their case?  At the very minimum we have two new people added into the mix, a mortgage broker who claims to have spoken to someone that verified Mr. Barrera's employment as well as the business owner who claimed that Mr. Barrera was not only gainfully employed but also that "the likelihood of his continued employment was excellent".  Considering how important that verification of employment letter was to obtaining the fraudulent mortgage, why is there no evidence anywhere in the states file that the two people mentioned in that letter were ever interviewed regarding the Oak Avenue home purchase?  If submitting false proof of employment and income was enough to federally indict the cops in the Plantation case, why wasn't it enough to get these guys arrested on the Barrera fraud case?  Something doesn't add up here. 

Some rumors and John McCain's new hybrid car...

Sorry folks, we're running late this morning so today's post has to be brief.  Apparently ASA Bill Kostrzewski is on vacation till next week, there's some noise about consequences regarding his handling of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case when he gets back.  As I said, it's nothing but an unsubstantiated rumor at this point, we'll report as soon as we hear anything else.  We've also been told that Detective Baluja is experiencing a tremendous amount of stress over the outcome of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, I wonder why?  

On another note, John McCain seems to have discovered a car that runs on water...

More delays and one hell of a deal on a $600,000 home!

We mentioned yesterday that the defendants in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case each had court appearances scheduled.  After nearly two years of waiting with bated breath for something meaningful to happen at one of these hearings, we've learned not to expect anything, as before all we got were more delays.  No surprises there.


Moving along, we also found out yesterday that the home that was at the center of the $600,000 mortgage fraud that John Arthur Romney orchestrated was sold at auction for $40,000!  Surprising how a home that Mr. Romney and crew had appraised for $600,000 two years ago has taken a 93% drop in value?!  Naturally the parties that purchased the home at auction are going to resell it, so we took a drive by to see for ourselves...

My, my how times have changed, the new owners are looking to sell it for $68,000.  Seeing the house as it sits today really makes you wonder how anyone could have appraised this home for $600,000.  We'll talk more about the fraud involved in inflating the value a little later.  Be patient.

On another note, while flipping through the channels half asleep last night I came across story whose headline didn't make sense (uh oh), it went something like this...

"...the focus shifted to a mortgage broker. Could his drive to close deals and the pressures of the job lead him to commit a double murder?"

HUH!  Come to find out that police were accusing mortgage broker Ron Santiago of killing two of his clients!  It's an interesting story with some parallels with some of the stories we've been discussing here on our blog, take a look for yourselves and we'll discuss later.

I reckon we got fraud, UH HUH!

Somehow I found myself switching between watching Slingblade on cable last night and reading Detective Jorge Baluja's deposition transcripts from the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case.  Strange combination, as the night wore on the line between the movie and the transcripts started to get blurry until they became one and the same.  From the depo...

Can you picture it?  In case you can't, here's a visual aid...

Back to the depo...

Easy enough right?  Let's try again...

AGAIN?!

JEEZE!  Detective Baluja goes on to say...

You sure about that Jorge?  I mean, you would have to be absolutely positively certain that the facts were as you stated before making the arrests right?  You're suggesting that the attorney fraudulently represented to Citi Mortgage that the earnest money was already received before the closing took place?  Go back and check your file or even better, go sit down with ASA Bill Kostrzewski and have him read it to you.  If you still don't get it, don't worry, I'm going to make sure you understand before I'm done.


It's obvious after following our blog over the last year that investigating mortgage fraud was above Detective Baluja and ASA Kostrzewski's pay grade.  After going through the case files again and again, you almost feel bad for these two, if only investigating these cases was as easy as what you see on TV...

Stay tuned folks, things are about to get much, much more interesting...

Luxury car theft ring busted. Any luck finding that "Mystery Man" Detective Baluja?

We came across this story the other day on the local news...

From the WSVN website...

NORTH MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Police have busted an elaborate stolen rental car ring.

On Wednesday afternoon, Miami-Dade Police surrounded a Mercedes sport utility vehicle at a warehouse whose location they are keeping under wraps as the investigation is ongoing. Police said the SUV was only one of several stolen rental cars they confiscated.

According to police, thousands of dollars worth of vehicles were ripped off from luxury rental agencies, then stored in a warehouse and shipped overseas. "These are high-end vehicles, so they're worth a lot of money. This vehicle right here is worth over $30,000. If they were to sell it for half the price overseas it would be pure profit," said an undercover Miami-Dade Police detective.

Police said someone would rent the cars with a fake ID.

Investigators said, on this day alone, they confiscated cars worth more than $250,000. "This is very serious," said another undercover agent. "As you can tell, these are high-end cars. The cheapest car we recovered here today is worth over $30,000, and we recovered over $250,000 just today. This investigation is still pending. As of right now, we've recovered four, and we're still pending arrests,"

Police said this investigation is far from over noting there are other high-priced cars out there, which were bought using the same scam. "Those are two that we have left here on scene," the officer said pointing to the vehicles. "The other two that we've already removed from the scene was a BMW X5 2010, which alone is worth over $100,000 and an Audi sports utility vehicle, which is about $70,000 to $80,000."

Police are still investigating this case. They said it was a very intricate and expensive operation. The crooks first needed a fake ID to rent the cars, then they needed a fake title. Police said they found several fake titles, so now they are trying to find out who leased and rented these cars and who bought the stolen cars.

Serious stuff, huh?  The crooks would go to a rent a car company and rent a luxury car using a fake identity then haul ass with the car.  Once the car was in their possession, the police allege that they would produce fake paperwork for the cars and send them out of the country.  From what we can deduce from the news story, the police are still trying to find "who leased and rented these cars", in other words, they found the cars, but have no idea who the people who rented the cars with the false identities are.  Hmmm, sound familiar?  Isn't this the same M.O. as mortgage fraudsters stealing peoples identity, producing fake identification then ripping off banks through mortgage fraud?  


We discussed the "mystery man" who allegedly impersonated Bernardo Barrera in the Oak Avenue mortgage fraud, yet somehow nearly two years later the MDPD hasn't been able to locate him even though Detective Baluja tells us during one of his depositions that the impostor was the target of his investigation...

Ok, so how do we go from the "impostor" being the target of the criminal investigation to the guy never even being charged?  Even worse, nearly two years after the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud arrests were made and after at least two of the people charged have cut deals, still no impostor?  WTF?  Like we said back in May, this impostor is the guy who's actually guilty of identity theft, yet he still hasn't been arrested or even identified?  Does that make any sense?!  Also take into consideration that these people don't rip off peoples identity from thin air, there's extensive criminal organizations that sell peoples identities as well as produce the fake forms of identification.  If indeed Barrera got his identity stolen (yeah right), who gave it to the people who were charged in the case?  We discussed the possibility of a stolen identity "broker" in the past, so why isn't there any evidence of such a person being investigated?  Surely if the cops were to find this person or ring of people that deal in stolen identities they'd find other frauds involving identity theft, why didn't they investigate this angle?


Considering that MDPD couldn't identify the man who supposedly impersonated Bernardo Barrera and still haven't arrested the impostor even though he was the target of a criminal investigation, does anyone think that the Miami Dade Police Department Auto theft Detectives are going to identify the people who used the fake ID's to rent those luxury cars?  After all, let's not forget who's working Auto Theft these days...

The mystery man in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case.

Everyone remember the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud that was expertly investigated by Detective Jorge Baluja then subsequently prosecuted by ASA Bill Kostrzewski?  In case the details have slipped your mind, let's recap, from the Miami Herald article:

...someone in February used the identity of Bernardo Humbero Barreira to obtain a $484,286.06 mortgage from lender Citi Mortgage for a house owned by Romney.
The price tag: $600,000. But Romney had paid just $185,000 for the two-bedroom, one-bathroom house just six days earlier.
Martinez paid a $123,286.06 down payment, according to the warrant by Miami-Dade Detective Jorge Baluja. 

Get it?  Someone used Barrera's (or is it Barreira) identity to obtain a $484,286.06 mortgage to purchase a house owned by Romney who had purchased it six days earlier for $185,000.  Michael Martinez lent the buyer $123,286.06 for the down payment.  Easy right?

So here we are nearly two years after the arrests and there's a whole mess of people that were involved in this fraud that haven't been arrested.  If you subscribe to the theory that Barrera never appeared at the closing, then why hasn't the guy who impersonated him been arrested?  After all, isn't he the one actually guilty of identity theft?  If indeed there was in impostor, it's his hand that forged Barrera's signature, so why hasn't he been charged?  Nearly two years into this case we have Michael Martinez the man who lent the down payment to the buyer whose cut a deal with the state and is practically finished with his probation, why hasn't he given up the impostor?  On the other hand we have John Romney, the man who made off with nearly $500k as a result of this fraud whose sold out everyone but his mother (who knows, maybe her too) in order to save himself from doing any jail time, surely he must have implicated the impostor right?  

Where is this mystery man folks?  This missing member of the "organized scheme to defraud" could stitch together the entire case, yet why is this crucial member of the fraud missing?  If indeed he did exist, he could identify who paid him to show up to execute the docs (surely he didn't do it for free), who recruited him and who had knowledge of what was going on, yet here we sit quickly approaching the two year anniversary of the arrests and we have ZIP, NADA, ZILCH!  Wouldn't you think that this would be the first and most important member of this scheme that Detective Baluja would have gone after?  We'll scour through his deposition transcripts again and see what he's got to say...

The Straw Buyer has been SLAMMED at work!

That's right folks, the Straw Buyer has been so busy at work that we couldn't get around to making an installment on the blog yesterday.  While we're always researching material for the blog 24/7, the actual writing of the blog is done late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, believe it or not our 9 to 5 job has been so hectic lately that we couldn't even find time to attend to our blog!  With that said, you have to wonder, how do those with more than one job manage?  How could you possibly devote your full attention to a 40 hour a week daytime (say 9 to 5) job while having a totally unrelated second career simultaneously?  We've talked about Sgt. Richard Davis from the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task force earlier this week and learned that not only does Sgt. Davis do brilliant work during the day (remember the attorney David Rodriguez mortgage fraud case?) at the MDPD but he also has successful Real Estate, mortgage, accounting and financial planning businesses as well.  

We're not sure how Sgt Davis can manage to wear all those hats at the same time, perhaps he's just really efficient and manages his time better than we can?  Good for him if that's the case.  In this instance we need a little clarity so we can understand what's going on here and to the surprise of all our readers, we're actually going to get some answers from Detective Jorge Baluja of all people.  As shocking as that may sound, let's go to his deposition from the Bernardo Barrera (remember him?) mortgage fraud case where he answers some questions about how the mortgage fraud task force is set up...

That's simple enough, two squads of five detectives each and a Sergeant that runs each squad, therefore two Sergeants.  Very good.

Ok, great place to start.  Look at that!  That's the Sgt Davis we've been talking about this week!  Wait a minute though, if there were only two squads then why are there three Sergeants?

Ok, for a minute there Detective Baluja lost us, but then he clears it up.  Apparently there's three squads, two of which we know have 5 detectives and two Sergeants each and now this third squad that handles special projects that Detective Baluja tells us is run by Sergeant Davis.  Got it.  So how many people is Sergeant Davis running in his "special project" squad?  Let's see what Jorge tells us...

Oh, ok?  A Sergeant that's running a squad where he's the only member, that is according to Detective Baluja.  We learned earlier that Sgt. Davis was a veteran of the real estate and mortgage industries, maybe he doesn't need to work with anyone, perhaps he's a one man mortgage fraud investigating machine!  Ain't that right Jorge?

Hmmm...  Are we reading that right?  One could infer from Detective Baluja's statements that Sgt. Davis, the leader of the "special project" mortgage fraud task force squad (that consists of only himself) isn't investigating any mortgage fraud cases or possibly doing any work, but before you'd make that inference you'd have to consider the source of the information, Detective Jorge Baluja who isn't exactly the most credible source of information now is he?  If you were to buy Jorge's statements word for word you'd almost conclude that the Sgt was kinda doing nothing on the job, wouldn't you?  Surely that couldn't be the case for someone with as long and distinguished a career with the PD as Sgt Davis now could it?  Nah.

Enough for now, we gotta get to work!

How many jobs do you have? Introducing the busiest man in the MDPD...

That's right, how many jobs do you have?  For most of us the answer is just one, after all with all the other responsibilities that we have in day to day life, who the hell could imagine having more than one full time job?  There are some out there though that can handle more than one job, years ago I met a guy that worked at two different Subway sandwich shops, one during the day, another at night and then when he was done, he worked as a toll collector on the Florida Turnpike!  Not for us, thanks!  Sort of reminds me of that skit from that old TV show...




So what's this got to do with our tales of mortgage fraud?  Yesterday we discussed Sergeant Richard Davis again, a distinguished member of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force, according to at least one of our readers, he may have even been responsible for the formation of the task force...

Jennifer said...

"Creator and Head of the MDPD Mortgage Fraud Task Force"! Research a little further and you'd discover that Mr. Theobald didn't know anything about Mortgage Fraud until he "stole" the brain works of mortgage fraud from its true Creator, Sgt. Richard Davis formerly "creator and head" of the Mortgage Fraud Task Force; that was until Mr. Theobald stole that position from him as well. I concur with a prior commentor; "Karma is a bitch."

March 9, 2010 11:50 AM

For what it's worth, we haven't been able to confirm Jennifer's statement, but it does warrant further investigation.  So what's all this got to do with our story?  Yesterday we met Sgt. Richard Davis and learned that he wore many hats in the MDPD, not only does he investigate mortgage frauds but he also trains new detectives on the mortgage fraud task force and he's a member of the Task Forces board as well.  That's a lot of hats for one man to wear but that's not all, see Sgt. Davis does much more than just train detectives and investigate bad guys, he's also a real estate broker, mortgage broker, financial planner, tax preparer and maybe even a closing agent!  That's one busy man!  Let's take a look at his bio...

Richard Davis (President) as a student at the University of Miami working towards a degree in Accounting & Business Administration.  

Uh, ok.

He began his first company after realizing that his friends and associates were in need of income assistance. Accounting, Taxes, Etc. was incorporated in 1975.  His business began to grow as the needs of his young clients progressed, and they were now in the market to purchase their first home. As a result, Richard began selling real estate to accommodate the needs of his clients. He accomplished this while maintaining full employment with Caterpillar Tractor Company.
Richard remained working for Caterpillar Tractor Company for 11 years, then moved on to become a police officer with the Miami-Dade Police department.  He quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant. Because of his passion for real estate and financial matter, Richard has spent seventeen of his twenty years on the police department in the Economic Crimes Bureau supervising investigations related to mortgage frauds, embezzlement, and financial schemes to defraud.

Sounds good, he's certainly got the experience necessary for the job.

Today, what began as a simple tax business has grown into a full service financial company offering financial planning, mortgages broker services, real estate service and federal income tax preparation.

A full service financial company and a Sgt with the MDPD simultaneously?  How do you juggle all that responsibility?  That's got to get you thinking.  Let's take a look at the responsibilities that Sgt Davis has:

1. MDPD Sergeant on the mortgage fraud task force who investigates financial fraud.
2. MDPD Sergeant who trains new mortgage fraud investigators.
3. MDPD Sergeant who is a member of the mortgage fraud task forces board
4. Mortgage Broker
5. Financial planner
6. Real Estate agent
7. Accountant

That's seven jobs that we know of folks!  He's got the Subway/Turnpike toll collector guy beat by a landslide!  DAMN!  Like we said, Sgt. Davis must be the busiest man on the MDPD.  We're gonna have to take a closer look.  Till tomorrow...

Does the MDPD really want experienced investigators?

We all remember when Detective Jorge Baluja showed the world just how much he knew about Real Estate and the mortgage biz right?  In fact he was so well versed in these topics that the pride and joy of the Miami Dade Mortgage Fraud Task Force couldn't even execute his own mortgage correctly!  Surely this guy becoming a Detective in the task force must have been some sort of mistake, perhaps a favor for a relative that's well connected in the police force, maybe even friends with someone in the command staff.  No matter though, we're sure that the task force is always on the look out for good cops with lots of real estate and mortgage experience, Detective Baluja's incompetence must be the exception, not the rule, right?  We'd buy that if not for the following comment we received on one of our other posts, take a look for yourself...

"I'm glad some of these corrupt brass asses are getting in trouble. It's about time the pendulum swing back to those who are really at fault instead of the rank and file trying to just to a job.  I wanted to work in the Mortgage Fraud Unit. I hold a real estate and mortgage brokers license and at one point I ran my own mortgage business but when I spoke to Lt Cynthia Mechanic about working for her, she was very optimistic in our first and only conversation which was face to face. She then refused to return my calls. This was at a time when she was expanding the unit by three-fold and had a few immediate openings. I guess I was just too big and white for her and the other supervisors there. I don't know for certain but I could imagine that with 34 years in policing, OCB background, supervisory experience, halfway through law school, and still the productivity of the energy bunny, I'd say my qualifications out shined most if not all those working there."

Jeeze!  Wouldn't this guy be the ideal mortgage fraud investigator?  How the hell could you turn him down?!  WTF?!  They turned this guy down and instead we get Jorge?!  HUH?!  Slightly off topic, he goes on to say... 

"I hope all the corrupt brass get it right where the sun don't shine. As far as Mayor Alvarez goes.....he can suck my night stick. I can only imagine what kind of corrupt deal was made to prevent anyone from running against him for a second term. For those of you who don't know, Jimmy Morales opposed Alvarez the first time. He graduated Harvard Law School at the top of his class. He served this community many years "honestly". Alvarez won due to morons being bussed to the poles and there were probably a few other reasons or rather organizations that got him and continue to keep him in office. When you work with corruptible influences, you eventually show your own corruption. When will someone be able to expose this guy?"

OK!  We don't know enough about the second part to really comment, but the first part should have you all REALLY pissed.  Let's look at the commentors qualifications as he states them:

• Real Estate brokers license
• Mortgage brokers license
• Owned his own mortgage broker business
• 34 years on the police force
• OCB experience (organized crime?)
• Supervisory experience
• Law student

Could you ask for a better mortgage fraud investigator?  Seems to us that this guy would be a tremendous asset to the task force, RE Broker, mortgage broker, experienced cop and almost a lawyer!  What the hell else do you need?!  What do we get instead?  Jorge "the brain" Baluja!

 

 

Social media sites, Glenn Theobald and the Straw Buyer.

We have to be honest here folks, we here at the Straw Buyer are not computer savvy, not one bit.  We've had several people suggest that we get involved in all the difference social media sites (myspace, facebook, twitter, etc...), to be honest with you all that stuff is way above our pay grade.  That's not to say that we haven't been looking through some of those sites to glean information on the people that we've been writing about, it's just not our cup of tea.


What's startling though about these social media sites (IE facebook) is just how much of their private lives people make available for the public to see, pictures of themselves inebriated, doing things that perhaps you'd like to forget or even worse, pictures of themselves with people that they may not want anyone to see, etc.  These social media sites make a great investigatory tool for law enforcement.  While the Barrera mortgage fraud case was in its earliest stages, through facebook we were able to link almost all the players involved in the fraud including several other people the PD didn't even know about.  Even worse though are all those horror stories that emerge from these social media sites, people getting raped, kids getting molested, really who needs it?  Does anyone remember this guy?  

Is meeting real people in person too much trouble?


Regardless though, there is one aspect of Facebook in particular that can lead to major embarrassment for prominent members of the community, IE judges, politicians, etc.  What happens when you're say a judge or a member of the local police forces command staff with a Facebook page and it turns out one of the people on your "friends" list is accused of some sort of embarrassing act or even worse a heinous crime?  Not good huh?  You all remember Glenn Theobald right?  He was the former Chief counsel of the Miami Dade County Police department and the former chairman of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force.  Let's take a look at Mr. Theobalds friends from his Facebook page...
 

Uh, oh!  Let's take a closer look at that person outlined in red...

Wait a minute, doesn't that face look familiar?  Could this Maria Lopez be the Maria Teresa Lopez who was charged and arrested for mortgage fraud, grand theft, identity theft and money laundering that we discussed a few weeks ago?  Damn!  That doesn't look good now does it!  


Mr. Theobald, you may want reconsider that Facebook friend!!!

Detective Jorge Baluja's perspective on events that we deem important...

Here we are again at the end of another week, specifically the week before the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case is to go to trial, don't get worked up though as we sincerely doubt that the trial will start on May 10 as anticipated.  How do we come to that conclusion?  Simple, as we've seen at least seven other times, defendant and government witness John Arthur Romney still hasn't finalized his plea agreement, this stifles any attempt by the other defendants to depose Mr. Romney.  With that said and the complete lack of any evidence on the docket of his attorneys preparing for trail, it's safe to say that there's an insurmountable obstacle to going to trial.  Monday should be interesting day in court though as the judge hearing the case has been progressively getting more and more impatient with the nearly two years of continuances on this case, so no trial on Monday, but there's definitely going to be some interesting moments before the judge.

Moving on, over the last few weeks we've rehashed several aspects of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud investigation and how the state had handled it, today let's specifically look at how Detective Baluja investigated Mr. Barrera's previous identity theft case.  From his deposition...

Detective Jorge Baluja being questioned on the first Bernardo Barrera identity theft case


In a nutshell, Detective Baluja in his infinite wisdom didn't even bother to look into his "victims" previous claim of identity theft.  FANTASTIC!  From the depo:

"Detective Baluja, he's coming to you, telling you someone is using his identity to purchase a home and he also tells you that someone is using his identity to purchase a boat and you thought nothing of it...You didn't think it was important?"

He then responds...

"NO."

FCUKING BRILLIANT!  Let's try to follow Detective Baluja's line of reasoning here, let's look at the following examples:

• Your home is broken into, you report it to the police and also let them know that your home was broken into just days before.  Wouldn't the cop consult with the cop who took care of the previous break in order to help find the burglar?
• You were raped, you report it to the police and also let them know that you were raped just days before.  Wouldn't the cop consult with the cop that took the report on the previous rape to see if there was anyway they could link the two incidents together?

I'm sure those among our readers that aren't completely brain dead can see the point that were making here.  If indeed the Detective would have spoken to the Detective who worked on the other identity theft case, perhaps they would have seen some similarities and maybe proved the hypothesis we presented the other day about the guy claiming identity theft having sold his identity to a ring of fraudsters?  The ultimate irony about this inaction on the part of Detective Baluja is that the Detective that worked the original identity theft case not only works in the same office as he does but they're also FRIENDS! 


We've also recently discussed how important the timing of Mr. Barrera's claims of identity theft were and that if one were to set up a time line of the two separate identity theft cases a disturbing pattern would emerge that would cast serious doubt on Mr. Barrera's claims of not being involved with either fraud.  So how did Detective Baluja handle these dates during his investigation?  Once again, let's look at his performance during one of his depositions...

Detective Jorge Baluja being questioned regarding dates involving key events in the Bernardo Barrera mortga...

Once again, FCUKING BRILLIANT!  We've gone to great lengths to show how important dates are throughout the investigation of the Bernardo Barrera frauds and what does Detective Dipshit have to say?

Q: When did he become aware of it?


A: I don't have a specific date.  Prior to him making the report.


Q: As you sit here today, you don't know when Bernardo Barrera became aware of this transaction?


A: Not specific date, no.


Q: Is it documented anywhere in your Offense-Incident report?


A: Not to my knowledge.

If that wasn't enough, it get's better...

Q: Do you agree that the date Bernardo Barrera became aware of this transaction, which he denies any involvement it, is an important date?


A: The specific date, no.

Brilliant.  In what planet are dates regarding crimes like this not important?  The question that begs to be asked now is whether or not Detective Baluja ever received any training regarding these kinds of dates, once again from his depo...

Q: That's something that you were trained to include in your report,  correct, important dates, right?


A: Not specific to that, no.

MY GOD!  So not only are dates not important to the good Detective, but we now have learned that he wasn't even trained to include important dates in his police reports!  HOLY $HIT!  Detective Dipshit, I'm sorry, Baluja, have you lost sight of the fact that the entire steaming pile of shit you built called a case is built entirely on dates and the dates and times when monies went in and out of the defendants hands?  WHAT IN THE FCUK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

If you're as pissed as we are, it's time to take a step back and chill...

Now that we've taken a deep breath and calmed down a bit, consider the following, Detective Baluja was being supervised by people within his own office that have far more experience than he did.  There is no reason why his superiors shouldn't have realized how grossly incompetent he was.  Even if his incompetence and gross negligence wasn't recognized by his superiors, there was someone far more educated and experienced working the case with him, Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski.  There's no excuse for any of this to have happened considering the prosecutor was by the Detective's side every step of the way while the case was being put together, that's what makes this even more unbelievable.  What this proves isn't just the lack of knowledge and total incompetence by the cop, but of Veteran Economic Crimes Prosecutor, Bill Kostrzewski as well.


With that said, have a great weekend folks and let's see what Monday holds in store for the Barrera mortgage fraud case...

Great news for defendant Michael Martinez and another example of carelessness that characterizes ASA Bill Kostrzewski's handling of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case...

While shuffling through the Bernardo Barrera case file, we came across what amounted to a great Christmas present for defendant Michael Martinez, the man who lent the straw buyer $125,000 to close on the Oak Avenue home purchase that's at the center of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case.  Take a look at what Mr. Martinez got courtesy of the state back on Christmas eve 2009...

COOL!!  We had previously discussed Mr. Marinez's plea here, let's take a look at the nuts and bolts of that agreement once again...

2. The Court shall adjudicate defendant guilty and shall sentence defendant to two (2) years of Community Control, followed by three (3) years probation.

And then this part...

9. As a condition of Community Control, defendant may not petition the Court for conversion of Community Control to probation until the defendant has successfully completed six (6) months of Community Control and is current in his payment of restitution, cost of supervision and his community service hours. Also as a condition of probation, defendant may not request early termination of probation for two (2) years from the date of this agreement and only if the defendant has successfully completed his requisite Community Control and probation, and has fully paid his restitution and satisfied his community service obligation and cost of supervision. Defendant agrees to extend the term of his probation to the statutory maximum to insure full payment of his restitution obligation.

In an nutshell, the most severe part of Mr. Martinez's punishment is over (if you can call it that), now his probation goes from the weekly meetings (and possibly wearing a lojack) to just regular probation.  Although the plea agreement calls for 3 years of regular probation, based on what we've seen through this modification of probation, he'll more than likely be done in just a year and half.  Good for Mr. Martinez and nice job ASA Kostrzewski!  Boy did you send a message to anyone out there considering committing a crime!


This modification of probation really got us thinking though, so much so that we decided to go back and carefully examine the original plea agreement that was prepared by ASA Kostrzewski.  Let's take a look at it again...

Martinez Plea   

Now, before we dissect this plea agreement keep in mind the following pertinent facts, the agreement was prepared by a VETERAN Economic Crimes prosecutor and that the entire Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case is based his interpretation of complicated real estate and mortgage instruments.  We've eluded to ASA Kostrzewski not knowing what went on throughout the transaction that is the basis of his case, not understanding the fundamentals of the transaction, being grossly incompetent in regards to these matters and even worse, being careless throughout the course of the investigation and the subsequent prosecution.  There are several embarrassing incidents and screw ups that can illustrate our claims, but we'll hold off for the time being.


Back to that plea agreement that Mr. Kostrzewski prepared, remember, this entire case is based on accuracy of documents, dates, signatures etc.  Let's take a close look now at the document that Mr. Kostrzewski prepared...

Note the case number outlined in red, F08-36522C.  Moving on to page two...

All good, once again, note the case number outlined in red, F08-36522C.  Page three...

So far so good, page four...

Again, take note of the case number, outlined in red, F08-36522C and last but not least, page five...

WTF WAS THAT?!  Look closer...

WTF is that Bill?  You fcuked up the plea agreement!  The Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case is PD080208066734 and in case you forgot, the case number is F08-36522C not F07-44341B!  Are we reading this wrong?  Who do those case numbers correspond to?  Let's see...

Who the hell is Portia Simac and why is her case number on Martinez's plea agreement?!  Bill, this is all about precision!  WTF is this?


Just another perfect example of the incompetence, carelessness and gross negligence that Mr. Kostrzewski has exhibited throughout this case.  Nice work Mr. Veteran Economic Crimes prosecutor!  Does this screw up mean that the restitution that Mr. Martinez has paid is going to the wrong case number?  Bravo Bill!  Amazing how there's nothing but excuses for how you've handled this case and overlooked vital details, isn't this worse than not noticing who the remitter on a check is Bill?  We got an even bigger surprise for Mr. Kostrzewski coming up, this plea is gonna bite him in the ass.  You'll have to be patient though, it's going to be worth the wait...


Toodles and air kisses Bill!