The tag agency story, what do you guys think?

Now that we've gotten through most of the Airways Tag Agency story, what do you guys think?  Here's what we do know...

• According to the arrest affidavit, between 12/3/2010 and 12/20/2010 there was approximately 20 transactions whose proceeds equaled $15,168.83
• Days after the transactions were processed they were cancelled in the tag agency's internal accounting system
• Once said transactions were cancelled, the proceeds disappeared creating huge shortages in the funds that the tag agency owed the state both in taxes collected and in title and tag fees.
• Three tellers who worked at the tag agency were arrested and accused of stealing the funds.

So those are the incontrovertible facts.  We know the transactions occurred, then were cancelled therefore leaving the tag agency owing the state tens of thousands of dollars.  After interviewing the tellers for an hour or so, Detective Jorge Baluja of the MDPD decided that the three tellers were at fault and subsequently arrested them.  Simple.


Here's where things start getting a little complicated, once again these are incontrovertible facts as well...

• The tag agency strictly monitors the tellers cash drawers both at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day.
• The tag agency also strictly monitors the tellers inventory of license plates, blank registration decals as well as blank titles.
• A quick look inside the tag agency will reveal a number of security cameras that monitor each teller.
• The tag agency has a manager that is constantly hovering over each of the tellers.
• Last but not least, almost all of the larger transactions (over $1,000) are paid for with company checks.

Now, with that in mind, how can we be expected to believe someone at the teller level could possibly make away with nearly ten thousand dollars of proceeds from these transactions?  As we said before, the one thing that we know for sure is at the end of the day there was a huge negative balance in the tag agency, that much we can't get around, but what better way to justify this negative balance than by arresting someone or in this case three people?  From what I'm told, the transactions mentioned in the arrest affidavit represented only a small portion of the actual alleged thefts, I've heard that the amount of money actually missing was much more than what the police reported.  Perhaps this comment from yesterday's blog post will add a little clarity to what we're trying to say...

IS FUNNY HOW ALL THAT MONEY GETS LOST AND THEY DONT NOTICE THE SAME DAY? HOLD ON ONE SECOND, BUT TO MY UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU FINISH WITH THE DAY AS A CASHIER YOU TAKE ALL THE MONEY AND A REPORT TO ACCOUNTING HOW IN THE HELL THEY STOLE ALL THAT MONEY REALLY JAJAJAJAJJA ONLY A STUPID PERSON WILL BELIEVE THAT, ONE OF THE CASHIERS STOLE THE MONEY THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL AND SPECIALLY A TAG AGENCY THAT HAS CAMERAS JAJAJJA I HOPE WHOM EVER IS BEHIND THIS WHOLE SKEEM THAT APARENTLY IS AN INSIDE JOB OF A DIRTY ASS COP GETS WHAT THEY DESERVE .....WOW IS GREAT TO BE A CRIMINAL AND ALSO WEAR A BADGE BUT BEHIND EVERY DIRTY JOB IS A CUBAN HIDDING

Now, I don't know much about the Cuban cop thing, but the rest of the comment does ring true and basically reiterates what we've been saying all along although I have to admit, I have no idea what "JAJAJJA" means.  

So what do I think happened?  For what it's worth, here's my theory of the case; perhaps one of the principals of the tag agency or maybe someone in management or perhaps whoever is looking after the books figures out a way to skim a little money from this little tag agency, once they perfect the skim, the get a little greedy and start taking more and more.  Once the scheme is revealed, they go ahead and blame the people lowest on the totem pole, the people least able to defend themselves, the most vulnerable of the bunch, the tellers.  Perhaps at this point, a few favors are called in and they're able to get a cop to investigate that's sympathetic to the owners plight.  Think about that for a second, wouldn't you prefer to have a cop that's investigating your business that's a friend or a friend of a friend that is more inclined to believe your story versus a total stranger?  Maybe even a lazy incompetent cop that's willing to buy your whole story, hook line and sinker without doing any investigating on their own?  In case there's any doubt that Detective Baluja is just that type of cop, go back and read Matt Meltzer's story from Miami Beach 411 regarding the good detective and his investigative skills.  To me that's just the kind of detective you'd want in a situation like this.


What do you guys think?  Mull it over then tomorrow we'll make the link that will probably make the whole story make sense.

Another look at the auto tag agency story...

Before we go deeper into the Airways Auto Tag Agency story that we first mentioned earlier this month, let's try to get a basic understanding of what the case is about.  The allegations are as follows...


Customer comes into the tag agency and for the sake of our argument, purchases a new license plate for their car and pays the sales tax on their newly acquired vehicle.  To make things easy, let's say that the entire transaction costs a total of $1,000.


At this point the teller at the tag agency takes the $1,000 from the customer, which by the way is almost always cash or a company check assuming it was coming from one of the dealers that the tag agency works with, prints out the required paperwork and receipts from the state computer system, hands the customer a license plate as well as a new vehicle registration and decal.  So far so good right?


According to the police, at some point in the day, the tellers that were charged pocket the money then go and void out the transactions on the tag agencies internal accounting system therefore according to the arrest affidavit shorting the tag agencies proceeds to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (aka DHSMV) which regulates the tag agencies.  


Simple enough right?  You come in, pay your money, pick up your tag, registration, title, etc, the teller does all the required paperwork on the state and the tag agencies internal computer system then at some point after you leave, the tellers would void the transactions on the agency's internal system, pocket the money which would therefore leave a shortage with the state at the end of the day.


Real simple right?  Let's now take a look at a specific day that the police allege that one of these dirty tellers pulled this scheme, specifically, December 18, 2010.  From the arrest affidavit...

Ok, so according to the arrest affidavit, on December 18, 2010 this teller processed six transactions totaling $8,175.90 and then two days later said teller voided these transactions and at some point between these two days the defendant pocketed a little over $8,000.  Now to fully understand these allegations, lets take another look at the tag agency where all this was alleged to have occurred...

What you can't see from this photo is that the place is only about ten feet deep and has three tellers.  Now, take into account that the business is highly regulated by the state and there is a strict inventory of license plates, blank titles, blank registrations, etc.  You start off the day with a certain inventory of items and you finish the day with all those items as well as the money in your drawer fully accounted for.  Also take into consideration that large dealer transactions like the ones that occurred on December 18, 2010 are invariably paid for with a check from the dealership.  Now, tell me how anyone with a modicum of common sense could believe that there could possibly have been $8,000 in cash missing from this tiny tag agency in one day without anyone above the tellers knowing about it?  

Anyone with an once of reason in their head would be confounded by these allegations, that is, anyone but our favorite MDPD Detective, Jorge Baluja...

Tomorrow we'll propose what our theory of this case is and see what you think.

Murder, identity theft and a Mercedes...

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So what was that mysterious email about the other day?  From that email...

This man, Nalio Willliams is wanted for the murder of my friend.  I know it's a longshot but if ANYBODY recognizes him or knows where he is PLEASE let me know.  He shot a good man in the head multiple times for NOTHING.  My friend's 5 year old son, who he loved very much is going to miss him greatly.

Ok, let's start with a quick google search of Mr. Williams to see what we can find.  From CBS4 we get this story...

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – An arrest warrant has been issued for a Hialeah man who reportedly gunned down a Miami man in cold blood days before Christmas.
On December 22nd, Raimundo Modia drove his high-end luxury Mercedes to a West Park warehouse on SW 57th Terrace in hopes of selling it. What Modia, 34, didn’t know was that the prospective buyer, 35-year old Nalio Williams, was a career criminal, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
During the meeting between the two men, Modia was shot several times during the meeting and died at the warehouse. He is survived by a five-year old son.
Williams left a stolen white Toyota Tundra at the shooting scene. The tag on that vehicle was registered to a man in northern Florida whose identity had been stolen, and the vehicle itself was registered to another man in Winter Garden. Modia’s Mercedes was discovered the following day abandoned in Miami Gardens.
A first degree murder warrant has been issued for Williams who detectives believe may still be in the area.
The sheriff’s office said Williams past arrests have been for identity theft and fraud so he may be using an alias.

Ok, from this article we've learned that Mr. Williams shot someone named Raimundo Modia in the head after they met at a warehouse somewhere in Broward county to discuss the sale of a luxury car.  We're also told that shooter has been arrested in the past for Identity theft and fraud.  Interesting.

Now, let's see what we can learn about Mr. Raimundo Modia.  From Sunbiz we get the following...

Interesting.  From what we can glean from Sunbiz, Mr. Modia was in the mortgage business as well as the exotic car rental business.  Wait a minute, what are the chances?  Haven't we discussed this exotic car rental business before?  Let's focus in on one particular business that Mr. Modia was involved with, Elite Luxury Rentals, which just happened to be owned by a fellow named Bryan Guarch.  We've written about Mr Guarch before, for those of you who don't remember, perhaps this press release from the U.S. Attorneys office will refresh your memory...

United States v. Bryan A. Guarch, et al., Case No. 09-20627-CR-Moreno.
On July 23, 2009, thirteen (13) defendants were charged in a 15-count Indictment for their participation in a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in approximately $4 million in fraudulent loans. Charged in the Indictment were defendants Bryan A. Guarch, 29, Richard Pi, 27,  Edwin Garcia, 30, Carlos Martinez, 29, Wayne Bermudez, 29, Oscar Quintero, 28, Sunsy Garcia, 29, Ryan Barouh, 27, Jason Cuza, 30, Anthony Silverio, 26, all of Miami, Rafael Jaramillo, 32, of Hialeah Gardens, Mario Estrada Mora, 25, of Miami Beach, and Vanessa Negron, 27, of Boiling Springs, South Carolina. According to the Indictment, defendants Guarch and Pi organized the scheme and identified eight properties to be used to defraud mortgage lenders. Guarch and Pi used defendants Edwin Garcia, Rafael Jaramillo, Carlos Martinez, and Wayne Bermudez, to recruit  straw buyers to submit fraudulent loan applications to mortgage lenders. Among the straw buyers recruited in this way were co-conspirators Oscar Quintero, Mario Estrada Mora, Sunsy Garcia, and Vanessa Negron.After submitting fraudulent loan applications to the lenders, Pi and Guarch paid-off loan officers, defendants Ryan Barouh and Jason Cuza, to facilitate the approval of the loans. Guarch and Pi caused the title company closer, defendant Anthony Silverio, to approve and submit to the lender a fraudulent HUD-1 Settlement Statement with an inflated purchase price. In an effort to conceal the fraud, Silverio provided a second HUD-1 Settlement Statement to the sellers reflecting the actual, much lower purchase price of the property. At closing, Guarch and Pi kept more than $1 million in loan proceeds, representing the difference between the inflated purchase price and the price actually paid to the seller for the property. After closing, Guarch and Pi used those loan proceeds to pay off their co-conspirators and to fund their lavish life styles. After each of the closings, the straw buyers defaulted on the loans, causing each of the properties to go into foreclosure and resulting in possible losses to the lenders of more than $2.6 million.The Indictment includes charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and substantive wire fraud. Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Federal-State Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, with special commendation to the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Miami-Dade Police Department, and the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter A. Forand.

Oh boy.  So here we have Mr Modia who was in the mortgage business as well as in the exotic car rental business along with a guy named Bryan Guarch who was federally indicted for running a massive multi million dollar straw buyer mortgage fraud scheme.  Now comes Mr. Williams who then allegedly shoots Mr. Modia in the back of the head who's got a history or identity theft and fraud.  Interesting.

Am I the only one that thinks this case is about something other than Mr. Modia wanting to sell his Mercedes?  I wonder what the cops think?  Perhaps paying a visit to Mr. Guarch over in federal prison may answer some questions...

Mysterious email...

So I'm getting ready to bang out my next "Airways Auto Tag Agency" story when my the email notification on my phone goes off and I get a strange email with this photo...

I've had tons of emails in the past asking me to look at a specific case or write about a story that someone thought was important but what the hell am I supposed to do with this?  Especially since the man who allegedly shot this guys "friend" is still on the loose?!


I guess spending a few hours to see what we can dig up can't hurt, right?  We'll report back tomorrow...

Miami's best blogs, setting the record straight.

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I've gone over the Miami New Times article several times over the last week where we were named Miami's third most important blog.  While I greatly appreciate and am honored with the recognition, I feel that there are some errors in the article that need to be straightened out, beginning with the title they bestowed on me...

Persian New York born...

While that sounds great, it's also incorrect, I wasn't born in New York, I was born in Iran and have been in the U.S. since 1974.  No big deal there.

Prosecutors' Enemy

I find that a bit harsh and inaccurate.  First off, I'm not a prosecutors enemy, while I'm the first to point out when a prosecutor in a case that we're writing about makes a mistake, I'm also first to applaud a prosecutor that's doing a good job, IE the prosecutors in the Veldora Arthur mortgage fraud trial.  The particular prosecutor that I consider my enemy, William J. Kostrzewski, is only labeled as such because of his downright unethical and immoral behavior, his targeting of myself and my family and the fact that when he was faced with the real facts regarding the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, he still chose to ignore them and go forward with a case that he knew was deeply flawed.

The idea: undermine the case against his spouse.  Hatami zeroed in on the two men responsible for arresting Delaila.  Miami Dade Police Det. Jorge Baluja and assistant state attorney William Kostrzewski. 

Not really.  The idea wasn't to undermine the case against my spouse but instead the idea behind the blog was two fold, first to provide some measure of therapy by giving myself a way to channel the anger I had against the police and the state for arresting my wife on totally bullshit charges.  Secondly the idea behind the blog was in some way shape or form to expose the way we were lied to by the prosecutor, just days before my wife was arrested, once the case was explained to the prosecutor in detail and after my wife passed a polygraph test, the prosecutor assured us that all was well and that he wouldn't move forward against her.  That was all well and good then the son of a bitch went ahead after reassuring us that everything was fine and arrested her, even worse she wasn't given a chance to surrender herself and being the scumbag prosecutor he is, he made sure the police barged into her office midday on a Friday and hauled her off in cuffs.  The real motivation behind this whole mess?  To make sure the MDPD's mortgage fraud task force was able to make a high value arrest to commemorate the one year anniversary of the task forces first arrest.  Wonderful, fuck up someones life, destroy a family just so you can have your fucking headline and hopefully use that to move yourself up the ranks to a statewide or maybe even a nationwide task force.  How did that work out for you Mr. Kostrzewski?  The third and most important purpose of the blog was to clearly show that the state's victim, the man who claimed his identity was stolen which started the whole case, Bernardo Barrera, was indeed lying and was an integral part of the fraud.  We proved beyond a reasonable doubt that indeed Mr. Barrera was an active participant in the fraud that was the basis for the states case, even going so far as to hire our own handwriting expert to prove that his signatures were all over the "fraudulent" documents, we'll talk about that in detail next month.  Despite all we've done to prove Mr. Barrera's complicity in this case, the state still refuses to go after Mr. Barrera when even the attorney handling the foreclosure that arose from this fraud after examining the documents associated with this case concluded that he was involved with this fraud, here's an email from that attorney...

There you have it, an attorney that works on behalf of Attorney's Title who represented Citi Mortgage reviewed the documents that we presented after which he concludes that Mr. Barrera was involved in the fraud that ultimately lead to the arrests in this case, yet here we are nearly four years later and the state still hasn't taken action against Mr. Barrera.

As far as the rest of the New Times article is concerned, the details really don't matter.  I feel like commenting on my background isn't really necessary as disposition of the states previous cases against me speak for themselves.  The rest of it?  Writing about all these other cases, finding corruption in local government, etc, I guess that all came with the territory.  What really bothered me about some of these other cases, all of which were more egregious than the one that my wife was charged for, was that none of them were as heavily publicized as my wife's case, in fact the biggest story of them all, former City of Miami Assistant Veldora Arthur's federal mortgage fraud indictment, wasn't even publicized till I wrote about it!  I never understood the tremendous disparity between these monster cases that never made the news versus the case my wife was charged in that was plastered all over the media.

So, am I done now?  Not yet.  There's still a tons of stories I have to tell about my wife's case that I've held back on, everything from plea deals that were never disclosed to the people that by law were entitled to know about them to prosecutor Kostrzewski ordering one of the defendants girlfriends to wear a body wire in their attorneys office so he could listen in on them discussing the case he was prosecuting.  Oh, and how can I forget, in the heat of the battle, after I laughed at prosecutor Kostrzwewski in open court, he went ahead and sent a subpoena to the company that hosts my domain name in order to reveal my identity!  We'll cover that soon as well.

With all that said, I'd like to thank the folks at the New Times and Francisco Alvarado for bestowing this honor on us.  I'll do my best to live up to being "one of Miami's best blogs".  Back to our regular fare tomorrow...

The Miami New Times ranks us among Miami's best blogs!

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Check the story here.  Can you believe it?  Our humble little blog has been ranked among the best and most prestigious blogs in Miami!  Thanks to all our loyal readers that helped us along the way as well as those of you that are constantly sending us tips.  I'll do my best to keep up and try my best to keep turning out stories that no one else sees fit to print!  I'll do a little explaining over the next few days regarding who I am and why I went about things the way I did.  Until then, thanks to Frank Alvarado and the New Times for recognizing us and congrats to our fellow bloggers who made it on the list, it's an honor to be counted among you.

Saving Veldora's pension...

Our sources tell us that there is a meeting taking place today within the City of Miami whose sole objective is to figure out how to save convicted fraudster and former City of Miami Assistant Fire Chief Veldora Arthur's pension.  Ms Arthur was convicted and sentenced for her role in a massive multi million dollar mortgage fraud scheme last year, since then there's been strong opposition within the ranks of both the fire department and the City of Miami to Ms Arthur being able to collect her pension.

What makes today's meeting all the more interesting is that I'm told that former City of Miami Police Chief and City Manager Donald Warshaw is keeping a close eye on the proceedings, for those of you who don't remember Mr. Warshaw, this story from the Miami Herald sums up his situation...

Former Miami Police Chief Donald Warshaw is not entitled to his six-figure annual police pension, forfeited when he was convicted of diverting $70,000 from a charity for his personal use, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.

In a 2-1 decision, a Third District Court of Appeal panel of judges backed last year's decision by Miami's Firefighters & Police Officers Retirement Trust to stop paying Warshaw's pension of about $128,800 a year.


Warshaw, who retired as police chief to become city manager in 1998, avoided a conviction for using public office to steal public money as part of his plea deal with the U.S. attorney's office. Such a conviction would automatically have forfeited his pension, according to Florida statues.

Interesting, if Ms. Arthur somehow manages to keep her pension despite her federal fraud convictions, it's going to set a dangerous precedent.  If she gets to keep her pension then by default, wouldn't Mr. Warshaw be entitled to keep his pension as well?  For that matter, wouldn't any city or county employee who lost their pensions due to a criminal conviction be entitled to get their pension benefits back?  

We'll keep an eye on this situation and report back as soon as we learn anything.  More tomorrow on the Airways Tag Agency boondoggle.