This was previously posted with the title, "Overzealous Scary Cops in Hernando County Florida" and is being reposted due to several requests. I removed it in my big post purge in August 2012. It was originally an early (March) 2011 post, so this did not actually happen last night. Back by popular demand: (UPDATE at the end on January 8, 2014)
Last night my son and a friend had a frightening encounter with several (4) Hernando County Sheriff's Office deputies out in the rural area referred to as Ridge Manor, Florida. Either three or four patrol cars arrived at the scene with a total of 4 deputies. My son was driving a Toyota Prius and had the vehicle papers and his valid driver's license to hand the deputy and was puzzled as to the reason for the stop as he is ever so careful not to commit any sort of traffic infraction whatsoever.
Alex has learned to just stay a smart distance from cops and has been taught to understand that a police officer is more powerful than the POTUS. One must fear that a cop could plant drugs or shoot them dead as the result of a simple traffic stop in Florida.
The only time I shake is if I am being pulled-over by a cop as there is no telling what will happen next. No one wants to die at the hands of a whacko cop that later claims to have seen a weapon and trust me, it happens too often in Florida. And we aren't even Black. I fear for the Black motorist in this lousy state – refer to my posts on former officer Frank Carter of the Melbourne Police Department.
Alex was driving at a speed of 52 mph and the speed limit before the stop was 60 mph, so he knew the pull-over had nothing to do with speeding. The car is almost new and sure didn't have any light out or faulty equipment issue. Knowing that he had done nothing illegal or even incorrect, he had his friend dial me the minute that he heard the siren and had the brights in his face as the cop turned around to come after him. The second that police vehicle #1 got behind my son, vehicle #2 and vehicle #3 (and possibly a #4) appeared from nowhere and were also behind him with flashing lights on.
Alex pulled to the grassy area on the side of the road right next to the intersection of Croom Rital Rd. and Kettering Rd. in Hernando County, Florida. I was on the phone with his friend at that point. This is exactly what happened next and Deputy #3 and Deputy #4 remained in the background throughout never saying anything to them. [my thoughts and Alex's descriptions are in brackets]:
Unknown Deputy #1: License and registration
Alex: Yes sir. May I ask why we were pulled over?
Deputy #1: We received a complaint of objects being thrown out this window at the vehicle behind you.
Alex: I don't know what you're talking about. We didn't throw anything.
Deputy #1: I'm going to be real with you. I'm a dickhead who doesn't give a fuck about anything. I don't have time for fucking games. If I find out one of you is lying I'm going to seize this vehicle and everything in it and you're both going to jail. The vehicle behind you has a witness, the vehicle behind them, that is willing to write statements. [took driver's license and car paperwork and walked back to his vehicle] [I heard the entire conversation - the deputy was loud, but not screaming like an angry Marine as some do]
[within a couple (3) minutes]
Deputy #1: Passenger out of the vehicle. [brought my son's friend to side of deputy's car]. [I heard this].
Friend described: [The deputy asked what happened here and friend told him the story]
What really happened: We were behind a car driving about 15 mph under the speed limit. There was no lane to pass him, but two other vehicles went around both of us. I waited until there was a second lane to pass and went around the slow driver. The driver attempted to run me off the road by speeding-up as soon as he saw I was trying to pass him. I passed him anyway by speeding-up. He was right on my rear and turned on his brights and this went on for about five minutes. He pulled-off and about 10 minutes later I am being pulled-over, but have no idea why.
The friend thought the cop asked him to empty out his pockets and was starting to do this when 3 deputies went for their weapons and 1 grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him against the car. The deputy told him to place his hands on the car and then patted him down, placing his hands in friend's pockets, and searched him. Scared him to death.
Deputy #1: Mr. -------
Alex [got out of car and walked towards deputy #1]
Deputy #2: GET OFF THE PHONE! [I heard this]
Alex: It's my mother. What...
Deputy #2: GET OFF THE PHONE NOW! You're 18. Hang it up.[I heard this]
[I had instructed my son to ask the deputy's name and where/what police department he was with as my son had no idea where they were specifically at that time]
Alex: Yes sir. [he hung-up on me]
Deputy #1: Your buddy over here admitted everything so you want to be smart as well and go ahead and confess to what happened.
Alex: [repeated story of what actually happened]
Deputy #1: Do you have any weapons, guns, drugs, hand grenades [?] paraphernalia?
Alex: No sir.
Deputy #1: PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE CAR! [deputy starts going through Alex's pockets and searching him and looked through his wallet]
Deputy #1: Do you have any drugs, weapons, guns, paraphernalia, hand grenades, or dead bodies [?] in the vehicle? So then I have permission to search, right? [exact quote]
Alex: Yes sir.
Deputy #1: Turn around and face my partner. [Alex no longer had any visual of vehicle] [deputy searched for about 4 minutes]
Deputy #2: [starts asking both Alex and friend questions]. [He pointed at a vehicle and asked both at the same time if they recognized it and both responded “no it doesn't look familiar”.
Deputy #2: What are you doing way out here?
Alex: Visiting a friend.
Deputy #1: [pulls out posters and flyers from back seat]
Deputy #2: Why do you have all of those?
Alex: I do some promoting for Club Firestone.
Deputy #1: [walks to his vehicle] You might want to stay in Merritt Island boys and don't come around here again. We are a bunch of fucking pricks who don't give a shit and will cause you some fucking problems. [Deputy threw Alex's driver's license in the grass]
Alex: [we got back in our vehicle and noted Deputy #1 walked to the vehicle that we couldn't identify].
So what in the hell is going on in Hernando County? Apparently they sure do not want anyone that doesn't live there entering the area. My son has had many traffic stops for no reason whatsoever, but none as scary as this one because they really do not know the area at all and even though he has met cops that were screaming like Marines throughout the encounter, they do not normally threaten to seize a vehicle and take the driver and passenger to jail – this is the unique issue here. Of course the search demand was because they expected to find drugs.
I have since dialed the non-emergency number for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and the operator was helpful. She stated that the deputy that made the stop (deputy #1) is Deputy Genovese. She was unable to locate any information for the other deputies or did not offer the information if she did.
To Deputy Genovese with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office:
I have taught my son to always fear cops as truly you are more powerful than the POTUS and capable of absolutely anything. You prove my point. I also taught him to never give a police officer permission to search, no matter that there is nothing illegal or even incorrect in the vehicle. However, when I heard your threat of seizing the vehicle and taking them both to jail, I knew (from your own words) that you are indeed a total prick capable of anything and since we all knew there was nothing illegal in the vehicle, I told my son to agree to any search prior to him hanging-up the phone.
This is the United States and no one should be coerced into a search and threatened as you did to these two late last night (1am). Do you think you own Hernando County? Do you believe that you actually have the authority to tell any motorist to never return to Hernando County? Guess what prick – you don't own shit and I'll drive through Hernando County any fucking time I want to.
My son really feared that you would plant something in the vehicle (drugs). Why did you instruct him to turn around and face your partner so that the vehicle was no longer in his line of vision? That is something I have never run into and it shouldn't be considered legal.
I will offer a short scenario of the events to follow if you had taken them to jail last night:
Of course I would attempt to bond them out immediately, but not knowing anything about how it all works in Hernando County, well, I may or may not have been successful. No matter what, I would have them out on Monday before the morning was over. Each of them would then be filing a false arrest suit against you, the unknown deputies that joined you, and the Sheriff of Hernando County.
This is not a lawsuit worthy encounter and this is the last you'll hear of us Deputy Genovese, but someone needs to take some of your power away. Cops like you are why I have instilled it in my son's mind that he should never trust any cop anywhere for any reason. You really are a fucking prick – you said it.
Added on 26 December 2012:
I must wonder if Deputy Genovese is stil employed by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. If he is, I also blame the sheriff and the county - they have had almost 2 years to get rid of his bad cop ass.
UPDATE on 8 January 2014:
Apparently the Hernando County Sheriff's Office do not discipline or fire Deputy Louis Genovese as him and his gang of thug cops attacked this poor man in his own home long before the traffic stop discussed in this post. I hope the Hernando Sheriff and these pigs (literally) pay this man every $ he's filed suit for!
I had such a sinking, uneasy feeling that night. Glad my son said "yes" to his coerced demand to search. This article is about a gang of criminals and here's to hoping their police toys are taken away forever. Where's the DOJ criminal civil rights division? Get these thugs off the street and cage them like the rabid animals they are:
Brooksville man sues Hernando deputies for $10 million
You can't even imagine the sinking feeling I had when I heard this freak accusing my son and threatening both him and his friend out in the middle of nowhere Hernando County, Florida. You just can't imagine. Where is the DOJ??? Read this poor man's Complaint against the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and 4 thugs that parade as cops:
Michael Pratt Civil Rights Complaint
Every single one of these deputies must face criminal charges!
Showing posts with label Police Misconduct. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police Misconduct. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Orlando MBI: The Long War on Adults
The most vehement critic of the Orlando
MBI was always the Orlando Weekly and the agency managed to
silence the newspaper's investigative reporting with the October 2007
arrests of several advertising sales employees for selling ads to
escorts and unlicensed massage therapists that offered more than the
law allows.
Many around back in 1996 could testify
to the fact that this was not a new strategy for the MBI, myself
included. The War on publishers of ads for adult business began with
the Yellow Pages Fiasco, discussed in Memoirs, in 1996, when Sprint Publishing was
threatened with a RICO case over a refusal to remove the “escort
services” category in the Central Florida yellow pages. Sprint did
remove the category, stopping the presses (literally) on the 1997
directories printed and distributed by November of 1996.
Someone stated to me back in 1993-94
that Orlando was a testing ground of some sort in relation to the
eradication of anything involving adult business or vice, from
gambling and bingo to escort services and X-rated movies. I believe
it. The MBI's War on Adults has spread throughout the US these days
with the attacks on Craigslist (an MBI priority before anyone else
ever touched it) and now on Backpage.
Enjoy Bingo?
The MBI would have liked to make sure
that you would never enjoy bingo in Orlando; however, Philip Furtney
of Ontario fought the agency from 1995, until he died in late 2007,
while in-process of a civil suit against members of the MBI Governing
Board to retrieve his stolen property. Furtney's brother Bruce, on
behalf of the estate, carried-on with the suit and won a judgment. As
far as I am aware, Furtney's estate finally collected from the State
of Florida.
I would like to keep Philip Leroy
Furtney's criminal and civil cases alive in our memories forever and
do so with the inclusion of links to posts on this blog. Never forget
what the MBI is capable of:
The Bingo Racketeering Case
The Great Bingo Fiasco
Most Bizarre Racketeering Case Ever
True Investigative Reporting of a
Renegade Agency
Over the years, the Orlando Weekly
and its investigative reporters were often nipping at the heels of
the dogs at the MBI. Retaliation is hell and the Weekly and its
employees paid dearly for placing the agency in the public eye. One
day last week I did a search for MBI articles written by Weekly
reporters and each link was dead. A fear of sorts gripped me at the
discovery, a fear that all the solid online information concerning
the vicious pursuits of the MBI was being deleted and removed. Whew!
It didn't happen and a few days later the links were all working. One
other thought I had was that perhaps the Weekly had
commissioned a book – that would have been wonderful; it would
become a bestseller overnight. (Idea for the Weekly to help
make-up for lost revenue!)
To keep the information out there I
have compiled a list of important Orlando Weekly stories about the
MBI over the last 10 years. Whatever the Weekly did last week with
the links has made it so that the articles are on a dark red
background with dark blue text – if you highlight the text it is
much easier to read. They are in no particular order and searching
the Orlando Weekly for stories on the MBI revealed 135 results so
these are my picks:
The Morality Police (scroll to view 2
images, 1 of the MBI director in 1989 and the other of Hitler's SA
and both concerned over morality – scary stuff)
The MBI busts heads and Rich Crotty attempts to smile (smoke shop raids)
Our little Gestapo (MBI = "Central Florida's Church Lady with a Badge") (love this story!)
Score one for the MBI (about my federal
civil suit being tossed with a twist at the end)
Something's Fishy (bad behavior of
agents at a strip club)
Dirty Politics (on the Video Exposé
takedown)
Legal Haze (smoke shop raids)
The links I have included reveal what
the MBI really is, but there are many cases that even the Weekly
was not aware of and many defendants that have suffered at the hands
of the overzealous agents of the Metropolitan Bureau of
Investigation. Few appreciate this agency in Orlando – the citizens
did not ask for this whacked task force to eliminate all that is
adult in Orlando. I will leave it to you to figure out what monster
enterprise did.
I have written about a variety of cases
in Memoirs that are not in any Weekly articles. In the past
couple of months I've discussed the Orlando federal conspiracy trial
of the 11 defendants from Eastern Europe on this blog – this is
indeed an MBI case. MBI is not a local agency. I am not clear on how
the agency has changed since former Director William Lutz retired,
though at the conclusion of Memoirs I did believe there had
been a significant change. Well, I have changed my mind.
I consider it important to keep the
information out there and perhaps if I had given away free copies of
Memoirs a couple of years ago after it was published, the most
recent case involving the Eastern European defendants would never
have happened; maybe, just maybe, they would have passed on Orlando. If not for the arrests of the Weekly employees in late 2007, there would be many more articles of cases that are now buried by the MBI.
If you are an adult that likes to
gamble, play bingo, visit smoke shops, rent X-rated movies, read
X-rated books, get a massage with a happy ending, patronize strip
clubs, or call escorts... well, Orlando is not the place to be. We live in a fantasy land for children here - think about it - Disney shut down Pleasure Island (the nightclub theme park) in late 2008, after 20 years, because of demands by visiting families. The
MBI has not been dissolved yet, with emphasis on yet, and we can only hope that one day...
If you do not like me, realize that it is the MBI that made me the person that I am today. I like who I am, but if you don't, well, you should know that I used to be a nice, mild-mannered woman. More than a decade of continuous harassment, interference in my life, and a show trial that rivaled many in the Stalin era did it. Change can be a good thing. I learned to kick back.
If you do not like me, realize that it is the MBI that made me the person that I am today. I like who I am, but if you don't, well, you should know that I used to be a nice, mild-mannered woman. More than a decade of continuous harassment, interference in my life, and a show trial that rivaled many in the Stalin era did it. Change can be a good thing. I learned to kick back.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Bad Cops an Epidemic in the US
A police officer has more power than anyone, including the President of the United States (POTUS). This is a statement that I first read in Marshall Frank's book, Criminal Injustice in America: Essays by a Career Cop
. Marshall Frank spent 30 years in law enforcement in Miami and is a retired captain from the Metro-Dade Police Department. He would know. If you are interested in the thoughts of a man that spent 30 years in the trenches, buy the book from Amazon or from: Marshall Frank From the time I entered this country to date I have encountered so many bad cops that I considered this a U.S. epidemic. Sure, I know that there are some good cops out there; I just drew the justice card and rarely meet any. We all draw different cards in life and mine all relate to justice, or rather injustice.
Most people go through life and never encounter bad cops. This doesn't mean that I did anything wrong and they did everything correct; it means that they didn't draw the justice card in life. Most people remain clueless as to the inner workings of the criminal justice system in the US, though I am not so sure that clueless is a preferred state of mind so I'm happy that I am enlightened regardless of all the problems involved.
I watched a CNN special a few nights ago: Race and Rage: Rodney King 20 Years Later
Rodney King stated that he did forgive the officers that beat him on that unforgettable night in Los Angeles. You may be thinking, why can't you forgive if King can Vicky? Well, I thought about that myself when he made the statement; however, the huge difference is that King's bad cops paid – two officers were convicted on civil rights violations and then King received $million + for his suffering. No one would even let my bad cops get to the point of a trial. None of the bad cops that I have encountered in the last 25 years have paid, yet. So, my state of mind is still that of an angry victim.
I do not know if there is a God and a Heaven and a Hell. I often have doubts and consider believers to be no different than idol worshipers. We all need a crutch in life, but that has never been my crutch. For the first time in many years I prayed to this unknown God the other night. I did this while my son and his friend were in the clutches of the scary and dangerous bad cops referred to in my last post (now removed). I do not know if prayer helped or not, but they went from intent to seize the vehicle and arrest my son and his friend on some unknown charges to a short don't come back here again speech. Maybe there is a God after all. Maybe deputy bad-ass #1 had second thoughts for another reason.
A quick search in the Inmate Locator on the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website reveals that former Chicago police commander Jon Burge is finally serving his sentence. If you are not familiar with the deranged Chicago police commander that ordered and/or participated in torturing over 200 African American men between 1972 and 1991 to force confessions, view this video: Survivors of Jon Burge's torture regime speak out
Let's not pretend that the charges that Burge was tried on and convicted of reflected his actual crimes against humanity. Burge is the poster child for bad cops.
What ever happened to Lake County Florida Sheriff's Office Detective Ralph D. Fiorenza? The information that I located says that he is retired. He receives a pension for his years of service, no matter that those years included falsifying reports and other criminal acts committed against Mario J. Bassignani and uncountable others, no doubt. This piece of shit, like so many others including Jon Burge, is actually allowed to retire with a pension. Not familiar with Mario Bassignani's story? Read on the website that Mario's brother has had online since 2002.
Mario was an engineer at Kennedy Space Center until bad-ass detective Fiorenza entered his life. Mario blew his brains out on the courthouse steps in Lake County, Florida on February 6, 2001. May Mario Bassignani rest in peace and know that if there is a Hell, well, Fiorenza will be going there when he finally croaks.
Bad cops are rarely held accountable for their criminal acts in the US, so is it no wonder that cops like Frank Carter, former Melbourne P.D. officer, and the asshat Deputy Genovese of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office that my son and his friend encountered over the weekend run rampant as they do? No wonder at all as most (defined as more than 50%) of Americans love to see people in cages and suffering.
We live in a country in which most of the population loves to see others suffer, whether guilty or not. Toss that bullshit line innocent until proven guilty right out your proverbial window, because they do not give a rat's ass and consider anyone a cop approaches to question or anyone arrested guilty. We don't need trials here; not in the US. Cops decide innocence or guilt and cops get away with anything and everything in this corrupt nation.
But eventually all bad cops pay for their dirty deeds and crimes against the people.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Most Bizarre Racketeering Case Ever
He made no mention of my challenge, but the topic of the email was Philip Leroy Furtney of Ontario from The Bingo Racketeering Case. This man endured more than anyone in any of the Orlando Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation's (MBI) absurd prosecutions abusing the racketeering statutes. Of course it is an MBI case in Orlando!
To read all about the long plight of Philip Leroy Furtney of Ontario, click on the links below. Mr. Furtney passed in September of 2007. He was described as a passionate man that never gave up.
The Bingo Racketeering Case
The Great Bingo Fiasco
Bingo Case Hearing
The Cost of MBI
May Philip Leroy Furtney of Ontario rest in peace and know that he won the 15-year fight! May agents and prosecutors with the MBI and the State of Florida rot in hell where they all belong.
Update on 27 November 2012 @3:20pm
I received an update in email from an interested party today. The statement:
"State of Florida finally paid up five years after Phil’s death, FYI"
The Orlando MBI, their crap attorney Joe Cocchiarella, and former Orange County State Attorney Lawson Lamar have ruined far too many lives. They all deserve to be exposed in the sunshine.
RIP Philip Furtney
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Great Bingo Fiasco
When I attempted to make a complaint about MBI agent Brant Rose back in 2000, it was Cocchiarella that threatened me with the power of the state in the form of a racketeering arrest if I didn't close my business immediately, and of course refused to accept my complaint by screaming at me for 20 minutes until I slammed the phone. This prosecutor later, with the help of the Office of Statewide Prosecution, made good on the threats.
It may interest some to know that Cocchiarella is still serving the people of the State of Florida. I know that he was with the State Attorney's Office (Florida's Ninth Circuit) as recently as late 2008, and may still be, though finding any information on him today is far from easy. He was also the Director of the MBI from the late 1980s until 1991. The Florida Bar Association lists his current employer as the State Attorney's Office in Orlando, Florida so I will venture a guess that he is still employed as an ASA. I believe he had one of those fake Florida retirements wherein the state employee retires to collect a large sum of money and then returns to work at a higher rate of pay; in Florida this is referred to as the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP).
With the understanding that Cocchiarella is still with the State Attorney's Office and working directly under the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, why would the Orlando Sentinel omit his name and all references to the MBI in articles relating to the bingo case? It was, after all, Cocchiarella that prosecuted the bingo defendants and filed the paperwork to forfeit the defendants' property. Cocchiarella has been involved in every far-fetched MBI prosecution since the beginning of his lengthy career. The great majority of those prosecutions have been clusters involving serious police and prosecutorial misconduct, though none are ever charged as such; this includes drug cases and vice/organized crime cases.
I can think of many instances that officers should have been charged in a variety of cases over the years, but apparently having a pal like Cocchiarella in the SAO gives agents a free pass to do whatever they want to do. Now this inept moralistic jackass is costing State of Florida taxpayers in the $7 million range, but no mention of him anywhere? What gives? Is he planning to run for political office?
Our State Attorney General was also of substantial assistance to the MBI in past, before he became our AG. Bill McCollum has been subpoenaed in a March 22, 2010 hearing on the bingo racketeering mess. If he doesn't come out with a solid answer as to why his office is disobeying the court order to pay, he could be charged with contempt. The Florida Supreme Court ordered the state to pay the remaining defendants for the forfeited property with interest several years ago, but instead of paying as ordered the state has spent additional money to prolong the situation.
The case in Orange County court is #1995-CA-006890-O. According to the case docket, the Motion to Enforce Judgments is scheduled for 9AM on March 22nd and it is in Division 40 with Judge Robert M. Evans presiding. AG McCollum did file an emergency motion to quash the subpoena on March 9th, though there is no response or order recorded as of this writing. The case is Florida State Attorney General's Office vs. Bradenton Group Inc, et al. Court records searches are through the Orange County Clerk of Courts.
The legal opinion can be read here:
http://www.5dca.org/Opinions/Opin2007/110507/5D05-3338.op.pdf
Hopefully full restitution will be made soon in the 15 year-long bingo racketeering fiasco.
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Good Cop
If there is one main lesson that I have learned in the last ten years, it is that no matter what the situation and regardless of factual evidence, a cop will always back-up another cop. The perspective is that a fellow officer can't be wrong. It is an "us v. them" philosophy wherein if you are not a cop, you are a perp; period. There are no other options.
Once in a blue moon we encounter someone that is different and doesn't have such a black or white mindset. That person thinks in shades of gray and is open to other possible theories, weighing the evidence without bias or disregard for facts damaging to his own cause. That person is the one that keeps me from despising all cops for the actions of a small group. He is the good cop.
There was a good cop involved in my case. Since I refuse to out him by name, I'll refer to him as "Joe" the good cop.
I had no clue who Joe was or what part he played in my case, but for whatever reason the officer was on the defense witness list as we approached trial time. My attorney never said much about Joe except that he really did not want to be called as a witness; however, would be honest on the stand if he was. My attorney knew that calling Joe as a defense witness would be a career killer for Joe as Joe could counter the testimony of other agents in the case, exposing the group as the liars that they are.
When it was time for the decision, after the prosecution had presented its case, my attorney stated that we didn't need to call Joe, but could if I wanted to as long as I realized the repercussions that Joe would face for his honesty. Steve (my attorney) didn't feel that the prosecution had presented a valid case, and if we didn't call any defense witness except me, the defendant, he would have the final fifteen minutes to address the jury. That is how Florida trial law works and Steve felt that he needed the last word in the courtroom so I agreed. Joe never had to testify and I learned little about Joe until several months after the trial was over and I was acquitted by the jury.
My chance encounter with Joe came late one night when my son was outside our apartment building talking on his cellular phone. You see, the building is concrete block and most wireless phones do not work well inside and drop calls. Apparently there had been some issue with people in a nearby building selling drugs – I mind my own business and do not really care unless it affects me, and it did that night as Joe and two other cops were bothering my son for standing outside.
I immediately instructed my son, then 15, to not speak to the officers. Joe is a big guy, perhaps 6'8 to 6'10", and jumped right in front of me. He demanded, "Who are you? His lawyer?" I responded that, no, I was his mother, he was 15 years old, and they did not have my permission to speak to him. Even at 15 my son was big, around 6'2", so this most likely surprised the officers.
Joe practically screamed down at me, "How about if I arrest you for obstruction of justice?" I responded in a calm and quiet voice that he must do whatever he felt he had to do, and I would respond accordingly. Suddenly Joe stepped back, looked at me questioningly, and asked: "What is your name?" I responded that my name is Vicky Gallas. That moment it all transformed into something like a reunion between two people that never met, but realized that they knew plenty about each other.
Joe informed me that he was in charge of the task force in Brevard County that worked with Orlando/Orange County's MBI in my case. Agent misconduct was not appreciated by Joe, and he actually resigned from his position on the task force to get away from the bad cops at the MBI. It was all the more believable as Joe was driving a patrol car that night. Demoted to patrol cop for his refusal to watch fellow agents commit various acts of misconduct, Joe and I developed an unspoken understanding of the lasting effects that bad cops can have on a victim.
Joe is the only good cop that I have ever encountered in my life. Unwilling to back his fellow agents in a false persecution, he stood alone, obeying the law that he swore to uphold and defend. Joe the good cop will always be my hero.
Once in a blue moon we encounter someone that is different and doesn't have such a black or white mindset. That person thinks in shades of gray and is open to other possible theories, weighing the evidence without bias or disregard for facts damaging to his own cause. That person is the one that keeps me from despising all cops for the actions of a small group. He is the good cop.
There was a good cop involved in my case. Since I refuse to out him by name, I'll refer to him as "Joe" the good cop.
I had no clue who Joe was or what part he played in my case, but for whatever reason the officer was on the defense witness list as we approached trial time. My attorney never said much about Joe except that he really did not want to be called as a witness; however, would be honest on the stand if he was. My attorney knew that calling Joe as a defense witness would be a career killer for Joe as Joe could counter the testimony of other agents in the case, exposing the group as the liars that they are.
When it was time for the decision, after the prosecution had presented its case, my attorney stated that we didn't need to call Joe, but could if I wanted to as long as I realized the repercussions that Joe would face for his honesty. Steve (my attorney) didn't feel that the prosecution had presented a valid case, and if we didn't call any defense witness except me, the defendant, he would have the final fifteen minutes to address the jury. That is how Florida trial law works and Steve felt that he needed the last word in the courtroom so I agreed. Joe never had to testify and I learned little about Joe until several months after the trial was over and I was acquitted by the jury.
My chance encounter with Joe came late one night when my son was outside our apartment building talking on his cellular phone. You see, the building is concrete block and most wireless phones do not work well inside and drop calls. Apparently there had been some issue with people in a nearby building selling drugs – I mind my own business and do not really care unless it affects me, and it did that night as Joe and two other cops were bothering my son for standing outside.
I immediately instructed my son, then 15, to not speak to the officers. Joe is a big guy, perhaps 6'8 to 6'10", and jumped right in front of me. He demanded, "Who are you? His lawyer?" I responded that, no, I was his mother, he was 15 years old, and they did not have my permission to speak to him. Even at 15 my son was big, around 6'2", so this most likely surprised the officers.
Joe practically screamed down at me, "How about if I arrest you for obstruction of justice?" I responded in a calm and quiet voice that he must do whatever he felt he had to do, and I would respond accordingly. Suddenly Joe stepped back, looked at me questioningly, and asked: "What is your name?" I responded that my name is Vicky Gallas. That moment it all transformed into something like a reunion between two people that never met, but realized that they knew plenty about each other.
Joe informed me that he was in charge of the task force in Brevard County that worked with Orlando/Orange County's MBI in my case. Agent misconduct was not appreciated by Joe, and he actually resigned from his position on the task force to get away from the bad cops at the MBI. It was all the more believable as Joe was driving a patrol car that night. Demoted to patrol cop for his refusal to watch fellow agents commit various acts of misconduct, Joe and I developed an unspoken understanding of the lasting effects that bad cops can have on a victim.
Joe is the only good cop that I have ever encountered in my life. Unwilling to back his fellow agents in a false persecution, he stood alone, obeying the law that he swore to uphold and defend. Joe the good cop will always be my hero.
Monday, June 1, 2009
The Bingo Racketeering Case
Bingo parlors used to be another target of the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI), but it looks like the agents of the State of Florida had their fill, and bit off more than they could chew, in the biggest of the bingo cases. I referred to the case briefly in my book, and had one important part incorrect: The two defendants and several corporations that took the criminal case to trial were acquitted on all counts by the jury. It is the civil case that they originally lost, was overturned on appeal, won, and is now once again in appeal status, according to the file. The bingo case began in 1995 and continues today.
Back in 1995 when the criminal case was filed there were 17 defendants, and 8 of those defendants were corporations. One of the acquitted defendants was Pondella Hall for Hire, Inc. – Pondella was in Orange County (Orlando), but this was a large-scale commercial bingo operation comprising 15 bingo halls in 12 Florida counties. Leave it to the overzealous MBI to be the investigators to pursue a racketeering (RICO) case. The criminal case is Case Number 95-CF-0012838, and it is an Orange County case. I have never seen so many filings on a case as this one, except in the civil case that continues. The civil case was also filed in 1995, as the state sought to forfeit all of the property of the bingo halls and the defendants. Today the victims also seek damages and losses from the State of Florida. The civil Case Number is 1995-CA-006890-0 and it is also in Orange County.
The two defendants that didn't plead guilty to the lengthy list of felony counts are Roy Killingsworth Jr. and Philip Leroy Furtney. I recall Furtney being in the news in leg-irons well over a decade ago, and must believe that it was during the criminal trial when he was being taken to court, but it may have been right after his arrest. Furtney was the one connected to Pondella, and the man is a legend – he fought these abusive overzealous whacks until he died in September of 2007. His brother Bruce, on behalf of his estate, carries on in the civil case today. The last filing on the case was on May 28, 2009. Can you imagine a 13 year fight over a bingo hall case and then to die before it's resolved? Well, it is resolved in that the state lost and has pay for all the forfeited property – today it's about how much they have to pay for property value changes and specifically what state office is paying.
It should be the end of the MBI for twisting the Florida racketeering statutes to the point of obscurity in a case that has cost Florida taxpayers an unknown sum of money that has yet to be revealed. But hey, it gave all the attorneys and agents something to do, right? I still have the MBI Governing Board minutes from meetings in 1994, and forward, wherein Pondella is discussed, so the board was well-aware of this abuse of the statutes. May Philip Leroy Furtney of Ontario rest in peace – eventually they will pay for all that they did.
Back in 1995 when the criminal case was filed there were 17 defendants, and 8 of those defendants were corporations. One of the acquitted defendants was Pondella Hall for Hire, Inc. – Pondella was in Orange County (Orlando), but this was a large-scale commercial bingo operation comprising 15 bingo halls in 12 Florida counties. Leave it to the overzealous MBI to be the investigators to pursue a racketeering (RICO) case. The criminal case is Case Number 95-CF-0012838, and it is an Orange County case. I have never seen so many filings on a case as this one, except in the civil case that continues. The civil case was also filed in 1995, as the state sought to forfeit all of the property of the bingo halls and the defendants. Today the victims also seek damages and losses from the State of Florida. The civil Case Number is 1995-CA-006890-0 and it is also in Orange County.
The two defendants that didn't plead guilty to the lengthy list of felony counts are Roy Killingsworth Jr. and Philip Leroy Furtney. I recall Furtney being in the news in leg-irons well over a decade ago, and must believe that it was during the criminal trial when he was being taken to court, but it may have been right after his arrest. Furtney was the one connected to Pondella, and the man is a legend – he fought these abusive overzealous whacks until he died in September of 2007. His brother Bruce, on behalf of his estate, carries on in the civil case today. The last filing on the case was on May 28, 2009. Can you imagine a 13 year fight over a bingo hall case and then to die before it's resolved? Well, it is resolved in that the state lost and has pay for all the forfeited property – today it's about how much they have to pay for property value changes and specifically what state office is paying.
It should be the end of the MBI for twisting the Florida racketeering statutes to the point of obscurity in a case that has cost Florida taxpayers an unknown sum of money that has yet to be revealed. But hey, it gave all the attorneys and agents something to do, right? I still have the MBI Governing Board minutes from meetings in 1994, and forward, wherein Pondella is discussed, so the board was well-aware of this abuse of the statutes. May Philip Leroy Furtney of Ontario rest in peace – eventually they will pay for all that they did.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Operation Plastic Empire (MBI)
Operation Plastic Empire was the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) strategy to file state charges at the heels of the IRS Operation Out Call. The operational strategy was a failure, at least at the state level and in respect to the credit card processing. It wasn't a failure in relation to its accompanying toolbox – obtaining the client names from the credit card transactions and intimidating and coercing every defendant to the point that each accepted a plea deal. And then it certainly succeeded in scaring every escort service owner in Orlando that wasn't involved, with the exception of yours truly and two other operators. By the middle of 1996, this place was almost abandoned, in part due to the Amnesty Program, and by January 1997, no escort services remained in the area yellow page books, due to the Yellow Pages Fiasco, as I refer to the MBI setup of advertising representatives.
The many cases involved in this operation were separated for reasons unknown to me. One case had five defendants, several cases had one lone defendant, and another case had nine defendants. There may be additional cases that I'm not aware of with any number of defendants. As my example here I'll use Case Number 96-CF-0011913-0. This is the case with nine defendants, A through I, and it's an Orange County, Florida case that can be found at the Orange County Clerk's Office or the basic filings can be viewed online. The last time that I viewed these files in person there were six volumes, each close to 12 inches thick, and that was without all of the depositions.
The defendants in the case:
Maritza Cascante Bobber – 26 counts
Trevor Banks Campbell – 12 counts
Rhonda Liphart – 6 counts (Rhoda in my book)
Debra Watson – 2 counts (Diana in my book)
Elizabeth Helen Clifton – 12 counts
Christopher Batura – 12 counts
Robin Janeen Dickinson – 20 counts
Joseph Formosa – 14 counts
Steven Voss – 8 counts
Each defendant was charged with Racketeering, a 1st degree felony, and Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering (RICO), also a 1st degree felony. Each first degree felony is punishable by up to 30 years in a Florida prison – that's what these statutes accomplish. The MBI uses them in most prosecutions. Beyond this, every defendant except Debra Watson had at least one count, and most had many counts, of the following:
Unlawful Transport of Currency
Illegal Factoring of Credit Card Transaction
Money Laundering
Each charge, and every count, that these defendants faced, is a felony. There were no misdemeanors charged in this case. Maritza Cascante and Joseph Formosa still have a capias (warrant) for their arrests – neither showed for sentencing and both jumped bond. Debra Watson left town the minute that she heard the MBI was looking for her, and was therefore never arrested. Her charges were finally dropped in 2003. The defendants that remained made deals that included probation, jail time, years in prison – it varied, except in each case there was eventually probation. The Violation of Probation (VOP) charges began in 04/1998 and the last VOP was filed in 02/2002. I did know several of these defendants, but one that I did not know contacted me from jail while awaiting trial: Trevor Campbell related much of the information I know about the case that is not findable in the files. He was looking for help to fight the charges and had no intention of pleading guilty to anything. I felt sorry for him, and I did speak to his court-appointed public defender, but the attorney had no real clue how to fight the case and didn't sound like he intended to. At the time I was law-ignorant and there was nothing that I could do to help Trevor.
In the end, statements from the clients of the credit card transactions, including many from out-of-state that I read in the file, convinced these defendants to take the plea deal. As the appeals continued through the Florida court system, pleas to anything relating to signing-up for a merchant services account were tossed out. These files are mixed-up because of this – a judge stated that a defendant could not know that the merchant services operation handled offshore was not legal. This is a fact – I remember Debra Watson's story well. She signed-up and received a package that looked absolutely legal. I saw it. Several defendants had extremely high bonds because of the number of felonies charged and they couldn't get out of jail. Beyond this, it was the intimidation, threats of decades in prison, and court-appointed public defenders that had no clue. This was one of the biggest operations in escort service history, considering the many defendants in the list of cases and the extensive list of felonies charged to each, yet few people have any idea that it existed.
Next: The Amnesty Program
The many cases involved in this operation were separated for reasons unknown to me. One case had five defendants, several cases had one lone defendant, and another case had nine defendants. There may be additional cases that I'm not aware of with any number of defendants. As my example here I'll use Case Number 96-CF-0011913-0. This is the case with nine defendants, A through I, and it's an Orange County, Florida case that can be found at the Orange County Clerk's Office or the basic filings can be viewed online. The last time that I viewed these files in person there were six volumes, each close to 12 inches thick, and that was without all of the depositions.
The defendants in the case:
Maritza Cascante Bobber – 26 counts
Trevor Banks Campbell – 12 counts
Rhonda Liphart – 6 counts (Rhoda in my book)
Debra Watson – 2 counts (Diana in my book)
Elizabeth Helen Clifton – 12 counts
Christopher Batura – 12 counts
Robin Janeen Dickinson – 20 counts
Joseph Formosa – 14 counts
Steven Voss – 8 counts
Each defendant was charged with Racketeering, a 1st degree felony, and Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering (RICO), also a 1st degree felony. Each first degree felony is punishable by up to 30 years in a Florida prison – that's what these statutes accomplish. The MBI uses them in most prosecutions. Beyond this, every defendant except Debra Watson had at least one count, and most had many counts, of the following:
Unlawful Transport of Currency
Illegal Factoring of Credit Card Transaction
Money Laundering
Each charge, and every count, that these defendants faced, is a felony. There were no misdemeanors charged in this case. Maritza Cascante and Joseph Formosa still have a capias (warrant) for their arrests – neither showed for sentencing and both jumped bond. Debra Watson left town the minute that she heard the MBI was looking for her, and was therefore never arrested. Her charges were finally dropped in 2003. The defendants that remained made deals that included probation, jail time, years in prison – it varied, except in each case there was eventually probation. The Violation of Probation (VOP) charges began in 04/1998 and the last VOP was filed in 02/2002. I did know several of these defendants, but one that I did not know contacted me from jail while awaiting trial: Trevor Campbell related much of the information I know about the case that is not findable in the files. He was looking for help to fight the charges and had no intention of pleading guilty to anything. I felt sorry for him, and I did speak to his court-appointed public defender, but the attorney had no real clue how to fight the case and didn't sound like he intended to. At the time I was law-ignorant and there was nothing that I could do to help Trevor.
In the end, statements from the clients of the credit card transactions, including many from out-of-state that I read in the file, convinced these defendants to take the plea deal. As the appeals continued through the Florida court system, pleas to anything relating to signing-up for a merchant services account were tossed out. These files are mixed-up because of this – a judge stated that a defendant could not know that the merchant services operation handled offshore was not legal. This is a fact – I remember Debra Watson's story well. She signed-up and received a package that looked absolutely legal. I saw it. Several defendants had extremely high bonds because of the number of felonies charged and they couldn't get out of jail. Beyond this, it was the intimidation, threats of decades in prison, and court-appointed public defenders that had no clue. This was one of the biggest operations in escort service history, considering the many defendants in the list of cases and the extensive list of felonies charged to each, yet few people have any idea that it existed.
Next: The Amnesty Program
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