Don’t Believe That Crap-Conclusion

When Pedro came out of the interview room, Ralph Torres  indicated that he had something to say.  The others were listening.

            “Pedro, my folks have found the name of the executive director of Armstrong Holdings in the Caymans.  His name is Harold Ebanks.  He is an attorney there.”

            “That’s good.” , said Pedro,” but what does that buy us?”

            “I think we have enough evidence so far that we can get the names of the owners, and if we play our cards right, get to interview Ebanks over the internet with Cayman police in attendance.”

            “May I intervene?”, asked Javier.

            “Sure, go ahead.” said Pedro.

            “We are never going to get anywhere with the owners except to embarrass them in the press. The only possible reason for the arson is to collect insurance money. The likelihood that they left a trail  is pretty small.  The only way they can collect insurance is if the fire was set by one of the  inhabitants.”

            Torres jumped in, “I think you are right about that.  Probably the only thing we can get them for is tax evasion. The other stuff is too indirect. When the only thing that Strom will admit to is ordering delivery of gasoline and the only thing that Hector said he did was to deliver gasoline, we don’t really have enough. There are any number of reasons the tenants could have asked for gasoline.  I agree with Javier.  One of the tenants set the fire.”

            Pedro said,” What you guys say makes sense, but I am not going to give up hope that a court will allow the inference that Hector actually set the fire.  But we should follow Javier’s suggestion.  We need reinterview all the residents again, particularly Ivan.”

            Javier said, “I would like to talk to Little Willey.  He is much more likely to be honest with me than in a formal interview in the police station.”

            Judith said, “I agree.  I would like to be there when you do that if that is OK.”

            “No problem.” , said Javier.

            Pedro said, “We will get to work finding all the inhabitants.  My guess is that Ivan and Little Willey are going to be the tough ones.”

            Ralph said, “ We will continue to investigate Armstrong Holdings for tax fraud and will keep you informed of everything we find out.”

            “Let’s do it.” , said Pedro.

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            It was about a week later that Javier got a call from Judith. 

            “We have Little Willey here at the station.  Can you come down so we can talk to him?”

            “Of course.  I am on an outcall, but I can be there in an hour.”

            When Javier arrived at the station, he had a large bottle of Pepsi and a bag of M&Ms.

            “Where is Little Willy?   Can we just chat with him in an office and not the interrogation room?”

            Judith said, “Already arranged.  One of the detective’s offices is open.  It is open because he is down south of town with a body that was just found.”

            Javier and Judith entered the office where the boy was sitting and Javier offered him the soda and candy.  The boy’s face beamed. He took the candy and immediately dug in.

            Javier started, “My name is Javier.  I am here as the responsible adult looking out for you.  Making sure that you are not hassled is my job.”

            “Oh yeah.  Then why the hell am I here?”

            “I can help protect you better if I know your name.  Will you please tell me your name.  I will definitely not send you back to the home you ran away from.  It is my job to find other accommodations for abused children.”

            Shyly, the boy said, “ I am Oscar Benavides.  Please don’t send me home.”

            “Thank you Oscar.  Dr. Holt only wants to know about the fire at the house you were hanging out at.  I will talk to you later away from the police station about what happened at your home, and what options are available.”

            “OK.  What do you want to know?”

            “Did you see who set the fire?”

            “Will they get in trouble?”

            “Almost certainly.”

            “Good.  It was that creep Ivan.”

            “What did you see?”

            “Somebody brought a gas can.  He took it to the back of the house where I sleep.  I saw him in the  hallway.  He poured gas up and down the hallway and then threw a match on it.  It was a good thing I was awake.”

            “Did Ivan and Tabby take off after the fire started?”

            “Yes.”

            “Why didn’t you go with them?”

            “With them.  You have got to be kidding. They kept trying to do things to me.  I stayed away as far as possible.  That was why I was in the back of the house.”

            “Was Joey back there too?”

            “I don’t know.  But he usually slept back there as well?”

            “Did they harass him as well?”

            “I think so.  But we weren’t buddies.  He was too much of a badass.”

            “What did you do after they left?”

            “I ran upfront yelling FIRE.  Some woman was opening the front door.”

            “It took a while for the other adults to come out of their rooms. The guys went to the back to see if there really was a fire.  They came back saying, “Let’s get out of here.”.  I think one of them called 911.”

            “They started collecting stuff and then we all went out in front of the house and waited for the fire department.  We saw a guy lying on the street but the others didn’t try to help him.  When the fire department got there, they took care of him, got the rest of us to safety.”

            Judith said, “You have been incredibly helpful Oscar.  We at the Albuquerque police will use this information to find Ivan and prosecute him.  You may be asked to testify in court at some point, but under safe conditions.  I would like to turn you over to Javier at this point.  God bless, and I hope things get better for you going forward.”

            Javier said, “I am going to take you back to Family Promise for tonight.  Don’t worry.  Nobody will try to send you home.  Then I will come and spend time with you so you can tell me about what happened at home that caused you to run away.  I will use that information to get a court order against your parents taking you away from them.  We will then find you suitable accommodations so you don’t have to work the streets anymore.”

            Oscar came over to Javier and gave him a hug.

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            The whole crew came back together the following week.  Pedro’s folks had arrested Ivan.  He was in the interrogation room.  Pedro was with him. They watched.

            After preliminaries, Pedro said, “You are entitled to legal representation.  Do have an attorney that we can call, or would you like to have a court appointed attorney?”

            Ivan said, “For now, I waive my right to an attorney.”

            “Please state your name for the record.”

            “My name is Ivan Federanich.”

            “Were you in the crack house on the night it burned down?”

            “Yes.”

            “Did you bring gasoline to the house?”

            “No.”

            “Did you set fire to the house?”

            “Well, I am not going to admit to that.”

            “There is a witness who saw you do it.”

            “Probably that shitty Little Willey.  He has it in for me.”

            “Do you deny it?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well, we are bringing in Tabby again.  I am sure she will rat on you this time.  Otherwise, she is in hot water herself.  We have testimony that she was there with you.”

            “Yes, I set the fire. She had nothing to do with it.”

            “Did you bring gasoline?”

            “No. It was there.”

            “Why did you set the fire?”

            “None of your business.”

            “But it is my business. Why did you set the fire?  Did somebody pay you to set the fire?”

            “What’s that going to buy me if I tell you?”

            “Judge and jury might look favorably on that.”

            “Yeah, sure.  But I will still go to prison.”

            “Yes, you will probably still go to prison.  A young boy died.”

            “And I am really sorry about that.  He was a nice kid.  I didn’t know he was sleeping there.  And if I go to prison after telling you my reason, I will be a dead man.”

            “Why’s that?”

            “Use your imagination.  I have nothing more to say.”

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            One week later, Pedro assembled the team, including Ralph Torres.

            He spoke, “Here is the situation.  Tabby knows nothing further.  She did see Ivan set the fire and knew nothing about where the gasoline came from. She did say that Ivan had a lot of money after they ran from the house.”

            Javier asked, “Will Ivan be charged?”

            Pedro responded, “Certainly.  He will be charged with arson and manslaughter. I can’t see any reason to charge her as an accessory.  She was just there, no more.”

            “What about the others?”, asked Torres.

            “We will charge both Hector and Strom as accessories.”

            “But nothing about Armstrong Holdings?” , asked Javier.

            “Let’s let Ralph speak to that.” , said Pedro.

            “Well, the news is not good.   We found out the owners of Armstrong Holdings.  There are only two.  The first is Rolf Sanchez who we already know.  The second owner is another shell company.  It is called Armstrong Enterprises and is registered in the Bahamas.”

            “Can we find the owners of Armstrong Enterprises?”, asked Judith.

            “I doubt it.  I don’t think we have enough evidence of wrongdoing.”

            “What about the fire?” , asked Javier.

            “Well, we have interviewed Harold Ebanks.  He denies any involvement.  He acknowledges that he communicates with Strom about rental collections but denies any involvement with the gasoline.”

            “Is there nothing you can get them on?”, asked Pedro.

            “Well, there are a number of financial irregularities, but I don’t think enough for any criminal charges.   I think they will acknowledge the irregularities and pay any implied taxes.”

            “So, in essence, Armstrong Holdings is free and clear.”, said Javier.

            “Yes.”

            At that moment the front desk clerk came in and said, “You should turn on the TV.  Armstrong Holdings is having a press conference.”

            Pedro went over and turned on the TV and everyone watched.

            Rolf Sanchez was speaking.  He was looking very dapper and businesslike.  The picture of propriety.

            “I am responding to a press leak implicating our client Armstrong Holdings to the fire and subsequent fatality at a property in Quigley Park.  While they are the owners of that property, we deny any inference that our client is involved in any way with the fire and fatality.   We want to offer our condolences to the family of the young man that died there.  We had no knowledge of his presence there.  Apparently, he had been kicked out of his own home and  needed a place to sleep.   The police have now identified the individual who set the fire.  He was one of the residents of the facility.  His reason for setting the fire is unknown but suspected to be a result of his conflict with other inhabitants.”

            One of the attending reporters asked, “Part of the leak suggested that you own 20 or 30 other properties in Quigley park and that you have enforcers who collect rent in cash for those properties.  Is your client a slum landlord?”

            “As you know, there is an affordable housing crises here in Albuquerque, and in fact almost everywhere in the nation.  Our client is doing its best to contribute to a solution to that crises, providing low rent alternatives to needy families.”

            From the back of the room, Javier screamed,  “Don’t believe that crap.   Those bastards are just taking advantage of poor people.”

            The reporter continued, “Yes, but wasn’t the property that burned down a crack house?  How does that fit with helping the less fortunate?”

            Sanchez replied, “Unfortunately, because we run a very low overhead operation in order to be able to provide low rents, we are unable to monitor the occupants of the house.  If they pay their rent, we let them alone.”

            Javier hollered again, “Don’t believe that crap.  They know very well who is in their properties.  They can charge higher rent for the crack house because there are more independent inhabitants, as compared to a single family.”

            The reporter continued, “Is it true that your client bought the property for 20 thousand dollars and that you have it insured for a quarter of a million dollars?”

            “How did you get that information?  It is private.  The property is currently assessed at 50 thousand dollars.  When setting the fire hazard risk, our client had to take into account the fact that the fire might spread to adjacent buildings and thus our client might be liable for damage to the other properties as well.”

            “Don’t believe that crap.  Another crock of shit.  There had to be some kind of scam for an insurance company to insure a property for 5 times the assessed value.  They only way they would do that would be if they were covering the long term loss of income. And they provided some outrageous estimate of that because of the nature of the rental.”

            All eyes in the room turned to Javier.

            Pedro asked, “Are you the source of the leak?”

            “Yes I am.”

            “Well, there may be some repercussions of that.  I will have to chat with Ralph about that.”

            “OK, whatever.   It is the rich taking advantage of the poor.  It annoys me.  I have spent my life trying to help the poorest  of the poor, the abused children of the world.  Their suffering is unfathomable.”

            Ralph stuck his nose in, “I am afraid I have to agree with you Javier.  My job is all about chasing the rich who are abusing the system.  I am  afraid in this case they will not pay.  I do plan to spend time with the insurance company and see if I can influence their decision.”

            Pedro said, “Wow, that would be great.  But it is not my job to muck with the political system.  It is my job to enforce the law as it is.”

            Javier said, “I applaud both of your efforts.  They have been exceptional.”

            He continued, “There is one very, very good thing about this fire.  We have been able to get Oscar Benavides off the street.  He is safe and being taken care of as we speak, and his rotten abusive parents will never be able to abuse him again.  He is off to  a rough start, but  at least he has a chance now.”

            Judith came over to him and gave him a hug and said, “Keep up the wonderful work you are doing with disadvantaged kids. But it is best to leave the crimes of the rich to law enforcement. Not all rich people are bad.  Just some, and we will do our best to catch those who commit crimes.”

            “You are right. I just lost it  hearing those bastards give a news conference about  how wonderful Armstrong Holdings is.  I know in fact that most of the charitable organizations that I regularly use are funded by rich folks.  I will do what I can do and let rest to you folks who are also doing a great job.”