Don’t Believe That Crap-Portion 2

They entered the office on 1200 South Street in Santa Fe.  At the front desk, Judith asked for Inspector Torres after showing their badges.

            Shortly after, a tall good looking man in his early 30s came out from the door behind the front desk. 

            He extended his hand and said, “Dr. Holt I presume. “

            “Yes, thank you. This is Detective Gutierrez who is in charge of the investigation of the arson and child’s death down in Albuquerque.”

            The two men shook hands.

            “Come back to my office and we will talk about my very limited progress.”

            The inspector sat behind his desk, and they sat across in 2 office chairs.

            He said, “My name is Ralph.  Let’s do first names, OK?”

            “Sure, Judith.”

            “OK, Ralph, mine is Pedro.”

            Ralph spoke next,” The property is owned by a company called Armstrong Holdings.  It is registered in the Cayman Islands.  The company bought it from the former owners about 20 years ago.  They purchased if with cash for 20 thousand dollars.  That cash was an  overseas transfer from the Cayman Islands.   The tax assessment on the property is about 50 thousand dollars.   Taxes and utilities are paid regularly from a bank account in Albuquerque. Regular deposits are made to that account from unknown in-person sources.  We are following up on that.  Up until recently, the deposits were adequate to cover the taxes and utilities.  That stopped about 6 months ago when the deposits seemed to disappear. The property was indeed insured by a local agent representing one of the nationals.  The property was insured for a quarter million dollars”

            “Has a claim been filed?” asked Pedro.

            “Yes, and of course denied for now because of the arson judgement.”

            “There must be somebody representing Armstrong Properties in Albuquerque.”, said Judith.

            “Yes, it is the law firm of Sanchez & Romulo in Albuquerque.   We have not been there yet.  I am sure they will claim client confidentiality.  In fact, the firm has submitted a challenge to the arson ruling in the local courts.”

            “Can we get any other information?” asked Pedro.

            “It is very hard.  We will need some specific reason for accessing that data.  Somehow we need some evidence that the company is involved in some kind of crime.  We certainly don’t have that now.”

            “What is the basis of the challenge to the arson ruling?”, asked Pedro.

            “Unreliable tenants not careful with potential fire hazards.  These hopheads are certainly not to be trusted.”

            “When you go see the lawyers, do you mind if I come with you?”, asked Pedro.

            “Please.  Would love to have you.”

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            Back at the station they were informed that the Rock had been picked up.  He was found with a woman matching Mrs. Lefevre's description. She was picked up as well.  Her name is Hilda Brown, street name Hildy.  Javier and Mrs. Lefevre had been called in for ID.

            The Rock was brought into the room along with 4 other men.

            Mrs. Lefevre pointed to the Rock and said, “That is the man who shows up once a month at the crack house.  He was there the day of the fire.”

            Hildy was then brought in with 4 other women.

            Mrs. Lefevre pointed to Hildy and said, “That woman fits what I saw, but I can’t be sure.  I never saw her face.   But a woman like that came every month with the Rock.  She was also there on the day of the fire.”

            Javier said pointed to Hildy and said, “That is definitely the woman who answered the door on the day of the fire.”

            “Fantastic,” said Gutierrez, “We now have the actual perps.  We will have to work hard to make a solid case, however.  We need to canvas the neighborhood again and see if anybody else saw anything.”

            Javier piped in, “Yes, but they were just the thugs carrying out instructions.  How will we get the real perps?  The ones who ordered the fire.”

            “One thing at a time Javier.  We are working that angle as well.” , said Pedro.

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            Javier and Judith watched as Pedro interviewed Rock.

            After the formalities, Pedro said, “You were seen entering that crack house on the day of the fire.”

            Rock said, “Nothing.  I want a lawyer.”

            “OK.   Who is the lawyer.  We will call them.”

            “Rolf Sanchez at the firm of Sanchez & Romulo.”

            “We will get on it.”

            Judith said to Javier, “That is the firm representing Armstrong Properties, the company that owns the crack house.”

            “I am not surprised.  The rich motherfuckers always get away with everything.”

            A short time passed and Pedro came back in the room.

            “Rolf Sanchez said he never heard of you.”

            “What.  They are going to hang me out to dry. Fuck them.  I will tell you everything I know.”

            “OK. What do you know?”

            “I was contacted by a man who called himself Hector about two years ago.  He said he needed a collections agent to pick up cash rents from certain properties.  He said I could keep 10% of the take.  I was then to deposit the money to the appropriate accounts.

            “And who is this man?”

            “As I say, I only know him by Hector, and I only met him once about 2 years ago. I can’t tell you anything about Hector because he hid behind a door when he talked to me.  All I can say is that he had a bit of a black accent.”

            “How do you know what to collect and where?”

            “He gave me a burner phone.  I receive calls every six months on this phone from another phone that changes every 6 months.  The voice of Hector tells me which properties and how much.”

            “How many properties?”

            “Usually about 20, usually the same.”

            “We will need you to give us a list of those properties, along with the burner.”

            “OK.  But before I go any further, I want some kind of deal.  I don’t want to take the rap for the people behind all this.”

            “I am not authorized to offer a deal, but I will tell you that the judge will view this very favorably.”

            “I don’t know.  I think I need a lawyer.  How about a public defender?  I can’t afford to get my own.

            “OK.  We will have the court provide one.”

            “Interview terminated until legal representation is present.”

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            The next day Javier and Judith watched as Pedro interviewed Hildy.

After the formalities, Pedro asked Hildy, “When did you get in the collections business with Rock?”

“About a year ago.  The women tenants had started offering blowjobs instead of rent and Hector was not happy about that.  I guess Rock was accepting that form of payment.  I guess Hector insisted that Rock get a woman to collect from the women.”

“Were you at the crack house on the day of the fire?”

“Hey.  I didn’t do anything wrong. I think I need a lawyer.”

“Do you have one in mind, or do you want a public defender?”

“Public defender.”

“The guy representing Rock is in the next room.  Do you want to use him?”

“Absolutely not.  Rock’s the bad guy not me.  Get me somebody else.”

“We will take care of that.”

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Later that day, Javier and Judith watched as Pedro interviewed Rock again, this time with his public defender.

“What is your name, sir?” asked Pedro of the public defender.

“Hi.  I am Charles Stone.  And you are detective Gutierrez.”

“Yes,” and Pedro extended his hand for a shake.

“Let’s get started.  Were you at the crack house on the day of the fire?”

“I have been advised to say yes, since I know you have  my partner in the next room, and she will tell the truth as she knows  it.”

“ I am going to bring Javier Vega into the room.”

Javier entered, and Pedro asked, “Did you hit this man on the back of the head on the day you were at the crack house.”

“Yes.”

“Did you administer fentanyl to him?”

“No.”

“Are you sure, because somebody did?”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Did you set fire to the place?”

“No.”

“Who started the fire?”

“I think it was that guy Ivan.  He didn’t have his rent.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but that’s my best guess.”

“But there was a gasoline ignition of the fire.  Where would Ivan get that.  The other folks never saw it.”

“I don’t know, but I didn’t do it.”

“Well, your partner said you carried a can of gas in with you when you came to collect the rents and hid it under the steps.”

Javier whispered to Judith, “I think he made that one up.”

“She’s lying.”

“We will see who the court thinks is lying.”

            “What did you do after you knew there was a fire?”

            “I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, but that guy Javier was at the door.  I had Sylvie answer and I went out the side and clocked him.”

            “Why did you do that?”

            “The fire had already started when we got there and I didn’t want him thinking we did it.”

            “OK.  We will take a break for a while.  You will remain in custody.  We are looking at your phone and the properties that you are collecting from.”

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            The second interview with Hildy also had Javier and Judith watching.

            Her public defender was a woman named Grace Hope.

            Pedro brought Javier into the room,  introduced him, and had him leave.

            “Was that the man you answered the door for on the day of the fire.”

            “Yes.”

            “Did you see Rock hit him on the back of the head?”

            “Yes.”

            “Did you administer fentanyl to him?”

            Sheepishly, she said, “Yes.  I am sorry.”

            “Why did you do that.”

            “I saw him stirring and I didn’t want him to see us leaving.”

            “Where did you get the fentanyl?”

            “Personal usage.”

            “Did Rock bring anything into the house with him?”

            “No.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Yes.”

            Javier whispered to Judith, “I knew he made that up.”

            “is there anything else you can tell us?”

            “I think the fire had already started before we got there.”

            “Really.”

            “Yes, really.”

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                        Pedro spoke to Javier and Judith,” Based on what we have learned, I can only charge them with assault on you Javier.  We will hold them for another 48 hours, but I am sure they will be out on bail shortly thereafter.  It seems like we are nowhere in terms of finding the perp.”

            Judith asked,”   Do we have anything on this guy Hector?”

            “So far, nothing.”

            Javier chimed in, “Maybe he was the collector before Rock.  I bet if we canvas the list of houses that Rock gave you we might find some more about Hector.”

            “That is a terrific idea Javier.  I will get my folks at it.”

            “Would it be possible for me to see the list.  Maybe I had some families that I dealt with in some of them.  They may be more willing to talk to me than to the cops.  They will be wary.”

            “Another great idea, Javier.  Go for it.  Let’s go down to my office and you can look at the addresses.”

            “Here is a copy of the address list.”

Javier said, “I see right away at least one address that is promising.  It is a home where we took the woman’s son.  After she got herself clean and employed, the child was returned.  I am sure she will talk to me.”

“Excellent.  See what you can find out.”

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            Javier knocked at the door.  A woman cautiously peeked out.

            “Hello Mrs. Arnold.  Remember me?  I am Javier Vega from the Protective Services Division.”

            “Yes.  I remember you.  But what the hell do  you want. I have not done anything wrong.”

            “Sorry, sorry. I know you have done nothing wrong.  I am so  happy that you have Frank back and things are going well.”

            “Then what the hell do you want.”

            “I just want to ask you some questions about the people that collect your rent.  Is that OK?”

            “Yeah, sure. Come on in.”

            The front room was very spare but tidy.  She asked, “Do you want some coffee. You always treated us with respect.  Thank you.”

            Showing her the pictures of Rock and Hildy, he asked, “Are these the people the come to collect your rent?”

            She looked at the pictures and said, “Yes.”

            “Have they ever been threatening?”

            “No, it has always been pure business.”

            “Is it always cash?”

            “Why all these questions?”

            “One of the houses that they collect for burned down and a young boy lost his life.”

            “Oh.  I understand.”

            “How long have they been collecting?”

            “The woman for about a year, and the man for about 2 years.”

            “Do you remember who did it before that?”

            “You do remember that I was still using then?”

            “Yes.”

            “That sonofabitch is hard to forget.  He was really nasty.  He was a big black guy.  He must have been 6 foot five.”

            “Do you remember his name?”

            “Yes, it was Hector.”

            “Would you be willing to come down to the police station and look at mugshots? And maybe work with a sketch artist if you don’t find him there?”

            “Yes, but it has to be after my work hours.  I am a cashier at Walmart.  I get off at 3.”

            “Thank you.  I will get that arranged.”

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            Javier showed up at the front desk at the station and said, “Detective Gutierrez asked me to come in.”

            He was shown to the meeting room and told that a meeting was about to begin.

            Pedro entered the room with Judith.

            Pedro started, “Thanks for that lead with Mrs. Arnold, Javier.  I think we have paydirt.”

            “Sounds great. What do we have?”

            “Mrs. Arnold was not able to ID  Hector from the mugshots.  However she was able to provide an excellent description to the sketch artist.   We now have her take on his likeness and her take on his overall description.   We have showed this to all the other houses that he had been collecting rent at before Rock and Hilty were doing it.   Except for one house where the occupant is senile, all the others confirmed that he was the guy.”

            Javier and Judith both uttered, “Wow.”

            “There is more.  We have video footage of this guy filling a gas can at a service station near the crack house on the day of the fire.  We now have an APB out on the guy.  Also, somebody from the drug unit thinks they know him.”

            “Sounds like we have our culprit.”, said Judith.

            “Yes.  But he is not the real culprit. It is the owners of theses slum dwellings.  What the hell does Hector get from the fire.”,  objected Javier.

            “I have to agree with Javier.  This guy is just carrying out instructions from somebody.  That is gong to be tough.  But, we will do our best with help from Santa Fe.”

            “Fucking rich people.”, grumbled Javier

**************************************************************************************************

            Javier and Judith were asked to watch the interview with Hector.  He had been arrested the day before by the drug squad.

            After the usual preliminaries, Pedro began, “Please state your name for the record.”

            “My name is Hector Rogers.”

            “You previously asked to be represented by Rolf Sanchez at the firm of Sanchez & Romulo, is that correct?”

            “As you are aware, they denied knowing you.  You then asked for a public defender.  Is this correct?"

            “Yes.”

            “Are you satisfied with the services of Counsel Charles Stone.?”

            “Yes.”

            “This is a video of you filling a gas can near the crack house on the day of the fire.”

            “What did you do with that gasoline?”

            “No comment.”

            “We have a neighborhood witness that says they saw you enter that crack house carrying a gas can on the day of the fire.”

            The lawyer interjected, “We were not given this evidence before.”

            Pedro answered, “It just came in.”

            The lawyer whispered in Hector’s ear.

            He then said, “We would like to recess this session so my client and I may confer.”

            “OK.  You can have half an hour.”

            Pedro reconvened the interview after the half hour.

            “Do you have anything you want to tell me.”

            “I do not admit to starting that house on fire, but I do have a lot to tell you.”

            “So, begin.”

            “I was given Instruction by telephone to take that gasoline to the place.”

            “Do you have any evidence to support that?”

            “Yes, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.  Ever since I was given this burner phone to take care of collecting rents, I have been recording every call I received.  Here is that phone.”

            “Where did you get that phone?”

            “Rolf Sanchez.”

            “Who is your contact on the phone?”

            “I have no idea.”

            “This is new information that we will have to digest.  I am going to terminate the interview for now, but you will be held in custody.”

*********************************************************************************************************

            Pedro said to Judith, “Please take these recordings to the voice recognition geeks.  I know you know them.   See what we can do?”

            Javier jumped in, “I think you should have uniform take some set of these recordings to the property occupants and see if anybody recognizes them.  I understand Hector added another 10 properties to the list.  There must have been a realtor involved at some point.”

            “We do know that the real estate company New Property for You represented the owners company.  We should take a look at them.”

            Judith said, “I will have the voice recognition geeks compare what we have to the TV ads for that company.”

            “Fantastic idea, Judith.  Let’s see where all of this leads us.”

            “In the meantime, I am going to get Inspector Ralph Torres of the Tax Fraud unit brought up to speed.  That fact that Rolf Sanchez gave the burner phone to Rock puts Sanchez in the frame.”

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            Pedro speaking to Javier, “Thanks for coming in again. I would like you to again listen to an interview that I am about to do.  We have identified the person making the calls to Rock.  It is the realtor as you guessed.  Judith will be listening too. Also, Ralph Torres has come down from Santa Fe to be part of the process.”

            Shortly thereafter, Javier, Judith and Ralph were watching through the window to the interview room.

            After the formalities, Pedro began, “State your name and business please.”

            “My name is Jerry Strom. I am a realtor.”

            “And you are being represented here by Rolf Sanchez of Sanchez & Romulo.  Is that correct.

            “Yes.”

            “And you and Mr. Sanchez have had time to confer, and he is in the room with us.”

            “Are you the real estate agent acting as agent for the firm of Armstrong Holdings?”

            “Yes.”

            “Here is a list of properties that are owned by Armstrong holdings. I believe you were the agent for their purchase of these properties, is that correct?”

            Jerry studied the list for a while, then said,” I believe so, yes, but I do not have my own records here for absolute confirmation.”

            “Is it true that you were also the agent for Armstrong holdings for collecting rent?”

            Lawyer Sanchez interrupted, “My client is not going to answer any more questions.”

            “Well, Mr. Sanchez, then we are going to arrest him right now for manslaughter, and you as an accessory.”

            “You have got to be kidding.”

            “I am dead serious.  You two either cooperate and help us get to the bottom of the crack house arson and subsequent death of a young boy, or you will be both arrested now.”

            Sanchez said, “ Well, maybe we will cooperate, but we both require representation now.  Let me call my partner.”

            “OK.  But once he gets here you and he will be interviewed separately.”

            Two hours later John Romulo arrived at the station and was escorted into the interview room.   Jerry Strom was already there.  Sanchez had been moved to another room that was being guarded.

            Pedro came in and said, “You have a half an hour or less to confer with your client.  I’ll be back then”

            Outside, he directed his attention to Ralph Torres with Javier and Judith listening.

            “Do you think you have enough to get the ownership information from the Caymans?”

            “I think so.  No matter how they respond today, there certainly is enough to implicate the company in a crime.  I will have my office get on it right away.  But the more you can get out of these guys, the better off my case will be.”

            “OK.  Let’s see what we can get out of Strom.”

            Pedro went back in the room after half an hour and found Strom by himself.

            “What happened to Romulo?”

            “I don’t want those sons of bitches representing me.  They will hang me out to dry.  I need a public defender. I don’t have another lawyer.  I always used those guys.  But not for this.”

            “OK, but you will have to be held until we get somebody here.  It will probably be tomorrow.”

            “Good news folks.”, Pedro said to the group, “Strom has broken with Sanchez and Romulo.”

            “Wow.”, said Judith, “Now we are getting somewhere.”

*******************************************************************

            The next day all the same players were assembled and Strom was in the interview room with the public defender Charles Stone. Pedro was in the room with them.

            After preliminaries, Pedro asked, “Mr. Strom, have you accepted Mr. Stone as you legal representative?”

            “Yes.”

            “Then, let’s get down to business.  Did you represent the firm of  Armstrong Holdings for their purchase of multiple properties here in Albuquerque?”

            “Yes.”

            “You previously reviewed a list of properties here in Albuquerque and acknowledged that you had been the agent involved.  Is that correct?"

            “Yes.”

            “What law firm is involved in the purchasing of these properties?”

            “Sanchez & Romulo.”

“Did you also represent Armstrong Holdings as the agent to collect rents from these properties.”

“Yes.”

            “Do you take your rent collection instructions from Sanchez and Romulo.”

            “No.”

            “Who provides your directions.”

            “A person identified only as the executive director of Armstrong Holdings.”

            “Where is that person located?”

            “I am told they are in the Cayman Islands.”

            “By whom?”

            “Rolf Sanchez.”

            “Did you receive explicit instructions concerning the crack house recently.”

            “Yes.”

            “What were those instructions?”

            “See that a container of gasoline is delivered to the house.”

            “What did you do with those instructions?"

            “I called Hector and told him to take care of it.”

            “Were you told to set fire to the place?”

            “Absolutely not.”

            “Did you tell Hector to set fire to the place?”

            “Absolutely not.”

            “How is Sanchez & Romulo involved in all this?”

            “Not directly in what I do.  It is my understanding that they  handle any legal matters of Armstrong Holdings.”

            “OK.  We will terminate this interview.  You will be held in custody until a court hearing about bail.  At a minimum you will be charged as an accessory to arson and manslaughter.”

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