March 29 2008

- Police have not ruled out foul play in the case of missing Melbourne bushwalker Warren Meyer and are seeking another man seen in the area where he disappeared last Sunday.
A six-day search of parts of the Yarra Ranges National Park east of Melbourne by around 100 police, State Emergency Service (SES) members and volunteers failed to find any clues to Canadian-born Mr Meyer’s disappearance.

Police said today they were looking for a man in his mid to late 30s who was seen in the Dom Dom Saddle area of the park around the time Mr Meyer, 57, went missing.

Senior Detective Stuart Walls of the Alexandra Crime Investigation Unit, northeast of Melbourne, said today the man police wanted to speak to had approached campers and got a lift with them into nearby Warburton.

He said that parallel to the search, police had been conducting another investigation into the mystery but did not believe Mr Meyer, 57, of Beaumaris in bayside Melbourne, was deliberately involved in his own disappearance.

“We’ve looked at the family, at the structures and the possibility that Mr Meyer could have been involved in his own disappearance – all those sorts of things are always looked at,” Sen Det Walls said.

“We’re more than confident that it is nothing but a dedicated loving family group and that there are no external, emotional or health issues involved. “Mr Meyer, in our view, has not contributed in any way to his disappearance.”

When asked if police suspected foul play, Sen Det Walls replied: “We haven’t ruled anything out yet”.

He said Mr Meyer was an experienced bushwalker in good physical condition and was equipped with a mobile phone and a GPS receiver.

“His disappearance is baffling – Warren had no reason to disappear,” Sen Det Walls said.

“He had no money with him and he loved his family dearly – to not find anything, even his backpack, seems very strange.”

Police are now focusing on other avenues and want to rule out people who were known to be in the area at the time.

“That’s what has led us to make an appeal today regarding this particular man who we have identified was in the same vicinity as Mr Meyer and that there was a crossover,” Sen Det Walls said.

“We’re appealing to any campers who were in the area over the Easter break and who may have been approached by a male in his mid to late 30s and gave him a lift to the the Warburton area.”

My Meyer’s family has asked the media not to contact them saying a family spokesperson will contact the Victoria Police when they are prepared to speak within the next few days.

- Jeff Turnbull

March 29 2008

- A crime investigation unit has taken over from search parties in Victoria to try to solve the disappearance of missing bushwalker Warren Meyer.
Up to 100 people, including police and SES volunteers, failed to find a trace of Canadian-born Mr Meyer who went missing last Sunday in the Yarra Ranges National Park, east of Melbourne.

Senior Detective Stuart Walls of the Alexandra Crime Investigation Unit said today police now had to look at other avenues of inquiry following the exhaustive search which failed to find the 57-year-old Beaumaris man.

“This man was an experienced bushwalker, he had a mobile phone, GPS, he was in good physical condition – his disappearance is baffling,” Sen Det Walls said.

“Warren had no reason to disappear, he had no money with him and he loved his family dearly.

“To not find anything, even his backpack, seems very strange.”

Senior Constable David Fitzgerald, who helped look for Mr Meyer during the week, said it seemed strange that with all the resources police poured into the search they failed to turn up anything.

“We’re not saying he’s been murdered or kidnapped, but that’s the sort of thing we have to start working on,” Sen Constable Fitzgerald said.

“It seems strange he has disappeared – for all intents and purposes he has disappeared off the face of the earth.”

Detectives say they would like to speak to anyone who may have been camping in the Black Spur, Narbethong or Acheron Way area over the Easter break.

They would especially like to talk to a group of about eight men who were in four or five vehicles and who may have given a man aged in his late 30s a lift to the Warburton area.

March 30 2008

- Police fear a missing Melbourne bushwalker may have been murdered and are investigating the movements of a man they suspect could be involved.

Detectives called in to probe the disappearance of experienced bushwalker Warren Meyer in the Yarra Ranges revealed yesterday that a man in his late 30s had been in the area at the time and was a “person of interest”.

Mr Meyer, 57, a Canadian national living in Beaumaris, was due to return from a 10-kilometre bushwalk in the Mount Dom Dom area at noon last Sunday but has not been seen since.

A massive search covering more than 100 kilometres of tracks and roads and more than five square kilometres of forest has failed to find any trace of the married father of two.

Mr Meyer, a consultant civil engineer, set out at 7.30am from the Dom Dom Saddle car park with food, water, a phone and GPS.

Police want to speak to a group of about eight people who were camping in the Black Spur, Narbethong or Acheron Way area over the Easter break and who might have given the suspect a lift to Warburton.

The man has been interviewed by police and admitted he had been in the area.

Police spokeswoman Creina O’Grady said the man claimed to have come across the group of campers on the day Mr Meyer disappeared and that they gave him a lift to Warburton. Detectives want to speak to the campers to check his story.

Sergeant O’Grady said detectives were keeping an open mind as to what happened to Mr Meyer. “You can’t rule anything out. It’s a mystery because if you had to hang up a poster of the ideal family man, loved by his wife, he would be the one,” she said.

Detective Senior Constable Stuart Walls, of Alexandra CIU, said police were studying all other avenues of inquiry, including murder.

“This man was an experienced bushwalker, he had a mobile phone, GPS, he was in good physical condition … his disappearance is baffling,” Senior Constable Walls said. “Warren had no reason to disappear, he had no money with him, and he loved his family dearly.

“To not find anything, even his backpack, is very strange.”

Senior Constable David Fitzgerald, who helped search for Mr Meyer last week, said: “It seems strange he has disappeared; for all intents and purposes he has disappeared off the face of the earth.”

Mr Meyer is an experienced bushwalker who had trekked in Nepal and walked the Kokoda Trail.

His wife, Zanette, and two children did not want to comment yesterday.

More than 100 people from Victoria Police, the State Emergency Service and the Bushwalkers Search and Rescue Association spent five days searching for Mr Meyer.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit crimestoppers.com.au.

A search that leads to suspicions

■March 23 — Experienced hiker Warren Meyer leaves the Dom Dom Saddle car park near Healesville at 7.30am to go for a 10-kilometre bushwalk. He is known to go “bush bashing” — hiking off set tracks — and is due to return at noon but disappears. Police are called in at 5.15pm.

■March 24 — Massive search is launched in rugged bushland.

■March 28 — Search is scaled down after 53 Country Fire Authority volunteers, 40 SES and 15 search and rescue police comb new ground in a last-ditch attempt to find Mr Meyer. More than 50 millimetres of rain had fallen in the area over the previous two days and overnight temperatures dropped to 5.5 degrees.

■March 29 — Police reveal detectives have been called in to investigate Mr Meyer’s disappearance and are not ruling out foul play.

- Mark Russell

Monday September 16 2013

- The alleged ringleader of a global match-fixing scam has been remanded in custody after he became the first person charged under new laws to protect the integrity of sport in Victoria.
Gerry Gsubramaniam, 45, sat on the edge of his seat and fiddled with his silver earring as police alleged he was the “contact point” between Southern Stars FC and overseas match-fixing figures in an out-of-sessions hearing last night.
Gsubramaniam said “I want bail” and “I don’t want to stay inside a cell”.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Scott Poynder said police had been informed of “highly suspicious” betting patterns on at least five matches involving the Southern Stars, which led to Operation Starlings.
Bets placed worth thousands of dollars “could not possibly be explained by events that occurred on the pitch”, Senior Sergeant Poynder said. Goals scored against the Stars in the final minutes of matches were “wholly unnatural”.
Senior Sergeant Poynder said police had phone intercepts that showed Gsubramaniam giving and receiving advice and instructions on how the Stars should play and what scores in their games should be.
Video surveillance of a recent loss for the Stars showed “unusually poor play”, Senior Sergeant Poynder said.
Gsubramaniam was charged with five counts of engaging on conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome and five counts of facilitating conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome.
In opposing bail, Senior Sergeant Poynder said there was an “unacceptable risk” the Malaysian national would flee overseas, given he had no significant ties to Australia, travelled overseas regularly and had access to large amounts of money.
He said police had intercepted a phone call where Gsubramaniam discussed trying to change the name on his passport. “I get crazy…Big stress for me.”
Players Reiss Noll and Joe Woolley were released on bail.
Each player faced eight charges, four counts of engaging in conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome and four counts of facilitating conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome.
Police said Reiss was “very forthcoming” in his interview.
Senior Sergeant Poynder said Woolley, one of the team’s goalkeepers was an important person in this investigation.
Asked by the bail justice if he understood what would happen if he breached his bail conditions Woolley replied “yes…jail.”
As the accused sportsmen faced the hearing, it emerged detectives were investigating whether the sting links back to a prolific alleged match-fixer who is currently in Hungary, Wilson Raj Perumal.
Perumal is known to law enforcement globally and has links with those allegedly behind one of the biggest fixing schemes in the world.

- Tom Minear & Carly Crawford

Monday September 16 2013

- The world’s biggest match-fixer is suspected of masterminding the rigging of professional soccer matches in the Victoria Premier League while under police protection in Europe.

A Fairfax Media investigation can reveal that authorities are examining how Wilson Raj Perumal was able to allegedly control the biggest match-fixing operation in Australian history despite ostensibly being under police protection in Hungary as a supergrass on match-fixing cases there.

On Sunday, Victorian detectives arrested nine players and the coach of the Southern Stars Football Club in Melbourne’s southeast. Fairfax Media can also reveal that Perumal is suspected of recruiting skilled “journeymen” players from the United Kingdom to join Australia’s second-tier soccer league, where they could more easily manipulate the outcome of games but still play in matches that attracted large betting pools across Asia.

Police moved within 48 hours of the syndicate attempting to pull off a final season sting involving the Southern Stars game on Friday night, which Fairfax Media watched at the ground.

The accused players may have allegedly fixed every match they played this season after being directed by the syndicate to lose, draw or win, or to concede goals or commit fouls at certain periods of the game.

It is unclear whether any other Australian or overseas clubs are implicated, although a former successful UK professional and former A League player is understood to be a person of interest in the ongoing investigations.

The arrests put fresh pressure on federal and state governments to pass laws allowing police to share information with sporting bodies more easily. They also raise questions on whether the Football Federation of Australia has done enough to combat corruption, with multiple sources saying the FFA is well behind other codes despite soccer being the nation’s most corruption-exposed sport.

Perumal, a Tamil from Singapore with multiple convictions for match-fixing, agreed to assist European authorities in exposing his global match-rigging empire after he was arrested for fixing matches in Finland in 2011.

Perumal is suspected of using one of his lieutenants, Singaporean Jason Jo Lourdes, to liaise with the allegedly corrupt Southern Stars players while also having direct contact with at least one player.

Perumal and Lourdes are suspected by Interpol and world soccer body FIFA of fixing matches across the globe. Perumal may also be involved in the match-fixing that led to several players being arrested in the Czech Republic and Slovakia last week.

It is alleged Perumal’s syndicate may have earned up to $2 million by betting on the outcome of Southern Stars games.

Mid-tier British professional players Nicholas McCoy, Reiss Noel, goalkeeper Joe Woolley  and David Obaze are among those arrested over suspicions of receiving kickbacks from the syndicate for manipulating the outcome of Southern Stars games. Woolley and Noel joined the club in the middle of this year after unexpectedly leaving English club AFC Hornchurch.

On Sunday, the Victoria Police organised crime taskforce Purana arrested nine players and the club’s coach, Zaya Younan. Several of them are likely to face charges of attempting to manipulate the outcome of betting.

Match-fixing carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.

Purana’s Operation Starlings has been running since August and is believed to have involved extensive surveillance of the players. It is the first time Australia’s new sport integrity laws have been used in Victoria and only the second time they have been used in the nation, with NSW police charging two men with race-fixing earlier this year.

The police investigation began after Sportradar, a global betting analysis firm contracted by numerous sporting codes to monitor betting patterns, notified the FFA about suspicious wagering in Asia on Southern Stars games. The FFA passed this information to police.

Customs officers also reported that several of the players had suspicious travel movements. They travelled to international party hot spots including Bali and Spain and appeared to enjoy lifestyles in excess of their income.

The club has lost 16 matches this year – conceding 54 goals – and is on the bottom of the ladder.

Club president Ercan Cicek said his club had been provided with five players from England this season at no expense but he had no suspicion of any alleged match-fixing until news of the arrests on Sunday.

“Last year somebody emailed me from England [saying] ‘We want to sponsor your club,'” Cicek said. “Our committee members are thinking, ‘Oh beautiful, five players for free, we’re not going to pay for anything, it’s a big, big bonus.'”

Several sport integrity experts told Fairfax Media that the FFA’s integrity systems were well behind those of other codes. “The FFA’s integrity system is a joke. Nobody even knows who their integrity officer is,” said one well-placed source.

On Sunday, FFA chief executive David Gallop initially declined to name the code’s integrity officer. At a press conference he defended the effectiveness of soccer’s anti-corruption system.

A FFA spokesman told Fairfax Media on Sunday night that the integrity officer was its head of legal and business affairs, Joe Setright, who has served as the FFA’s top in-house lawyer for several years and sits on several national and international sports integrity committees.

A 2011 state government-commissioned review by top sport investigator Des Gleeson confidentially found that the FFA’s integrity system was grossly inadequate, although Mr Gallop has introduced reforms since his appointment in 2012.

Chris Eaton, the former chief FIFA corruption investigator who is now integrity manager of International Centre Sports Security, said the arrests were “abject proof of the endemic nature of corruption in football”.

“Football needs something drastic to overcome what is a massive problem for the sport,” he said.

Mr Eaton, who has spent four years investigating Perumal, questioned how he was able to allegedly fix matches in Australia while under police control in Europe.

- Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker & Nino Bucci

Monday September 16 2013

- A Victorian man has died after attending a western Sydney dance party where 14 other revellers also overdosed on drugs. A total of 84 people were arrested for drug offences after sniffer dogs were sent into the venue on Sunday afternoon. The festival was held at Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith. Festival artist manager Yasoda Gonzalez, who attended the event, believes she saw the 23-year-old Victorian man who later died from a suspected overdose at Nepean Hospital. “He appeared to be conscious but deathly white and perspiring profusely. So tragic to hear he has passed away,” she said. Police said there was nothing more they could have done to prevent people taking illicit substances despite the presence of more than 100 officers. Sniffer dogs and officers stopped and searched 430 people. Detective Inspector Grant Healy said the drugs reportedly included “magic mushrooms, cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, LSD, what people were reporting to be ecstasy [and] some GHB”.

- Emma Partridge

Monday September 16 2013

- No one could work out why the second-tier soccer side filled with internationals could play so badly.

And no one could work out why the professional footballers had agreed to play for beer money – arriving as they did on visitors’ visas to take the field for the Premier League’s newly promoted Southern Stars.

On paper they should have topped the table – instead they were on the bottom with only one win and a global deficit of 46.

But to sports corruption experts there was no mystery. It was the classic combination of journeymen players, a second-string competition and a growing interest from Asian gambling rings.

The man calling the shots had not seen a Southern Stars game or even attended an Australian soccer match.

He was half a world away in Hungary – and considered the world’s biggest match fixer.

Wilson Raj Perumal, a Singaporean national, was arrested in Finland but released to become a prosecution witness in a series of European cases.

Perumal is alleged to have bribed as many as 11 Finnish players, fielded a fake side as Togo’s national team in a rigged match against Bahrain and bribed players to lose in Thailand, Malaysia and Syria.

“He fixed five international friendlies before the World Cup,” says International Centre For Sport Security director Chris Eaton.

Asian betting records show there had been a flood of money in the dying minutes of games for the Southern Stars to forfeit goals, with the side often losing four-nil after late scores.

The big payoff for Perumal was to be the second-last game of the season, Southern Stars against Richmond last Friday.

The Asian bookies had calculated the Richmond side as the likely winners by 78% and so Perumal’s syndicate was able to invest heavily at six-to-one odds for the draw. Which was the exact result, allegedly netting the syndicate around $2 million.

Which is why police from the Purana Taskforce and the sporting integrity intelligence unit moved on Sunday to arrest nine players and the coach from the Southern Stars.

The team had only one game left and the suspect players would soon be leaving Australia.

“They were in party mode,” said one detective.

For the past three years in Victoria have publicly declared that Australian professional sport is in danger of being infiltrated by match fixers. They have expressed concern that international journeymen players with pre-existing corrupt relationships with professional punters have been recruited to play in local sport.

In December 2011 leaders from 12 elite sports, including AFL, rugby league and union, soccer, netball, tennis and racing codes, were briefed by senior Victorian Police and Australian Crime Commission officials on the problem.

The response varied from alarm to apathy.

The following year at an international conference in Paris, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton was told of the activities of Perumal’s syndicate.

In confidential meetings, senior sports officials, police, government agencies and anti-corruption experts concluded that match-fixing had expanded to such an extent it was now a major organised crime threat.

Three sports were identified – soccer, cricket and tennis – all codes where players travel across the world to play in areas often considered notoriously corrupt.

A few weeks later Deputy Commissioner Ashton told Fairfax Media, “Match fixing is imminent in Australia. It is a growing area of concern for us. This thing is coming down the highway and we have to be prepared.”

On Sunday he added, “This should be a wake-up call for all sports in Australia.”

Police remain frustrated that the federal government is yet to amend laws to allow them to brief sporting bodies on material acquired by phone taps.

- John Silvester

Tuesday September 17 2013

- Police are seeking to extradite overseas members of a multimillion-dollar match-fixing syndicate, including a Singaporean middleman, that has rocked Australian sport.

The development comes as authorities examine whether match-fixing has spread outside the Victorian Premier League soccer competition or involved the players’ former clubs. Federal police are also understood to have been briefed about Victoria Police’s “Operation Starlings” to try to enlist the AFP’s international network in tracking down syndicate members.

Police allege the syndicate was run by international match-fixing kingpin Wilson Raj Perumal.

Associates of the syndicate left Australia earlier than planned, but police are investigating whether they can be extradited to face charges. Other syndicate members never set foot in Australia.

Police believe about a dozen players from Hungary, England and Romania had contact with the match-fixing syndicate, but all were planning to leave Australia in September or had already left.

Four players from Melbourne’s Southern Stars club, its coach Zaya Younan and alleged fixer Segaran “Gerry” Gsubramaniam, whom police described in court on Monday as the Australian “bigwig” of the operation, have been charged with corruption offences.

A senior Football Federation of Victoria figure said the league had no proactive integrity measures in place to combat match-fixing.

The long-standing modus operandi of the international syndicate behind the alleged match-fixing in Victoria involves recruiting journeyman players to infiltrate cash-strapped clubs or leagues.

“We never even knew that was a possibility, but of course we know that now,” the FFV source said.

Soccer in Australia has a history of colourful characters holding club administration positions.

Hume City FC’s chairman is Steve Kaya, who was once acquitted of murder and is a close associate of Mick Gatto. Matt Tomas, a former chairman of the soccer club the Melbourne Knights who recently tried to purchase a Croatian side, is also a close associate of Mr Gatto. The AFP raided offices linked to Perth Glory owner Tony Sage last December. Mr Sage has links to members of the Comanchero motorbike gang.

The arrests were made after the Stars played Richmond in the second-last match of the VPL season.

Previous bets on Southern Stars matches had netted $2 million, police allege. A spokesman for Richmond, where Mr Younan was an assistant coach last season, said the club had no suspicion the Friday match was fixed. Police allege $150,000 was bet on a 0-0 draw. He said it was not believed Richmond’s results last year were being investigated or that the club had been offered a group of overseas-based players for the 2013 season as it appeared had occurred at the Southern Stars.

Mr Gsubramaniam, 45, faced 10 charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday. Mr Younan, and British players Reiss Noel, Joe Woolley, David Obaze and Nicholas McCoy also face eight charges. The players are all defenders, apart from Mr Woolley, who is a goalkeeper.

Four players were released pending further inquiries.

Police allege the results of five of the Southern Stars’ games between July 21st and last Friday – three of which resulted in 4-0 defeats, one which resulted in a 3-0 loss and one game that was drawn – were fixed, according to instructions from match fixers in Hungary and Malaysia.

Magistrate Jelena Popovic remanded Mr Gsubramaniam to be held in custody and reappear in court on Friday, along with the players and Mr Younan.

Australian States are split on whether match-fixing should be a specific criminal offence.

In June 2011, Commonwealth, state and territory sports ministers endorsed establishing uniform national laws to make match-fixing a criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail. Since then, NSW, Victoria, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT have introduced legislation to make “match-fixing behaviours” a criminal offence. Similar laws are expected to be introduced in Tasmania next month.

But a spokeswoman for the Commonwealth’s Office for Sport said on Monday that Queensland and WA had decided existing provisions of their respective criminal codes were sufficient to deal with match-fixing. The reluctance of Queensland and WA to join the national approach is believed to have frustrated other states and the governing bodies of major sports.

- Nino Bucci, Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker & Adam Cooper

Tuesday September 17 2013

- Some in the crowd thought the international referee had lost his marbles – or at the very least the pea from his whistle.

What else could explain why he refused to call time on the game, which was now creeping into the 98th minute.

At the end of the scheduled 90 minutes referee Ibrahim Chaibou ordered a further six minutes of injury time. The score at that stage had Nigeria leading Argentina 4-0 in the 2011 exhibition match and yet there was a flood of money still hitting the bookies for another goal.

When the score didn’t change in the six extra minutes Chaibou refused to blow full-time and allowed the game to continue.

And yet he proved his whistle was working when he called a handball foul on Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose although the ball clearly hit his thigh. Argentina scored from the penalty, leaving a scoreline of 4-1 and some punters millions richer.

Now investigators are looking at five international games refereed by Chaibou in which there were late punting surges and bizarre results.

Southern Stars versus Richmond at a Melbourne suburban soccer ground may be modest compared with showpiece stadiums that house the “Beautiful Game” , but for international match-fixing experts it was a sting played out by the same syndicate.

Indeed, Chaibou was recruited by notorious match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, the same man alleged to have organised fixed Southern Stars games in Melbourne.

The end result, though, may be different after the weekend arrests, with the extra time in the Melbourne case to centre on possible jail sentences of up to 10 years under new match-fixing laws.

The European Union law enforcement agency Europol has identified almost 700 games around the world suspected of being fixed. It declared 435 match officials, players, club officials and known criminals were linked to 380 suspected crooked games at different levels of professional soccer throughout Europe.

A key to the claims is an international police operation codenamed VETO, carried out in 13 countries that involved analysing 13,000 questionable emails.

Europol says the main ring is based in Singapore – and Perumal is central to the international hub.

Embarrassingly, he was released from prison to blow the whistle on others and instead took to allegedly fixing games in Australia while supposedly working for European police.

When he was previously arrested he had the numbers of senior soccer officials in Asia, Europe and Africa in his mobile phone. And they took his calls even after he was identified as a match-fixer.

Soccer corruption has become so lucrative that Interpol says two major international organised crime syndicates have switched from drug trafficking to concentrate on match-fixing.

Sportradar, the international company that identifies fixed games (and initially blew the whistle in Melbourne) claims 300 games are corrupted every year in Europe alone.

And that is why the Purana Taskforce investigation, codenamed Starlings, is sparking great interest around the world.

Not only did detectives make a series of arrests, the operation took just six weeks.

Police say the sting was worth at least $2 million, but it may be much more. During the investigation they did not make inquiries with the Asian bookies who took the bets for fear their targets could be tipped off.

But using Sportradar they have identified a series of Southern Stars games in which the team, littered with classy internationals, lost badly and in which there were goals conceded just before full-time – a classic Perumal fix.

According to Chris Eaton, the director of the International Centre for Sport Security, Victorian police succeeded because they used organised crime detection methods rather than treating the issue as a sporting one. “This is not about match-fixing, it is about massive betting frauds. Victoria did in six weeks what some European agencies haven’t been able to do in four years,” he said.

“This is big, global and organised and the response should be big, global and organised.”

Sportradar monitors games in which there are late bets, unexplained odds and large goal spreads.

Chief Commissioner Ken Lay told Fairfax Media: “We have seen this coming over the hill for more than 12 months now and have taken proactive action. We hope we have nailed this [syndicate] before it got out of control.”

Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said it was difficult to establish if some of the imported players had pre-existing relationships with bookies and match-fixers. Ashton has for the past two years been warning locals sports they could be targeted.

After attending an international forum in Paris, Ashton publicly declared: “Match-fixing is imminent in Australia. It is a growing area of concern for us. This thing is coming down the highway and we have to be prepared.” Now it has arrived.

- John Silvester

Tuesday September 17 2013

- A Melbourne man who died after a suspected drug overdose at Penrith’s Defqon 1 dance festival confessed to taking pills as hospital staff fought to save his life.

James Munro, 23, of Bayswater, died at Nepean Hospital about 10.30pm on Saturday after having fits and repeated episodes of cardiac arrest.

June Avanessian’s son, Andrew, was with Mr Munro at the festival and said her son did not realise Mr Munro had “taken so many pills”.

“I think he got them on the net,” Ms Avanessian said.

Police yesterday said a batch of slow-working drugs could have been circulating at the event, which resulted in a further 14 people in hospital with overdose-like symptoms.

“Some of the drugs that they may have taken over the weekend had an actual delayed effect,” Detective Acting Chief Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis said.

“That delayed effect may have caused them to think that this drug may not be working and to take another one and another one. In this particular young man, it proved fatal.”

Mr Munro was rushed to the site’s medical tent only about an hour after gates opened. He was taken to hospital just after 1pm.

Detective Superintendent Katsogiannis said it was unclear which drug Mr Munro had taken, or if it was similar to the other hospitalised partygoers. Analysis of various seized substances was continuing.

A number of partygoers linked the overdoses to pills stamped with a horse’s head.

“My sister and I were in the medic tent,” Katrina Plotnikov said. “We were advised by the nurse that someone was selling green pills and all these kids who took them ended up in the medical tent.”

When questioned about the overdoses, NSW Drug Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham said there appeared to be a “common theme” between them and the “horsehead logo”.

He said revellers may have taken pills they thought were ecstasy but which actually contained other dangerous substances, including one known as PMA, often sold as ecstasy despite having a stronger effect and taking longer to kick in. It has been linked to several drug-related deaths at UK music festivals this year.

Almost 48 hours after Mr Munro died, festival organiser Q-dance finally broke its silence with a spokesperson saying: “We are deeply saddened by the tragedy. Our sincere sympathies go to the man’s family and friends.

“We are doing everything possible to assist NSW Police in their inquiries.”

- Simon Black, Amy Dale & Tom Minnear

Tuesday September 17 2013

- An accused match-fixing Australian ringleader mentioned $150,000 during a phone call taped by police before a soccer game last week, a court has heard.

Investigators allege about 440 recorded calls by Segaran “Gerry” Gsubramaniam indicated his role in fixing linked to the Southern Stars.

Charges sheets show matches under scrutiny are the Stars’ games against Richmond last Friday and earlier Victorian Premier League clashes against Hume City, Green Gully, Pascoe Vale and Oakleigh.

Police yesterday told Melbourne Magistrates Court that Mr Gsubramaniam had admitted passing on instructions from a known international fixer to the Stars.

Mr Gsubramaniam, 45, allegedly passed on information from associates in Hungary and Malaysia.

Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Scott Poynder said more than $200,000 had been transferred to Mr Gsubramaniam since July.

“On a worldwide scale he is not the bigwig; Australia-wise he is,” Senior Sergeant Poynder said.

It is believed police are investigating people overseas involved and extraditing them to Australia could be possible.

Senior Sergeant Poynder said several of the accused were professional players from the UK and Czech Republic, and all but one nominated Malaysian national Mr Gsubramaniam “as being the main man”.

One of his phone calls before Friday’s match against Richmond Football Club involved talk of $150,000, the court heard.

Police found three mobile phones, SIM cards and fund transfer records at his Oakleigh South premises.

Mr Gsubramaniam was charged with five counts of engaging in, and five counts of facilitating, conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome. Police opposed bail, saying he was a flight risk. The application was adjourned until Friday, when five other accused will appear.

Goalkeeper Joe Woolley, 23, a UK citizen residing in Preston, faces eight charges, as does Reiss Noel, 24, who also lives in Preston. Coach Zaya Younan, and two UK nationals – Nicholas McCoy and David Obaze – face eight charges.

- Emily Portelli & Carly Crawford

Tuesday September 17 2013

- A bent detective jailed a decade ago after a clean-up of the disgraced drug Squad is again behind bars.

Former cop Matthew James Bunning appeared at the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on Thursday – the day after his 46th birthday – to face hundreds of charges of identity theft, Medicare fraud and creating false documents.

Mr Bunning is accused of rifling through bins to steal Medicare receipts and personal information, doctoring documents, and claiming tens of thousands of dollars in Medicare payments. He was also found in a car in Queens Road in June last year injecting methadone and steroids.

Many of the offences with which he is charged occurred while Mr Bunning was on bail. Detectives found a pair of police-issue handcuffs when they raided his Yallambie unit.

The former drug squad detective was charged in 2004 and sentenced to almost seven years’ jail for tipping off drug dealers about raids and accepting gifts in exchange for confidential police information.

Last week he had to be helped in to the dock, looking gaunt and walking with the aid of a frame. The life of a man once considered a promising detective spiralled out of control after he was injured during an arrest.

The injury required surgery that led to an addiction to morphine, which his family believe was over-prescribed.

Last week the court heard Mr Bunning was using up to $300 worth of heroin a day. His mother, Barbara, told magistrate Susan Wakeling her son was once a good police officer whose life had been ruined by his morphine addiction.

She said she wanted her son – who has a child – released into her care.

“He can stay as long as he likes. He has nothing,” Mrs Bunning said.

Ms Wakeling refused to bail Mr Bunning because she was concerned about his addiction. He is due to reappear in court on October 1st.

- Padraic Murphy

Wednesday July 8 2008

Detective Corporal Donnette Bailey-Smith (right), of the Narcotics Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, shows some of the ways people try to smuggle drugs out of the country to members of the public who attended the Red Cross Health Fair at its Arnold Road, Kingston offices, recently. – Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

- The Crime Investigation Training Institute (CITI) at Twickenham Park in St Catherine trains detectives for the public sector. To be selected for the coveted posts within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), one must first be a trained police officer who shows the aptitude for detective work.

Such an aptitude, Deputy Superintendent of Police Cleon Marsh, director of CITI, states, is indicated by quality of the presentation of court cases, one’s record of court attendance and success rate in crime solving.

Following basic training at CITI, police personnel must pass examinations and excel under probation in order to move from rung to rung within the JCF.

Jamaican detectives are in high demand, states Marsh, who notes that they are often recruited away by other Caribbean territories and other jurisdictions in the hemisphere.

“We lose a lot of them to other countries in the Caribbean, including Grand Cayman, Barbados and especially Bermuda. They lure them away with good packages,” he notes.

More detectives needed

More detectives are always needed. As was announced in April, the JCF is hoping to increase its corps of internationally accredited crime-scene investigators to 300 over the next three years.

Detecting as a career begins after successfully completing level-one major investigation core skills course and level-two Criminal Investigation Bureau training followed by probationary periods.

This first intensive two-week programme in basic investigation techniques, which is followed by a period of probation in the officer, is observed in the execution of what he or she has learnt.

Examinations mark the promotional ladder for members of the force and it is no different for detectives.

Success at level one leads to the level two, a five-week criminal investigation course with an examination at the end and probation period of 12 months. A review at the end of the period will determine confirmation in the post of detective.

In general, the skills of detecting are widely used in local policing and crime-fighting operations are carried out by special units under the direction of area commanders or other designated officers.

The college at Twickenham Park, DSP Marsh notes, offers many other programmes, including interview techniques and forensic investigation, which can be pursued as well. International training is also an option with several members of the local force seeking and securing certification by the United States-based International Crime Scene Investigators Association.

Much of the role of the detective is based on the mastery of routine skills, such as the proper preparation of a statement, learning the laws of evidence, evidence gathering, interview skills and forensic analysis.

Forensic science refers to a method of obtaining criminal evidence and involves crime-scene investigation, which entails the collection, identification, documentation and preservation of physical evidence left at the scene of a crime, with the ultimate goal of presenting a court with evidence to identify and apprehend a perpetrator.

Local detectives note that the best detectives also create on-the-ground relationships with local sources who provide information which enable them to solve crimes.

Detectives are deployed in varied JCF units such as:

Homicide Squad
Criminal Intelligence Division
Organised Crime Unit and Vice Unit
Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse
Fraud Squad
Fatal Shooting Unit
National Firearm and Drug Intelligence Branch
Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit

- Avia Collinder

Sunday 17 December 2000

- Corrupt detectives across Britain are pocketing tens of thousands of pounds by sharing reward money with a network of ‘fake’ informants, The Observer can reveal.
The scam involves the recruitment of petty crooks who appear before senior officers and confirm that they provided the original tip-off which led to a subsequent seizure or arrest. They then got their reward, which can range from several hundred to several thousand pounds. The money is later split with the detective concerned.

The practice came to light during the Old Bailey trial of former Detective Constable Austin Warnes, who pleaded guilty last week to charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Warnes had played a key role in a plot to assist Simon James in winning custody of his young son. James had hired private detective Jonathan Rees from the Law and Commercial agency in south London to plant a significant quantity of cocaine in a car belonging to his estranged wife, Kim, a former model. The plan was to get her sent to prison, leaving the child in the father’s sole care.

Warnes, a long-time cocaine addict who moonlighted for Law and Commercial, had agreed to assist the plot by passing false information to local police that Kim James was involved in high-level cocaine dealing. The plan failed because anti-corruption detectives had been monitoring Rees’s agency, following concerns that he had been making illegal payments to a number of serving police officers in return for confidential information. Bugging devices alerted them to the James plot.

Following his arrest last September, Warnes had originally claimed that the tip-off about Kim James came from his registered informant, who was later revealed to be reformed gangster turned bestselling author Dave Courtney. At the Old Bailey trial, Courtney revealed that, far from being an informant, he had been involved in a ‘100 per cent corrupt’ relationship with Warnes for 15 years which involved recruiting fake informants, obtaining information from the police computer and sabotaging numerous court cases.

An investigation by The Observer has revealed that Warnes’s unscrupulous practices went far deeper than those admitted during the trial. Officers in other police forces, including Essex and Greater Manchester, have been investigated for allegedly sharing rewards with informants.

Warnes fed his own drug habit by regularly stealing drugs during raids. Warnes also assisted Courtney and dozens of other professional criminals in the south London area to avoid capture and evade charges by providing them with information about police investigations. In order to cover himself and not face questioning about why he was accessing police files, Warnes would say one of his informants had knowledge relevant to the case.

‘The information he provided was invaluable,’ says Mick, a one-time armed robber and one of those who benefited from Warnes’ corruption. ‘He would be able to tell you what statements the police had obtained, who they had interviewed, which properties were under surveillance, which phones were being tapped – the lot. Worth its weight in gold. You would pay between £5,000 and £10,000 a time, but it was well worth it.’

Documents obtained by The Observer show that, in one case, Warnes intervened after an attempted kidnapping. One of the suspects, an associate of Courtney, had gone on the run. Warnes telephoned the officer in charge and said he had an informant that might be able to help in the case but would require all the information. The officer in charge of the kidnap later noted: ‘The impression gleaned from the information requested and questions asked was not one of an officer keen to assist but more of an officer bent on obtaining information for his own purposes.’

Warnes would regularly brag about fitting people up and applying pressure to ensnare people. He would carry out surveillance before making arrests to ensure they were carried out in the most compromising position possible. If a villain had a mistress, he would be arrested at her address rather than at home in order to increase the level of hassle if he pleaded not guilty. If he had a small child, the raid would take place late on Friday evening and fake drugs would be planted in his wife’s possessions.

This would lead to the wife being held in custody and the child being taken into care over the weekend. ‘By the end of the weekend, it would all be looking so grim he’d have to plead guilty. He said he collected fag ends – you can get DNA from traces of saliva – to plant at crime scenes to implicate people he didn’t like.’

The Old Bailey heard that Warnes had bragged about his ability to help with matters concerning the ‘IRA, driving offences, drugs, anything,’ witness Brendan McGirr said. The court also heard from club owner Lee Smith, who admitted paying Warnes £500 per week in order to be warned if his venue was to be raided.

Rees and Simon James were convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Both men were sentenced to six years. Warnes was sentenced to four years. James Cook, who had been filmed planting the drugs in the car, and Courtney were both acquitted of all charges.

Courtney, a one-time friend of the Kray twins, has made 10 court appearances in the past 15 years and has now received 10 not guilty verdicts in a row. ‘I have always had faith in the British Justice system,’ he said outside the court.

‘That not guilty verdict was both for the charge I faced and the accusation that I was a grass. I have never been an informer.’

- Tony Thompson

December 11 2012

Renee Forte scored #3

Top scorer Derek Gartner

A Fair Haven beat cop known for grabbing illegal guns topped the long-awaited list of potential new sergeants released Tuesday.

The list was certified and released Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of the Civil Service Commission. It revealed how 94 city cops scored on a recent exam for promotion to sergeant. Sixty-five out of 94 cops passed the exam; they needed to score a 70 to pass.

The department has 21 vacancies to fill right now. It also has 10 lieutenant vacancies, which will create a need for more sergeants next year after candidates take a lieutenant’s exam.

The commission unanimously approved the list.

The list’s release was eagerly anticipated for several reasons. The department hasn’t promoted anyone to sergeant for years, meaning lots of cops have been waiting for a chance to advance. That has also meant that the department has struggled with a severe lack of supervisors.

Arguments over the previous sergeant’s exam have ended up in court, throwing another wrench into the mix.

The top scorer, with a score of 88.35 out of 100, was Derek Gartner, a five-and-a-half-year veteran of the force who has twice been named an Independent “cop of the week.”

Detective Wayne Bullock scored second with an 87.57. Just behind him with an 87.25 score came Renee Forte, who patrols with the popular police dog Bitang.

Hispanic cops did not score well in the exam. The racial breakdown of promotions has proved a controversial subject in both the fire and police departments; read about some of that here. Thirty-four out of 40 white candidates passed; 20 out of 33 blacks passed; and 10 out of 20 Hispanics. One Asian took the exam and passed it.

Detective Rose Dell

Other top scorers: Sean Maher came in fourth with 86.91; Dietrich Hernandez fifth with 86.88; John Healy sixth with 85.15; Roy Davis seventh with 84.87; Detective Rose Dell (pictured) next with 84.23; then Stephan Torquati with 84.08 and Karl Jacobson with 83.28.

Officer James Evarts, who last year almost lost his job in a disciplinary proceeding, emerged successful with an 83.26 score, which placed him 11th on the list, followed by Detective Tammi Means, who works in internal affairs.

Police commissioners will now interview the top-scoring candidates and decide whom to promote using the Rule of Three, which means they must start from the top of the list and may skip over no more than two names.

The Civil Service Commission took up the matter at its 12:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday in the Hall of Records. Assistant Chief Denise Blanchard and one cop who took the test showed up to find out the results, which had been kept secret even to the police department top brass. They ended up waiting over an hour to find out the results, as the commission dealt with another matter in executive session.

“My blood pressure isn’t going to take this. My heart’s going to explode,” said the expectant cop as he waited in the hallway. (He didn’t want his photo taken because he does undercover work.)

Noella Marcano

The commission reopened its doors. Noelia Marcano (pictured), the city’s personnel director, ran through the promotions process. She said the city issued a Request for Proposals in 2011 for an outside company to create the exam. Bids closed Oct. 18, 2011. The city chose Booth Research Group (BRG) of Parker, Colo.

At BRG’s suggestion, the city’s labor relations department and the police union agreed on a test that weighed the oral examination more heavily than the written. BRG came up with a test whose written component counted for 35 percent of the final grade; and three oral exams weighed 65 percent.

A total of 94 cops took the written and oral exams. The written portion included 100 multiple-choice questions and lasted three hours. Thirty cops from outside Connecticut administered the oral exam; they asked questions based on “realistic situations” a sergeant would have to deal with, according to Marcano.

The written portion tested cops’ understanding of local and state police protocols. Cops found the test difficult, Marcano reported.

“Performance on the written exam is disappointing,” she said. “As a whole, candidates did not do well on this portion.” BRG did an analysis to determine if there was adverse impact to a certain racial group. The analysis determined there was no statistical difference in how the 71 males and 23 females fared.

However, there was a statistically significant difference in performance among racial groups, Marcano said: 50 percent of Hispanics passed the combined exams; 61 percent of blacks, and 85 percent of whites. BRG examined the results. It found that Hispanics performed lower than whites on the written questions regarding departmental rules. Blacks scored lower than whites on the Connecticut Law Enforcement Officers’ Field Manual, or “Red Book,” she said.

After cops took the test, they were allowed to give feedback on any questions they thought were flawed or unfair. BRG received complaints about five questions on the exam, but took a look and found those questions to be valid, according to Marcano. She said BRG cautioned that any race-based analysis should take into account the small number of people in each racial subgroup.

BRG determined that the test was a valid test based on content related to their jobs, Marcano said. The group recommended certifying the list.

Commissioners took the advice. Commissioner John Cirello pointed out that the sample size is so small that if one more Hispanic had passed the test, the pass rate would have been five points higher. The commissioners—Cirello, Daniel Del Prete, Anne Massaro, James L. Williams, and Allyn Wright—voted unanimously to approve the list with little discussion.

The list was certified for one year, after which commissioners can vote to extend its life for another year, Marcano said.

Lt Jeff Hoffman and Assistant Chief Blanchard

At the end of the meeting, the cop who had been awaiting his fate got a hug from Assistant Chief Blanchard. He had placed in the top 20 spots, putting him in line for likely promotion. Blanchard said she didn’t know the precise timing of the promotions. If all 20 cops came from the detective division, for example, promoting them en masse would create structural problems, so they may have to be promoted in two batches.

The New Haven 10, a group of black cops who sued the city over the 2009 sergeants exam, did not fare well in the latest round. None of the 10 plaintiffs made the top 20. The highest-scorer, Albert McFadden, ranked 27th with a score of 77.14, followed by Shafiq Abdussabur in 28th place. That means they won’t be in line for promotion this year, though spots will open up when cops move up to lieutenant positions next year. The lead plaintiff in their case, Bruce Bonner, ranked 43rd on the list. The cops argue that they should have been promoted years ago but the city discriminated against them when the Civil Service Commission certified the 2009 eligibility list for only one year, not two, because Latinos scored poorly.

Other results:

13. Joshua Armistead 82.21
14. Robert Lawlor Jr. 81.88
15. David Zannelli 81.80
16. Peter McKoy 81.54
17. Marco Francia 79.94
18. Jason Weted 79.83
19. Elisa Tuozzoli 79.64
19. Robert Maturo 79.64
20. Betsy Segui 78.85
21. Elliot Rosa 78.80
22. Brett Runlett 78.79
23. Manmeet Colon 78.14
24. Mary Helland 78.05
25. Jason Rentkowicz 77.40
26. Charlette Barham 77.37
27. Abert McFadden 77.14
28. Shafiq Abdussabur 77.14
29. Mark O’Neil 76.76
30. Ronald Ferrante 76.57

- Melissa Bailey

Friday August 30 2013

- Detective Josh Bissette doesn’t have a single photograph nor any incident report from the morning Gene Ward died.

All incident and investigation reports filed by officers with the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office from the 1970s are gone. And no one knows exactly what happened to them. There’s a single box with a few items from 1977-79 thrown in it. But it wasn’t until Louis Taylor became sheriff of Wilson County in 1979 that the record system really starts.

Still, almost 40 years later, Bissette is interviewing people who might know something about Ward’s death. Ward, 33, was found shot in the head outside of the Southern 500 truck stop near Elm City the morning of Sept. 1, 1973. He was pronounced dead at 4:25 a.m. at Wilson Medical Center.

Bissette has been working the cold case as time allows given his regular duties since the early part of 2011. Ward’s daughter, Carolynn Ward Holt of Myrtle Beach, S.C., contacted the sheriff’s office in January 2011. Bissette and Wilson County Sheriff Calvin Woodard met with Holt, her uncle, Donald Ward, her sister, Lisa, and Holt’s friend, Dave Ridgeway, during the first week of February 2011.

Holt handed over all of the information she’s compiled since she started actively questioning her father’s death in the spring of 2010. Holt also showed officers a DVD she’s put together about her father and her search for answers.

Bissette has a notebook full of information. He’s invested time verifying information Holt has gathered.

“She actually did a good job searching the archives of newspapers to find out things that were going on at the time,” Bissette said.

He got a court order to obtain any medical records for Ward from Wilson Medical Center. Bissette said there should have been something there saying he was treated. But the court order proved fruitless because hospital officials said they have no record of Ward being treated there.

“I don’t know if they purge their records after a certain amount of time or what the deal was,” Bissette said. “They called me back to let me know there was not anything up there under the name of Obbie Gene Ward.”

A Daughter’s Quest

A Daughter’s Quest chronicles Carolynn Ward Holt’s search to find answers about her father’s death. Her father — Obbie Gene Ward — died on Sept. 1, 1973 from injuries due to a single gunshot wound to the head.

Was it an unfortunate accident, suicide or perhaps murder? Either way, lives changed in the predawn hours of that late summer morning.

Do You Remember?

If you have information about the death of Gene Ward in September 1973, contact The Wilson Times at 265-7822 or the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office at 237-2118.

On Feb. 9, 2011, Bissette interviewed Ward’s widow, Lois Ward, at her home in Washington. Bissette is conducting the latest round of interviews this summer.

WANTS MORE PROGRESS

Holt said when she met with Bissette and Woodard she “pretty much threw the cards on the table and said this is what we have. Something is very wrong here.”

“My Dad didn’t kill himself,” Holt said. “This is a murder. I want something done. I want this investigated. I told them all of the stuff I knew.”

Holt was encouraged when Bissette interviewed her stepmother so soon after their meeting.

“I’m like oh wow, something is going to happen now,” Holt remembers thinking.

But Holt’s frustrated because as more time passes it’s less likely she’ll find answers.

Woodard defends Bissette and the work done thus far on the case.

“She sent me an email where she expressed some concerns where she felt like we weren’t doing enough,” Woodard said during an interview in July. “She wanted to move it from him to another detective. I explained to her, you’re upset with us and you met with the sheriff plus you’ve been receiving telephone calls back and emails back from the sheriff. You said you never met with the old sheriff, never received anything from the former sheriff. You understand what I’m saying. She had no interaction with the previous administration then she comes hard on us. And we’re not doing anything?”

THEY’RE NOT DEAD

The day Holt found her father’s death certificate in a box of family keepsakes, she decided then to contact the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office to see what information might be available.

The death certificate, which listed Ward’s cause of death as “pending,” had supplemental information attached from Dr. Robert Richards, who initially viewed Ward’s body at Wilson Medical Center. Richards wrote, “I would strongly recommend further investigation, which is probably already under way.”

It was April 26, 2010 and Holt went online searching for contact information for the sheriff’s office. Wayne Gay was sheriff at that time. Holt found information for Detective Danny Bailey and for Gay. She emailed Bailey but received no response. Holt sent Bailey her father’s death certificate and Richards’ report. Holt waited, then emailed Gay on April 30, 2010.

“I know it’s an old case, but I have a right to know what happened to my Dad,” Holt wrote in an email to Gay.

Bailey responded to her via email on May 5, 2010 indicating that he’d been going through old files but had been unable to find any information related to the case.

“The two deputies that were listed in the report are dead,” Bailey wrote. “There is no one at the sheriff’s office that was here when this case was investigated. … The sheriff that was in office at the time of this investigation is also dead.”

Holt had no reason to question Bailey’s response. She even wrote back to Bailey the same day saying, “You are having the same problem as I am. Everybody who knows anything is dead.”

Holt tells Bailey she’s thinking about contacting a television show that focuses on cold cases.

On May 19, 2010, Holt emails Bailey informing him she’d figured out another agency had investigated her father’s death and that she was trying to secure records.

During this time, Holt thought to herself that someone in Wilson had to have some answers. Holt started reading The Wilson Times. She’s made many cold telephone calls to people and spent a good deal of time tracking down friends of her father and her uncle.

She learned Robin Pridgen, whom she thought was sheriff when her father died, was still very much alive at that time.

Pridgen died in January 2012. But Pridgen wasn’t sheriff of Wilson County in 1973. Pridgen was chief deputy, a position he’d held since at least 1966. Pridgen went on to be elected sheriff in 1974 and then was re-elected in 1978.

Holt would later find out that one of the initial responding deputies — C.G. Lewis — is still alive.

Holt became angry and suspicious. Was Bailey confused? Was it an honest mistake?

“That struck a nerve with me,” Holt said. “Oh, you want to lie to somebody? But I couldn’t figure out why.”

Woodard said Bissette has been working hard on this case. Between the two of them, Holt and Bissette have found and interviewed key people.

“He found them,” Woodard said. “He didn’t find them in a graveyard either.”

– Stephanie Creech

June 17 2014

- I am pleased to follow a former Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Emergency Services who is particularly familiar with interventions in high-level police command matters. In making my contribution to debate on the Crime Statistics Bill 2014 I note that the Labor Party has previously touched on these matters. The Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party believes that this plan has merit and is long overdue.

What is particularly interesting is that the Minister for Police and Emergency Services stated on 5 October last year:

There has been too much controversy over crime statistics in recent years.

These statistics have been criticised for the accuracy, integrity and accessibility. The chief statistician will play a major role in achieving the government’s intention to turn this around.
It is interesting that the police minister and the government are not interested in turning around any unreliable police crime statistics that continue to be published until after the November 2014 state election. It is of concern that after four years in office the government wants to clean up police crime statistics and the way in which they are reported but does not seek to do so before the election.

What is also of concern to the Labor Party is the $8.4 million that is required to set up the proposed agency to bring some integrity to police crime statistics. Given the $100 million in cuts to the police budget, how can Victorians have any confidence that the government will appropriately fund the chief statistician’s office and implement these integrity measures in relation to police crime statistics? It is cutting $100 million from the police budget and at the same time needs to find $8.4 million to appoint a chief statistician to manage and publish police crime statistics. Where is the government going to find that money, and how can Victorians have confidence that it will deliver on the proposal?

Speaking of crime statistics, I thought it would be useful to have a look at some recent crime statistics in my electorate of Ivanhoe. I point out that there are fewer front-line police officers in Ivanhoe today than there were three years ago. In fact in a recent media release I issued in my electorate I said:

In Ivanhoe front-line police numbers have been cut from 114 at November 2010 to 108 at 31 January 2014. This is a reduction of over 5 per cent.
In particular I pointed out that:

In Ivanhoe, criminal offences have increased under the Napthine government by 12.02 per cent, or 771 extra offences. From 6415 offences in 2010-11 to 7186 offences 2012-13.

What we know is that the closure of the West Heidelberg police station under this government’s watch and the scrapping of the burglary unit that operates at the Heidelberg 24-hour police station has meant that crime has increased in the Ivanhoe electorate and there are fewer officers to keep my community safe. In the collection of crime statistics the government needs to pay a bit of attention to how those statistics will be recorded accurately when you take into account that there is no police station operating in West Heidelberg, that there are fewer police and that one of the most critical services that is required in making sure police statistics are accurate, the burglary unit that operates from the 24-hour Heidelberg police station in my electorate, has been scrapped, closed down by the government.
I have written to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services in relation to those matters with particular reference to what has happened to the burglary unit, which is critical in keeping the community safe.

One of the key concerns members of local communities have is about someone breaking into their home. It is one of the greatest fears that people have. My letter to the minister of 2 October states:

During the 2012-13 financial year …

Local media, including the Heidelberg Leader, has reported on several burglary sprees across Banyule in 2013, including 20 in Bellfield and Ivanhoe between late May and early June. There was also a series of seven burglaries in one day across Heidelberg Heights on 11 July.

If extra police have been allocated to Heidelberg police complex, why is the burglary team being shut down?

Operational decisions of Victoria Police do not absolve your government or yourself, as the Minister for Police and emergency services, from holding your departments accountable for their decisions and their expenditure of taxpayers’ funds.

How are the government and chief statistician going to monitor the police statistics in the Ivanhoe electorate when the government is scrapping the units that are there to arrest offenders and keep the community safe? How are these statistics going to be managed? I would like some detail about the closure of burglary unit that has been able to provide a range of statistics about the increase in crime in the Ivanhoe electorate under this government’s watch. These are the great concerns we have.

Despite our protestations and the numerous times we have raised this matter — I still have an outstanding adjournment matter from April this year in relation to police statistics, in particular the reopening of the Heidelberg West police station — we have not yet had a response from the police minister in relation to the ongoing closure of that police station.

We also note that there have been recent homicides in the Ivanhoe electorate. Funnily enough they happened in West Heidelberg, the area where the police station was closed by this government. I raised these matters with the police minister on 1 April but I have had no response after two months. I have also previously raised in Parliament very serious concerns about homicides in the Ivanhoe electorate I said::

The Age reported that Mr Michael Jones, 47, was gunned down on the corner of Blackwood and Ebony parades in West Heidelberg shortly before 7.30 a.m.

He was found bloodied and dying on the road by a passing truck driver, who desperately tried to resuscitate him. Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey described the killing as brazen and high risk, given it occurred in a suburban area while children would have been leaving for school.
These are the day-to-day critical policing issues that are happening on our doorstep in West Heidelberg — a couple of blocks from my electorate office and a couple of blocks from the closed police station in Altona Street, Heidelberg West.

People are being gunned down in my electorate, and more than two months on from when I raised these matters in the adjournment debate the Minister for Police and Emergency Services has refused to respond. He has not responded to those particular matters, as he is required to do under the standing orders.

If we want to talk about police statistics, let us look at the increasing homicide rate in the Ivanhoe electorate. As outlined, back in late May people were being gunned down at 7.30 a.m. in my electorate, just blocks from the Heidelberg West police station. The government can add those homicide statistics to the increasing crime rate in the Ivanhoe electorate, where since this government was elected there are fewer police stations and a burglary unit has been closed while there is a burglary spree in Heidelberg West. I have touched on those figures here again for the government. I note also that according to the increasing studies and surveys being done by the RACV, Heidelberg West and the 3081 postcode now top the list of crime and burglary rates in metropolitan Melbourne. That again is reflective of why the government needs to reopen the Heidelberg West police station and stop treating the local community in Heidelberg West with contempt.

On 17 May 2012 I received a letter from Dean Stevenson, superintendent and divisional commander at the time of the north-west metro region, which covers the Heidelberg West area. The letter reads:

… As you are aware the Heidelberg West police station is currently under review and until a decision is made as to its future, the directional signage will remain in place.
That was in May 2012. We are now in June 2014. I do not know what has happened to the review Victoria Police was undertaking in relation to the Heidelberg West police station, but over two years on we continue to see people being gunned down in my electorate in Heidelberg West, just up the road from this closed police station. Some two years later Victoria Police claims it is still conducting a review into this police station’s future, and in the meantime we have signs up the road directing people to a local police station that is closed. How does that make any sense? It is dishonest on the part of Victoria Police and the government to claim that that police station is operating when clearly it is not.

Burglary rates in Heidelberg West are now amongst the highest in metropolitan Melbourne, as reported in the RACV’s recent surveys. We have seen the burglary unit closed, and there has been no determination from the government to have it reopened and no explanation as to why, if there are more police as the government claims, police services in my electorate are being closed down. We can have no confidence in the government’s decision to implement this initiative. It wants to hide it until after the election because it knows that crime is going up. There are more prison beds than hospital beds in Victoria under this government.

- Anthony Carbines MP

October 18, 2012

- Attorney General Bill Schuette, Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz and the Michigan State Police today announced that the Attorney General’s Criminal Division has charged a Niles man with First Degree Murder for the 2010 killings of John and Carolyn Tarwacki, of Niles, Michigan. The charges follow a two and a half year investigation by the Michigan State Police in cooperation with the Niles Police Department, the Cass County Sheriff’s office, the Berrien County Sherriff’s office, the Cass County Prosecutor’s office and the Michigan Attorney General’s office. The investigation was led by Michigan State Police Niles Post Detective Fabian Suarez and Trooper Investigator Jason Bailey.

Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz advised “The MSP and local law enforcement have been relentless in their efforts to solve these terrible crimes. Southwest Michigan is grateful to Bill Schuette for his critical assistance and leadership in this matter. My office looks forward to working with the Attorney General and area law enforcement to bring this prosecution to a fitting conclusion.”

“This is a tragic case, and we are ready to secure justice and closure for the family and friends of John and Carolyn Tarwacki,” said Schuette. “The Michigan State Police and their law enforcement partners have worked exhaustively for over two years in this investigation. They have done an excellent job. In particular, Detective Fabian Suarez and Trooper Jason Bailey need to be recognized. “It is a privilege to work side-by-side with Vic Fitz to safeguard the citizens of Cass County. Vic is a first rate prosecutor and understands the public safety equation of more cops plus tough laws equals greater safety for Michigan families and fewer tragedies like this heartbreaking murder case.”

Keith James Lintz, 28, of Niles, has been charged with two counts of First Degree Murder for the killing of John and Carolyn Tarwacki in their Niles, Michigan home on February 5, 2010 and one count of Possessing a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, a two year felony. The charges of First Degree Murder carry a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. It is alleged Lintz murdered the couple through a brutal attack which included beatings, multiple stabbings, and gunshot wounds.

Police at the scene found little evidence that could be used to identify possible suspects in what appeared to be a random act of violence against a recently married, law-abiding couple. The Michigan State Police launched an investigation and worked with Niles City Police officers, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies, Berrien County Sheriff’s deputies, and Michigan Attorney General special investigators in an attempt to bring the Tarwackis’ killer to justice. Throughout the course of the investigation, nearly 800 tips were received and over 300 witnesses were interviewed.

Fitz expressed appreciation regarding “The cooperative efforts of all law enforcement, particularly the Michigan State Police, Niles Post, for their fine work on this investigation.”

Lintz was taken into custody on October 17, 2012 by Michigan State Police troopers and has been arraigned in Cass County’s 4th District Court.

A criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Friday, July 18, 2003

- A 35 year-old employee of the Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) who has been charged with stealing $18 million dollars from the society’s Ocho Rios branch, was yesterday remanded in custody when he appeared in the St Ann’s Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court.

Roxroy Mendez of a Mansfield Heights address in Ocho Rios, St Ann is scheduled to return to court on July 22. Mendez, who has been employed to VMBS for 17 years, was on Tuesday slapped with four counts of larceny as a servant, following intense investigations by the police.

In a release issued by VMBS Wednesday afternoon, the bank said customer accounts were not affected by the suspected fraudulent activities.

“VMBS confirms that a supervisor at the Ocho Rios branch of the Society has been detained in connection with suspected fraudulent activities at that location. There is no evidence that the account of any customer has been affected,” said the release over the signature of Frank Harrison, senior vice president for operations at VMBS.

In court yesterday, the prosecution alleged that between 1999 and 2003, Mendez — who held the position of accounts supervisor with responsibility for foreign exchange — devalued the society’s stipulated exchange rates on a daily basis, without the knowledge of his employers. He reportedly later transferred the inflated amount to his personal accounts, held jointly with relatives, after which the correct amount was later transferred to VMBS’ account.

Detective Fitz Bailey from the fraud squad told the court that the amount involved was £141,970 and US$166,000, which amounted to approximately J$18 million. He said during their investigations, the accused was questioned and when his access number was identified, he was charged.

Bailey said a joint account at the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) in the name of Mendez and a relative, in which $6 million was being kept, was emptied on Wednesday, a day after Mendez was charged. Bailey successfully used this information as leverage to object to bail being granted to the accused.

“My concern is that he was arrested Tuesday and by Wednesday $6 million was taken out of the account,” RM Yvonne Brown told Mendez’ lawyer, H Charles Johnson, in denying bail. RM Brown added that based on the strength of the allegations and the fear that the accused may interfere with the case, she was not prepared to grant him bail.

Johnson had requested bail on the premise that Mendez was bothered by hypertension and his client’s family members had given him instructions to “proceed in a certain manner”.

The lawyer also told the court that the removal of the $6 million was not an attempt to interfere with justice but “to assist the course of justice”.

“Six million dollars disappeared from the account and this is going to assist in the course of justice?” the RM asked.

“The council has information where the $6 million went, your honour,” Johnson told the judge.

“But the money doesn’t belong to your client,” RM Brown replied.

“The $6 million dollars is gone nowhere; it was taken out for the defence to take a certain course; all funds it is alleged my client has at VMBS are still there,” the lawyer argued.

But Detective Bailey refuted this claim and told the court that only £40,010 and US$41,491 remained in the accounts at Victoria Mutual.

Johnson pleaded to the judge to grant his client bail “under whatever condition” she saw fit, offering to surrender his travel documents. The RM however refused.

“I take your health into consideration but also the fact that you have been there for 17 years and you used your position to defraud VMBS; that’s a very serious matter; it’s a breach of trust. But I’m particularly concerned about that $6 million. That $6 million should never have been removed,” RM Brown said in remanding the accused in custody.

- Carl Gilchrist

November 4 2014

Christina Marie Morris

- Plano police obtained a search warrant in late September for the car owned by the man last seen with Christina Marie Morris, 23, of Fort worth, who disappeared from a parking garage at The Shops at Legacy on Aug. 30.

She hasn’t been seen since.

The affidavit for the search warrant notes that the man, Enrique Gutierrez Arochi of Allen — a high school friend of the missing woman — made false statements about where he parked his car in the garage, and about details of the last time he was with Morris.

During his interview with police, Arochi said he had parked in a lot near the Blue Martini, and insisted he wasn’t with Morris when she entered the lot where her car had been parked, by Henry’s Tavern. After being shown a photo of a man and a woman entering the lot, he admitted he had been with her. But he maintained that he left her in the lot to go to his car.

When detectives showed Arochi a photo of his Camaro leaving the parking lot near Henry’s, he acknowledged the car was his. “I must have parked there,” he said.

During that same interview, Arochi told detectives he had taken an Adderall — a psychostimulant used to treat ADHD — at about noon, and consumed 10 shots of Captain Morgan Rum at an apartment party with high school friends at about 10:30 p.m. He also drank three to five beers at two bars the friends visited.

He also told police that Morris had never been in his 2010 Chevrolet Camaro.

On Sept. 4, two days after Morris was reported missing, Arochi agreed to allow police to search his car. During the search, police noticed that Arochi had bruises on his right forearm and abrasions on his right hand. A co-worker later told detectives that he saw the same wounds when Arochi came to work at a Sprint store in Wylie on Aug. 30. Arochi walked with a limp and said his back hurt, Juan Ponce told detectives.

Arochi told Ponce he’d been in a fight the night before at The Shops at Legacy, the affidavit states.

Surveillance video from a Kroger in Allen showed Arochi driving up to a gas pump shortly after 10 a.m. on Aug. 30, then walking to the back of his 2010 Chevrolet Camaro to inspect the rear trunk area. After filling the car with gas, Arochi took a squeegee to scrub the back of the Camaro. He also appeared to wipe something from the passenger door.

“Arochi has made numerous false statements and omitted pertinent information to Affiant during the course of the investigation into Morris’ disappearance,” Plano Detective Cathy Stamm wrote in the affidavit for the search warrant. “Affiant believes Arochi has intentionally made false statements which have hindered detectives in locating Morris. …

“Affiant believes that the most likely way Morris could have left the parking garage undetected was in Arochi’s vehicle,” Stamm wrote. ” … Affiant knows and understands that a person, even through casual contact, may leave trace evidence in or on a vehicle which may include bodily fluids, hair, or DNA.”

During the first inspection of the car on Sept. 4, Stamm “noticed the vehicle’s interior appeared to be extremely clean and to have been recently vacuumed.

“Additionally, Affiant noticed what appeared to be fresh damage to the front right fender of his Camaro,” she wrote.

When detectives asked about the bruising on his right arm and abrasions on his right hand, Arochi told them he sustained the injuries on Aug. 29, before going to The Shops at Legacy. He hurt himself while working on the tires of his car when a wheel fell on his hand, he said, according to the affidavit.

“He became angry and damaged his front right fender by punching it with his right fist and striking it with his right forearm,” the affidavit states.

When a detective showed photos of the damage to a collision specialist, he was told the damage was inconsistent with Arochi’s explanation. But police said many vehicles have sensors that record data in an event that might cause damage.

Morris disappeared shortly after the surveillance photo was taken in the parking garage. Extensive searches and a $25,000 reward for information on her disappearance have turned up little.

The affidavit for the search warrant was submitted to the 380th District Court in Collin County on Sept. 26. The warrant was issued by Magistrate Benjamin N. Smith at 6:08 p.m. and was executed by Plano Police that night, when they seized Arochi’s Camaro.

Plano police have said little about the on-going investigation.

When asked what investigators found from their detailed search of Arochi’s car, public information officer David Tilley replied, “I don’t know.”

“Quite honestly, as far as the affidavit is concerned, it’s clearly a statement from our detectives working the case,” Tilley said.

“But since this is an open investigation, we’re not discussing anything related to this case.”

Police haven’t named Arochi or anyone as a suspect in what they call a missing person case.

- Michael E. Young