“I felt like I was going in to see Hannibal Lector.”

– What local death penalty mitigation specialist Rosalie Bolin told the LA Times she was thinking the first time she went to see the man who would later become her husband, Death Row inmate Oscar Ray Bolin – a man convicted of the brutal rape and murders of three women.

Rosalie Bolin, who was recently hired by 4^th District Public Defender Matt Shirk, eventually gave up her $375,000 home, her Mercedes 300, her marriage to prominent criminal defense attorney Victor Martinez and her four children in order to marry Bolin. She quit the Hillsborough County’s public defender’s office under pressure, after jail officials suggested she’d had sex with Bolin in his cell. For a link to the eye-opening LA Times story, click here.

To read how the Florida Times-Union completely soft-shoes the hire and glosses over Rosalie Bolin’s past, click here.

– Anne Schindler

From here on out, before a foreclosure can be filed in Florida, homeowners and lenders must first try to work out a loan settlement with the help of a court-appointed mediator.

The Florida Supreme Court issued an administrative order Dec. 28 creating a statewide, uniform mediation program for all homesteaded properties facing foreclosure — an effort to reduce the crush of foreclosures threatening to clog the state court system. There were 369,000 foreclosure filings in the state in 2008, and the Supreme Court estimates there will be 456,000 more by the end of 2009.

The new court order gives homeowners more clout in working out settlements. First, it guarantees that borrowers will have access to their lenders and a lender’s representative qualified to settle the loan. (Borrowers have complained that they are often unable to reach their lender to work out a loan modification, and that foreclosures are sometimes advanced by the lender’s attorney even as a settlement is being worked out with the lender’s loan servicer.)

Borrowers will also be able to require a lender produce proof they own the mortgage note, and provide a list of any charges added to the loan. Lenders must also show a history of payments and a current appraisal of the home’s value. (Lenders will pay the cost of a mediator from a designated nonprofit foundation, estimated at about $750 per loan.)

Mediations have been used in three of Florida’s 20 circuit court districts. The St. Petersburg Times reported in a Dec. 29 article that although not all borrowers entered mediation, 65 percent of those who did reached settlements with their lenders. Most of those settlements did not include reduction of the principal of the loan. Instead the settlements involved dismissal of fees, reduced interest rates, and revise payment schedules.

To read the court order, click here.

– Posted by Susan Cooper Eastman

Former 7th Circuit District State Attorney John Tanner called Folio Weekly a short while ago to alert us to Circuit Court Judge Kim Hammond’s decision to unseal an incredibly damning final order regarding former State Attorney Harry Shorstein. 

Tanner and Shorstein have been at war for years, through court battles and grand jury investigations, and the fight continued even though both are now out of office. Tanner’s effort to get the judge’s order unsealed — which Shorstein fought — was facilitated by the fact that Shorstein’s successor (and bitter foe) Angela Corey chose not to fight Tanner’s motion to unseal. 

In brief, Hammond concluded (in August 2008) that Shorstein’s 2006 grand jury investigation into Tanner’s corruption probe of Flagler County police “unlawfully infringed upon the independence of the Duval County Grand Jury.” Hammond said Shorstein “tainted said grand jury with his self-admitted preconceived notions as to what his responsibilities were” and further accused the veteran former prosecutor of “selectively withholding evidence.”

Judge Hammond’s order orders that Shorstein’s 2006 Grand Jury Presentment on Tanner’s conduct be “expunged and repressed in its entirety.” That last bit means that we will never get to see Shorstein’s investigative findings, which were presumably very damaging to Tanner, since he spent some 1 million taxpayer dollars fighting their release.

It’s hard to imagine that the new information won’t affect Shorstein’s current bid to be named the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Shorstein’s name was one of three passed to President Barack Obama, though he’s recently been the target of a behind the scenes fight to keep him from the job (a fight led in part by former Jackosnville Mayor John Delaney).

Look for more on this evolving soap opera in the coming days…

– Posted by Anne Schindler

Last week, Folio Weekly reported that Sen. Dan Gelber, who is running for Florida Attorney General, threatened to sue the state of Florida for failing to adequately fund a “high quality” education for its students, as the state constitution demands (Backpage Editorial, Nov. 10). Today, Folio Weekly learned that a Jacksonville grandmother beat him to it.

Eunice Barnum, a Northside grandmother who is guardian to two Rutledge Pearson Elementary School students, is one of eight named plaintiffs who asked the Leon County Circuit Court to declare that Florida is violating its own constitutional law. The lawsuit alleges that the state has failed both in terms of “input” (funding) and outcomes for children; that high stakes testing is being “misused” to fruitlessly retain students; and that minority students are disproportionately affected by Florida’s failure to create a high quality public education system.

Ms. Barnum, a longtime community activist and president of the Sherwood Forest Community Association, says she’s seen the effects of poor education span over the generations: “I’ve seen children who do not make it, who are not eligible for employment, standing idle on street corners, in jail — you name it.”

“When 13- and 14-year-old children can’t do basic math, can’t read a basic preschool book, and keep getting passed on …  the worst kind of abuse is when you don’t educate a child.” Barnum says that she’s worried about the future for her wards, who are now in kindergarten and second grade at Pearson. School shouldn’t be a “pipeline to prison,” Barnum told Folio. “That’s just straight-up egregious.”

Look for more on this story in the Dec. 1 Folio Weekly.
– Posted by Julie Delegal

Take a gander at this tasty little slice of passive aggression we received via snail mail from Public Defender Matt Shirk. Back in January we ran a story about the then-newly elected Shirk, his pally-wally relationship with State Attorney Angela Corey and the Fraternal Order of Police, and the ways in which he made the office his own — a process that, unfortunately, involved firing virtually all of the office’s most prestigious, most experienced defense attorneys.

Shirk declined to participate in the article, instead directing us to spokesman Ronald Mallett, who provided us only with a thrown-together press release in lieu of an interview. Still, the story subsequently won first place in the long form news category in the 2009 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Editorial Awards.


We’re not sure how Shirk found out about the victory (Googling himself, perhaps?), but we sure do appreciate the congratulations and all the “help!” 

State Attorney Angela Corey just sent out a press release announcing the arrest of Lee & Cates Glass VP Scott Cates for a massive insurance fraud scheme.
According to Corey and Florida CFO Alex Sink, Cates — through four Jacksonville stores — overbilled insurance companies for replacement glass on more than 1,300 claims, to the tune of $540,000. Full press release follows:

CFO SINK, STATE ATTORNEY COREY ANNOUNCE ARREST OF SCOTT CATES WITH LEE & CATES GLASS FOR INSURANCE FRAUD SCHEME

Windshield Replacement Stores in Jacksonville Billed Over 1,300 Fraudulent Insurance Claims

TALLAHASSEE —Florida CFO Alex Sink and State Attorney Angela Corey today announced the arrests of Scott Cates, Vice President of Operations for Lee and Cates Glass, Inc., for Cates’ involvement in a scheme that resulted in over 1,300 fraudulent insurance claims. Scott Cates and Jennifer Lamunyon Cribb, a former employee of Lee and Cates Glass, were arrested today after investigators found that four Lee and Cates Glass, Inc. stores located in Jacksonville allegedly overbilled numerous insurance companies more than $540,000 on over 1,300 separate fraudulent insurance claims.

An investigation by CFO Sink’s Division of Insurance Fraud revealed that employees at Lee and Cates Glass Company stores allegedly overbilled windshields and associated parts by billing insurance companies for a more expensive dealer windshield but installing a less expensive substitute. Ten employees of Lee and Cates Glass, including Vice President of Operations Scott Cates, have been arrested since April 2009 as part of this investigation. Today’s arrests were successful because of the partnership between the Division of Insurance Fraud and the State Attorney’s Office of the Fourth Judicial Circuit.

“Our insurance fraud investigators are committed to cracking down on those who attempt to take advantage of Floridians,” said CFO Sink. “Fraud doesn’t just hurt the insurance companies – it inflicts real financial pain on families, businesses and communities.”

“We very much appreciate the financial and investigative support that CFO Sink has provided to us and we intend to aggressively prosecute these cases,” said State Attorney Angela Corey.

Scott Cates has been charged with scheming to defraud, conduct of or participation in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity and three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. Jennifer Lamunyon Cribb has been charged with scheming to defraud and presenting a false insurance claim. Additional arrests are expected.

The Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF), a sworn law enforcement agency, investigates various forms of fraud in insurance, including health, life, auto, property and workers’ compensation insurance. Depending on the estimated loss amount, the department will pay up to $25,000 for information directly leading to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information about this or any other suspected insurance fraud is asked to call the department’s Fraud Fighters Hotline at 1-800-378-0445 or log on to www.MyFloridaCFO.com/fraud

.

The Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County and 12 of its members filed a complaint Friday against Mayor John Peyton and Council President Ronnie Fussell. The group is seeking a declaratory judgment from the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court on behalf of all Duval residents on three issues arising out of the current Trail Ridge Landfill controversy.

Here’s what the Concerned Taxpayers are asking the Circuit Court to weigh in on, in a rather large and lumpy nutshell:  Does the city ever have the legal authority to waive bid requirements for service contracts, or in this case operating agreements, exceeding $50,000?  (The Office of General Counsel says it can waive any local code as long as the legislation it adopts doesn’t violate state law.) What was the scope of the 1990 Request for Proposals that led to the original Waste Management contract in 1991? (This question seeks to quell the claim in a threatened lawsuit by Waste Management against the city that the company was hired to manage the entire 978-acre Trail Ridge site not an 144-acre cell.)  And, finally, can the city ignore its own laws requiring the sale of city property through competitive bids by including an exclusive right to buy land as a condition of a contract? (If the city breaks the newly amended and extended Waste Management contract without cause, Waste Management has the exclusive option to purchase the entire Trail Ridge property.)

(more…)