Delaware County Woman Pleads Guilty To January Armed Carjacking In South Philadelphia, Two Gun Charges

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia released the below information:

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Nateirah Ortiz, 25, of Darby, Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty today before United States District Court Judge Chad F. Kenney to one count of carjacking, one count of carrying, using, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to the commission of a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Ortiz was charged by indictment with these offenses in April of this year, in connection with a January carjacking in South Philadelphia.

As described in the indictment, on January 31, 2024, at approximately 7 p.m., the victim reported being carjacked on the 1100 block of Washington Avenue. He relayed that, while walking to his vehicle, a silver 2018 Toyota RAV4, the defendant, Nateirah Ortiz, demanded his car keys and pointed a gun at him. The victim complied, giving the defendant his key, and ran to a nearby business for assistance calling 911. The defendant entered the victim’s vehicle and fled the scene.

Information about the incident was soon broadcast via police radio citywide. At approximately 9:17 p.m., 24th District police officers on patrol observed the carjacked vehicle traveling on the 3100 block of Kensington Avenue and attempted to conduct a vehicle investigation. The officers stopped their vehicle in front of the RAV4 and another police unit stopped behind it. After waiting for the officers to get out of their car and approach her, Ortiz fled at a high rate of speed, nearly striking their police vehicle in the process. The officers immediately went over the air requesting assistance, and units in the area began searching for the carjacked vehicle.

As police officers drove down Richmond Street, they observed that a RAV4 fitting that description had crashed into several cars parked on the 3700 block of Richmond. The officers saw the defendant walking away from the scene and apprehended her, with police recovering a loaded handgun from underneath a parked van a few feet away.

“Carjackings are crimes that can terrorize victims and rattle entire communities,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “That’s exactly why my office is committed to prosecuting these cases, working in lockstep with the Philadelphia Police Department and our federal partners to take violent criminals off the street. By holding carjackers like Nateirah Ortiz responsible for their actions, we’re having a direct effect on public safety in Philadelphia.”

“This case again shows that carjacking is dangerous and a serious federal crime, requiring many years in federal prison at a minimum,” said Eric DeGree, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Philadelphia Field Office. “The perpetrator’s reckless actions caused extensive property damage and put the victim and bystanders in grave danger. ATF Philadelphia Field Division applies our unique forensic and investigative tools with the Philadelphia Carjacking Task Force to solve crimes and to make our communities safer.”

“The quick apprehension of Nateirah Ortiz is a testament to the dedication and coordination of our officers and federal partners,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel. “This incident also highlights the importance of our continued collaboration and commitment to removing violent offenders and illegal firearms from our streets. The safety of our communities is our top priority, and we will not tolerate those who choose to threaten the peace and security of our city.”

Ortiz is set to be sentenced on December 18 and faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of seven years’ imprisonment.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony J. Carissimi and Robert E. Eckert.

U.S. Navy Shipbuilder Pleads Guilty To Financial Accounting Fraud Scheme And Obstructing a Defense Department Audit

The Justice Department released the below:

Austal USA LLC (Austal USA), a Mobile, Alabama-based shipbuilder that constructs vessels for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, pleaded guilty today and has agreed to pay $24 million to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department related to an accounting fraud scheme and efforts to obstruct the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) during a financial capability audit. Austal USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Austal Limited, an Australian company that is publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange and was traded over-the-counter in the United States via American Depositary Receipts.

The Justice Department’s criminal resolution was coordinated with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Separately, Austal USA also entered into a False Claims Act settlement with the department’s Civil Division to resolve claims that it knowingly provided non-compliant parts to the U.S. Navy.  

“Austal USA, a shipbuilder for the U.S. military, engaged in a years-long scheme to illegally inflate its profits on ships the company was building for the U.S. Navy, reporting false financial results to investors, lenders, and its auditors,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The investing public, the U.S. Navy, and the Defense Contract Audit Agency relied on Austal USA to tell the truth about its financial condition and its performance on U.S. Navy contracts. Today’s guilty plea underscores the Department of Justice’s commitment to holding U.S. government contractors accountable for their criminal misconduct and ensuring that they engage honestly with the U.S. government.”

“Maintaining our national security and military infrastructure cannot come at the cost of the integrity of our contracting processes,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello for the Southern District of Alabama. “Today’s actions ensure accountability and promote the rule of law in this critical arena.”

According to court documents, from at least in or around 2013 through at least in or around July 2016, Austal USA and its co-conspirators conspired to mislead Austal Limited’s shareholders, independent financial statement auditors and the investing public about Austal USA’s financial condition. Specifically, Austal USA artificially suppressed an accounting metric known as an “estimate at completion” (EAC) in relation to multiple Littoral Combat Ships that Austal USA was building for the U.S. Navy. Suppressing the EACs had the effect of falsely overstating Austal USA’s profitability on those shipbuilding efforts and Austal Limited’s earnings reported in its public financial statements. Austal USA and its co-conspirators manipulated the EAC figures in part by using so-called “program challenges,” which were false plug numbers to hide growing shipbuilding costs that should have been incorporated into the company’s financial statements. Austal USA did this to maintain and increase the share price of Austal Limited’s stock. When the higher costs were eventually disclosed to the market, Austal Limited wrote down over $100 million, and the stock price was significantly negatively impacted. 

“Defense contractors that engage in fraud erode the public’s trust in our Armed Forces,” said Director Omar Lopez of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). “NCIS and our investigative partners are determined to hold those accountable whose actions erode that trust. We are committed to rooting out economic crime that negatively impacts the readiness of the Department of the Navy.”

“This case is a direct result of the superb dedication of the investigative and prosecution teams,” said Director Kelly P. Mayo of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). “These committed professionals’ efforts send a clear message to DoD contractors of our unwavering resolve to investigate and prosecute fraud, corruption, and efforts to circumvent compliance measures that reduce our combat effectiveness.”

The department reached this resolution with Austal USA based on a number of factors, including, among others, the nature and seriousness of the offense and the pervasiveness of the misconduct at the most senior levels of Austal USA. Austal USA received credit for affirmative acceptance of responsibility and limited credit for its cooperation with the department’s investigation, which included facilitating interviews with current and former employees, enabling the department to promptly produce records in a related court case, and making a timely disclosure of all relevant facts and documents pertaining to an unrelated matter. However, Austal USA’s cooperation was limited in a number of respects, including: Austal USA did not provide to the department any relevant facts relating to this conduct until two years after learning of the department’s investigation; Austal USA produced certain relevant documents after significant delay; Austal USA was delayed in responding to certain requests from the government, and often required follow-up requests from the government before responding; and Austal USA did not at all times demonstrate a commitment to full and timely cooperation.

Austal USA also engaged in remedial measures, but those remedial measures were untimely and incomplete, including that Austal USA did not begin disciplining employees involved in the misconduct until more than two years after Austal USA learned of the government’s investigation and did not undertake any independent steps to make restitution to the victims of its securities fraud scheme. Austal USA has begun remediating weaknesses in internal controls that allowed the company’s misconduct to occur, but Austal USA’s remediation of its controls is still ongoing and requires additional improvements and testing.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, which still must be accepted by the court, Austal USA pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of obstruction of a federal audit. Based on application of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the department determined that the appropriate criminal penalty is $73,572,680.10. However, due to Austal USA’s demonstrated inability to pay the criminal fine, Austal USA and the department agreed, consistent with the department’s inability to pay guidance, that Austal USA would pay a criminal fine of $24 million and restitution of up to $24 million for losses to Austal Limited shareholders. The department has agreed to credit all of the criminal fine and restitution against amounts Austal USA will pay to resolve an investigation by the SEC for related conduct. 

Austal USA has also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for a period of three years, and Austal USA and Austal Limited have agreed to continue to implement a compliance and ethics program at Austal USA designed to prevent and detect fraudulent conduct throughout its operations. Austal USA and Austal Limited have also agreed to continue to cooperate with the Justice Department in any ongoing or future criminal investigations relating to this conduct. In addition, Austal USA will serve three years of probation.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 25.

Three former Austal USA executives, Craig Perciavalle, Williams Adams, and Joseph Runkel, were indicted on March 30, 2023 on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud affecting a financial institution, five counts of wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.  They await trial. 

NCIS and DCIS are investigating the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and authorities in Australia, as well as DCAA’s Office of Investigative Support, provided valuable assistance in the matter.

Assistant Chief Kyle Hankey and Trial Attorneys Laura Connelly and Spencer Ryan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Bodnar for the Southern District of Alabama are prosecuting the case.

If you believe you are a victim in this case, please contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or by email at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. Victims can find case updates and additional information at www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-vns/case/austal-usa-llc.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, the SEC would handle the distribution of funds to harmed investors. Investors harmed as a result of the misconduct of defendant should watch the SEC’s Harmed Investors pagefor further developments regarding the SEC’s distribution of funds to harmed investors.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Retired NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen Honored For 1968 Heroism

FOX 5 in New York City offers a piece on Randy Jurgensen, the legendary former NYPD detective who finally received the Police Combat Cross. 

NEW YORK - Retired NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen received a decades overdue round of applause at NYPD headquarters on Thursday as he received the Police Combat Cross.

 

In 1968, Jurgensen was at Arthur’s Nightclub in Midtown Manhattan when he heard screams from a nearby street. A patrolman had been shot multiple times by two suspects who were fleeing the scene. 

 

Despite being off duty, dressed in plain clothes, and without backup, Jurgensen sprang into action. He chased down the suspects and helped the officer suffering from gunshot wounds, all while under gunfire himself.

 

Despite being shot at, Jurgensen was able to subdue one of the suspects by striking him with his off-duty firearm.

"56 years ago you did what we ask every single officer to do every single day," said Police Commissioner Edward Caban at Thursday's ceremony.

Though Jurgensen was the day’s honoree, he chose to share the spotlight with the fallen officer from that night, Patrolman John Vereca.

"On that night, now, I’m thinking of Patrolman John Vereca who lost his life while doing what he swore to do, his duty," Jurgensen said during the ceremony.

You can watch the news video via the below link:

Retired NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen honored for 1968 heroism | FOX 5 New York (fox5ny.com)

Note: I interviewed Randy Jurgensen, (seen third from the left in The French Connection film) the famed detective who became an author, actor, film consultant and film producer, on numerous occasions.

You can read my Washington Times On Crime column on Randy Jurgensen via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: The Real French Connection Cops: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column On Legendary Detectives Sonny Grosso And Randy Jurgensen

My Crime Fiction: 'Butterfly'

A friend and fellow Navy veteran who visited Olongapo in the Philippines while serving in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War asked to read Olongapo, the crime thriller I’ve written and hope to soon publish.

I told him that I had posted five of the chapters on my website, and he asked that I repost the chapters.     

Below is chapter one, Butterfly. 

(You can link to the other four chapters below)

The below story originally appeared in American Crime Magazine. 

Butterfly 

By Paul Davis 

I lived in what we considered a tough neighborhood in South Philadelphia when I was a teenager in the 1960s. I ran with a tough crowd on the mean streets of South Philly, but I would later discover that Olongapo in the early 1970s was a truly tough town. 

I recall an old Navy chief telling me and other young sailors on the USS Kitty Hawk about the notorious port city as the aircraft carrier sailed towards the Philippines in November of 1970. The chief, who had been around the world while serving many years in the U.S. Navy, told us that Olongapo was the wildest place he had ever seen.

 “Once you walk across the bridge over Shit River into Olongapo, you’ll be corrupted quickly by sexy bar girls, cheap booze, available drugs, and all sorts of crime,” the old chief said with a mischievous grin.

During the Vietnam War, Olongapo, the city located next to the massive U.S. Navy Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines, was like Dodge City, Las Vegas, and Sodom and Gomorrah all rolled into one. The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet ships that operated off the coast of Vietnam during the war were frequent visitors to Subic Bay, as the naval base provided repairs and replenishment to the warships.

As the pent-up American sailors left the ships and swarmed into Olongapo, the city’s shadier elements were waiting. Sailors walked out of the naval base’s gate and crossed over the small bridge above the Olongapo River, called “Shit River” by the Americans due to its muddy brown color and pungent smell. Despite the filth and pollution, several small children on boats were willing to slip into the river and dive for the coins the sailors tossed from the bridge into the water. 

On the other side of the bridge was Olongapo’s main street, Magsaysay Drive. Known as the “Strip,” there was a seemingly endless line of bars, restaurants and hotels all lit up in colorful neon lights. The street was noisy and crowded with passing American sailors and Marines, street vendors, drug dealers, pickpockets, thieves, con artists, armed robbers and innocent-looking young shoeshine boys who were known to hold a razor against a sailor’s heel until he handed over his wallet.

Also on the crowded street were scores of young, attractive Filipinas enticing sailors to come into their bar with blown kisses, swaying hips, pushed out breasts, and shaking derrieres. Occasionally a girl would use strong-arm tactics, such as grabbing a young sailor by the arm and yanking him into the bar and announcing loudly that she had a “Cherry Boy” virgin. 

Crossing Magsaysay Drive was often a case of bravery or foolhardiness, as one could be hit by one of the ubiquitous “jeepneys,” Olongapo’s colorfully decorated minibuses that were converted from American jeeps abandoned after World War II.

The American dollar was like gold in the early 1970s, and one could spend a wild night in Olongapo drinking, eating, dancing, and staying in a hotel room with a local beauty for only about $20.

I was 18 years old when I first visited Olongapo in 1970. I was a cocky, street-smart South Philly kid, as well as a lean and muscular amateur middleweight boxer, so I was not intimidated by the barrage of sights, sounds and smells of this strange town like so many other young sailors who first experience it. I was also not fazed when a bar girl grabbed my arm outside of a bar and yanked me towards the bar’s entrance.

“You so young and handsome,” the pretty Filipina said as she tugged my arm.  “You Cherry Boy?” I pulled my arm loose from her grip and replied, “Not hardly.”

Thankfully, I had good friends on the aircraft carrier who had visited Olongapo during the Kitty Hawk’s previous combat cruise, and they warned me about the dangers and pitfalls, as well as the delights, of the notorious city. As an aspiring crime writer, Olongapo sounded like just the place for me.

All American servicemen were duly warned of the dangers when visiting Olongapo’s bars and other establishments. One rule pounded into the sailors by the older sailors was not to “Butterfly” in individual bars. To butterfly was to associate with two bar girls, called “Hostesses,” in any one bar. The bar girls were protective of their claimed sailors and the money they earned from the sailors buying them whisky (actually Coke) and champagne (actually 7-Up). The price of a drink for the girls was only about a buck, so the sailors didn’t mind paying this apparent scam. But the bar girls resented another bar girl poaching on their moneymakers.

When a sailor would butterfly, whether on his own initiative or by the encouragement of another bar girl, the aggrieved bar girl would often fly into a rage and attack the other bar girl, and sometimes the offending sailor. 

Even before I set foot in Olongapo, I heard the much-repeated cautionary tale about an American sailor who committed the offense and paid a dear price. The bar girl he had been seeing was so mad when he flirted with another bar girl that she attacked the girl on the dance floor. To the consternation of the bar’s manager and the utter delight of the American sailors, the two girls pulled hair, and kicked and punched each other. 

 The Filipino manager and his waiters pulled the two girls apart. The offended girl then went to her purse and pulled out her Batangas knife, a weapon more commonly known as a “Butterfly” knife. The knife had two handles with the sharp blade concealed in the groves of the handles. When flashed, flipped and fanned by someone who knew what they are doing, the butterfly knife was a most scary and deadly thing. 

 This bar girl knew how to use the butterfly knife and she charged the butterflying sailor and slit his throat as he sat in a chair. He died on the way to the base hospital.

 

On my first visit to Olongapo in early December of 1970, I went into one of the bars with some shipmates and met a pretty girl who sat with me as I bought her drinks. I had fun drinking and dancing with her, and we ended up in a hotel room for the night. I returned to the ship the following morning and we soon shoved off for our first “Yankee Station” line period in the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam.   

We spent Christmas on Yankee Station, but we pulled back into Subic Bay on December 31st, New Year's Eve. Not everyone was glad to see us. The American sailors stationed on the base and on smaller ships hated when an aircraft carrier pulled into port. With the carrier’s 4, 700 men going ashore with money in their pockets and eager for action, the city’s inhabitants went all out to receive them. 

In a case of reverse butterflying, two sailors stationed on the base at Subic Bay resented the Kitty Hawk’s sailors taking over the city on that first night in port. One base sailor was truly angry, as his regular girl at the bar ignored him and cuddled up to a young Kitty Hawk sailor. The base sailor got drunk along with his pal and when the girl went to the restroom, the two base sailors pounced on the Kitty Hawk sailor. They beat him to the floor and one of the two assailants broke a bottle of beer over his head. 

The Kitty Hawk sailor was beaten unconscious before other sailors and the Filipino waiters could break it up. The Philippine police and the U.S. Navy Shore Patrol rushed into the bar and took hold of the two base sailors. The Kitty Hawk sailor was gravely injured, and he was taken by two Shore Patrol petty officers to the base hospital. The two base sailors were released by the Philippine police into the custody of two other Shore Patrol petty officers and a junior officer. The Shore Patrol petty officers handcuffed the pair and escorted them to the base, where they were charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder by civilian Naval Investigative Service (NIS) special agents.

 

The story of the assault on the Kitty Hawk sailor spread quickly all over Olongapo. I heard the story from another sailor as I sat in the Starlight bar with two of my shipmates from the Kitty Hawk’s Communications Radio (CR) Division, Dino Ingemi, a solid six-footer with thinning dark hair, who was an outgoing and funny guy from the Bronx, and Mike Hunt, a brawny, laid-back Californian whose light brown hair, ski nose and easygoing manner belied his background as an outlaw biker prior to enlisting in the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army. Both Ingemi and Hunt were Olongapo veterans, having visited the wild city the year before during Kitty Hawk’s previous combat cruise. 

 As I was half-Italian on my mother’s side and I grew up in a predominantly Italian American South Philadelphia neighborhood, I called Dino Ingemi my paisan. 

"Just another fun night in Olongapo, Paul," my paison said. "That kind of shit won't happen here at the Starlight."

The Filipino band at the Starlight had everyone jumping and dancing to their renditions of popular American songs of the time. The Filipino musicians were incredible mimics, sounding like Sly and the Family Stone with one song, the Four Tops with another, and then went on to sound eerily like the Beatles in yet another number. 

We were all dressed in “civies,” as sailors called civilian clothes, and I was wearing a short-sleeved tan and black Italian knit shirt and black slacks. I was something of a clotheshorse, and I differed from most of the other sailors, who were usually clad simply in tie-dyed t-shirts and jeans. Thankfully, the then-chief of naval operations, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, the enlisted man’s hero, allowed sailors to go ashore in civies rather than in uniform.

We sat at a table drinking bottles of San Miguel, the local beer, when I was approached by Linda Divita, a slim, pretty girl who swayed around me to the music and then pulled me up from my chair to dance with her.  Linda had long dark hair and long lovely legs beneath her short black dress. The low cut of her dress afforded one the view of her mostly exposed small breasts.

 Dino Ingemi approved.  

“She’s got a great ass and cute little tits,” Ingemi said to me when we finally sat back down. I nodded in agreement as Ingemi was smacked on the arm by Marlena Abadiano, the pretty girl he had been seeing since he first visited Olongapo the year before. 

Dino Ingemi was very social and made friends easily. He had become close with the Starlight manager, Samuel Rosalita, during the previous cruise. Rosalita joined us at our table and laughed and drank with us. He gave me his business card and another card that read “Welcome to the Starlight: Charming A-Go-Go dancers, Beautiful Ladies and Outstanding Combos.”

I mentioned to Ingemi that Rosalita looked like the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr, and Ingemi began to call him “Sammy,” much to the manager’s delight. Rosalita chuckled and shook his head at everything Ingemi said.  

 

I had a fun night drinking and dancing with Linda that New Year's Eve at the Starlight, and when the bar closed, I took her to a nearby hotel. I was drunk and worried that the girl would steal my money when I fell asleep, so when she was in the bathroom, I looked for a place to hide my slim black leather wallet that held my Navy ID and my cash. I looked up at the light fixture mounted on the ceiling six feet above me. Thinking I was clever, I tossed my wallet up onto the glass fixture underneath the light bulb.

Linda came out of the bathroom and threw her arms around me and laughed crazily. She was loopy drunk, but she was wild, sexy and fun in bed with me right up until the moment she passed out in my arms. In the morning, I could not wake her. I knew she was alive, as she moaned and muttered, but she would not move from her face down position on the bed. I found a handful of “Red Devils,” a barbiturate, on the bedside table next to her purse. I didn’t know how many of the pills she took, but I was concerned.

I dressed her and left the room. Rosalita’s business card did not have a telephone number on it, so I went to the front desk and I slipped five dollars to one of the clerks and asked him to go and get the Starlight manager.  

I went back to the room and saw that Linda was still out. About a half hour later, there was a knock on the door. Rosalita came in, accompanied by one of his waiters and an older woman who was the Mama-San for the bar. Rosalita thanked me for contacting him and then looked at Linda on the bed. He cursed her in Tagalog. The two men lifted Linda and took her out of the room. After they left, I looked up at the ceiling light and tried to retrieve my wallet, but it was beyond my reach. I went down to the front desk and asked the clerks for a ladder. They looked puzzled. I returned to my room with two Filipinos and a ladder in tow. They stood in the doorway in amazement as I climbed the ladder and retrieved my wallet.

I gave each of the hotel clerks a five-dollar bill for their trouble as I was leaving the hotel room. The two Filipinos took the money as they laughed uncontrollably.

“Fuck you,” I said to them, although I had to laugh along with them.

Back at the carrier, I took a shower, ate lunch in the galley and then I took a nap in my rack. When I awoke, I took another shower and changed into a black dress shirt and light gray slacks. I met up with Hunt and Ingemi and we all headed out to Olongapo and the Starlight. We took a table and Marlena came over with Hunt’s girl Carmelina and sat with us. I was thankful that I didn’t see Linda. Rosalita came over to the table with a waiter armed with a tray of San Miguel beers. 

Marlena whispered into Ingemi’s ear, and he nodded. Marlena got up and left the table. She returned to our table with a beautiful girl that she introduced to us as her sister, Zeny Abadiano.

Zeny had long, raven hair with bangs cut just above her dark, sultry eyes. She had a pretty face and an alluring figure. At 5’ 11,’ I towered over her five-foot stature when we danced. In addition to her being an exotic beauty, Zeny was sexy, smart and funny. I was drawn to her immediately.

And I forgot all about Linda. 

 

After the bar closed, Ingemi, Hunt and I took the girls to a nearby hotel. In my hotel room, I took Zeny in my arms, unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. I told her she was beautiful as I kissed her madly, and we fell across the bed. 

A couple of hours later, I heard a pounding on the door. I jumped up and retrieved my pocketknife from under the pillow. I heard Linda on the other side of the door. 

“Paul! Paul! Open up!” I heard her holler. “I want to talk to you!” 

Zeny pulled the sheet over her head and giggled. “Oh, you think this is funny?”  I told Linda to go away.

“Paul, open up. I want to talk to you!” Linda said in a screeching and blood-curdling voice. Of course, I didn’t open the door. I then heard what I presumed were hotel employees arguing with Linda in Tagalog, and thankfully the voices outside the door finally ceased. 

“So, you think a crazy, drugged girl coming to the room was funny,” I said to Zeny as I took her once again in my arms.  

 

I was awakened in the morning by a pounding on the door. Not again, I thought. But then I heard Ingemi’s voice. I hollered out to Ingemi that I would be ready in a half hour. I took a shower with Zeny and afterwards I sat in a chair, and she stood in front of me nude and dried my hair with a towel. She took my pocket comb and    combed my short, dark brown hair, carefully parting it on the left side. I pulled her wonderfully luscious body towards me and hugged her.

I met Ingemi and Hunt outside of the hotel and we grabbed a jeepney and headed back to the ship.

Later that evening, Ingemi and I returned to the Starlight.

Zeny and Marlena were waiting for us and the four of us took a table. Rosalita waved to us and motioned to a waiter, who quickly came over with San Miguel beers. While we were drinking at the table, Linda suddenly appeared by my side. Zeny grabbed my arm and snuggled up close to me. Linda was clearly angry and deranged. 

“You butterfly, you motherfucker!” 

“Get the fuck out of here,” I replied calmly, tilting my head slightly to the right while trying to sound like a South Philly half-a-hoodlum.

“I get you good, motherfucker,” Linda said with a snarl.  

Rosalita rushed over to the table and spoke harshly in Tagalog to Linda. She spat on the table and walked away. Rosalita apologized and left us. Zeny and Marlena were unfazed, and Ingemi was laughing uncontrollably. Linda sat at a nearby table with some poor sailor and began cursing me loudly in English and Tagalog.  

“She crazy,” Zeny said, kissing me to further anger Linda. 

Linda then began to fling lit cigarettes at us. Then she threw a beer bottle that hit our table. Ingemi, who was no longer laughing, got up and walked over to Rosalita. Rosalita listened briefly to Ingemi and then marched over to Linda, and he must have told her in no uncertain terms to cut it out. 

We resumed drinking, dancing, and having fun and I tried to ignore Linda. A while later I got up to go to the men’s room, which was on the other side of a wall that separated the bar from the rest rooms, the kitchen, and storerooms. When I came out of the men’s room, I encountered Linda in my path. 

“You butterfly me, you son a bitch,” Linda hissed. “I kill you.” 

From behind her back, Linda produced a Butterfly knife and began to twirl it in front of me. As she flashed and fanned the knife in a menacing fashion, I threw a short right punch that hit her square in the face. She went down, her nose and teeth bloody, and she lay motionless on the floor. 

Rosalita and two waiters rushed in, and my immediate thought was that I would have to fight them all. But Rosalita cursed Linda, who lay unconscious, and he kicked her twice. The two waiters picked up Linda and took her away. 

Rosalita apologized profusely to me, and I walked back to the table and told everyone what happened. 

 

From then on, whenever the carrier visited Subic Bay, I went to the Starlight and stayed with Zeny. 

I never again saw Linda, and no one ever said what had become of her.

And I never asked.  

© 2022 By Paul Davis 

Note: You can read other chapters via the below links: 

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Salvatore Lorino'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: The Old Huk

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: Join The Navy And See Olongapo

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Boots On The Ground'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The 30-Day Detail'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Cat Street'

Paul Davis On Crime: Chapter 12: On Yankee Station 

U.S. Central Command Forces Killed Hurras Al-Din Senior Leader

The United States Central Command released the below information yesterday: 

 TAMPA, Fla. – Earlier today, U.S. Central Command Forces killed Hurras al-Din senior leader Abu-’Abd al-Rahman al-Makki in a targeted kinetic strike in Syria. 

Abu-’Abd al-Rahman al-Makki was a Hurras al-Din Shura Council member and senior leader responsible for overseeing terrorist operations from Syria. 

“CENTCOM remains committed to the enduring defeat of terrorists in the CENTCOM area of responsibility who threaten the United States, its allies and partners, and regional stability," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, Commander, U.S. Central Command.

Hurras al-Din is an Al Qaeda-associated force based in Syria that shares Al Qaeda’s global aspirations to conduct attacks against U.S. and Western interests.

Former Congressman George Santos Pleads Guilty To Fraud And Identity Theft

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

Former U.S. Representative George Anthony Devolder Santos pleaded guilty today to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

In pleading guilty, Santos, 36, of Queens, New York, admitted he filed fraudulent FEC reports, embezzled funds from campaign donors, charged credit cards without authorization, stole identities, obtained unemployment benefits through fraud, and lied in reports to the House of Representatives.

“As part of his campaign for election to the U.S. House of Representatives, George Santos committed fraud and identity theft, and lied to the American people about his personal finances and campaign supporters,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “In doing so, Santos violated laws designed to ensure that the public has accurate information about the personal finances of individuals who seek to represent them in Congress and how their political campaigns are funded. The transparency and accuracy that these laws require are essential to the integrity of the election process, and today’s conviction is proof that the Criminal Division is committed to enforcing them.”

“Today, for what may seem like the first time since he started his campaign for Congress, Mr. Santos told the truth about his criminal schemes. He admitted to lying, stealing and conning people,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “By pleading guilty, Mr. Santos has acknowledged that he repeatedly defrauded federal and state government institutions as well as his own family, supporters and constituents. His flagrant and disgraceful conduct has been exposed and will be punished. Mr. Santos’s conviction demonstrates this Office’s enduring commitment to rooting out corruption and grift by public officials.”

“Today, George Santos admitted that he did in fact lie, cheat, and steal his way to elected office,” said Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie M. Curtis of the FBI's New York Field Office. “When public officials place their self-interests above those they swore an oath to serve, it undermines confidence in our system of government and damages the very foundation of our democracy. The FBI is committed to investigating and eradicating public corruption—no matter the form it takes.”

“George Santos lied to his constituents, cheated his supporters and quite simply made a mockery of his position in public office,” said Agent in Charge Thomas M. Fattorusso of IRS-Criminal Investigations New York. “Today’s guilty plea is a step towards getting justice for those he has wronged. IRS-CI New York worked closely with the Eastern District of New York, the FBI and Nassau County DA’s office to ensure that Santos faces the consequences for his years of fraud and deceit, because corruption is not to be tolerated.”

The Party Program Scheme

During the 2022 election cycle, Santos was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s Third Congressional District. Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty in October 2023 to related conduct, was the treasurer for his campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress. During the election cycle, Santos and Marks devised and executed a fraudulent scheme to obtain money for the campaign by submitting materially false reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on behalf of the campaign, in which they inflated the campaign’s fundraising numbers for the purpose of misleading the FEC, a national party committee, and the public.

Specifically, the purpose of the scheme was to ensure that Santos and his campaign qualified for a program administered by the national party committee, pursuant to which the national party committee would provide financial and logistical support to Santos’s campaign. To qualify for the program, Santos had to demonstrate that his congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter.

To create the public appearance that his campaign had met that financial benchmark and was otherwise financially viable, Santos and Marks agreed to falsely report to the FEC that at least 10 family members of Santos and Marks had made significant financial contributions to the campaign.  In fact, Santos and Marks both knew that these individuals had neither made the reported contributions nor given authorization for their personal information to be included in such false public reports. In addition, understanding that the national party committee relied on FEC fundraising data to evaluate candidates’ qualification for the program, Santos and Marks agreed to falsely report to the FEC that Santos had loaned the campaign significant sums of money, when, in fact, Santos had not made the reported loans and, at the time the loans were reported, did not have the funds necessary to make such loans. These false reported loans included a $500,000 loan, when in fact Santos had less than $8,000 in his personal and business bank accounts. 

Through the execution of this scheme, Santos and Marks ensured that Santos met the necessary financial benchmarks to qualify for the program administered by the national party committee. As a result of qualifying for the program, the congressional campaign received significant financial support.

As part of his plea agreement, Santos stipulated that he had engaged in the below additional criminal conduct, as set forth in the second superseding indictment and other court filings, and agreed that this criminal conduct will be considered by the Court at the time of sentencing.

The Credit Card Fraud Scheme

Between approximately July 2020 and October 2022, Santos devised and executed a fraudulent scheme to steal the personal identity and financial information of contributors to his campaign. He then charged contributors’ credit cards repeatedly, without their authorization. Because of these unauthorized transactions, funds were transferred to Santos’s campaign, to the campaigns of other candidates for elected office, and to his own bank account. To conceal the true source of these funds and to circumvent campaign contribution limits, Santos falsely represented in filings with the FEC that some of the campaign contributions were made by other persons, such as his relatives or associates, rather than the true cardholders. Santos did not have authorization to use their names in this way.

Fraudulent Political Contribution Solicitation Scheme

Beginning in September 2022, during his successful campaign for Congress, Santos operated a limited liability company (Company #1) through which he defrauded prospective political supporters. Santos enlisted a Queens-based political consultant (Person #1) to communicate with prospective donors on Santos’s behalf. Santos directed Person #1 to falsely tell donors that, among other things, their money would be used to help elect Santos to the House, including by purchasing television advertisements. In reliance on these false statements, two supporters (Contributor #1 and Contributor #2) each transferred $25,000 to Company #1’s bank account, which Santos controlled.

Shortly after the funds were received into Company #1’s bank account, the money was transferred into Santos’s personal bank accounts—in one instance laundered through two of Santos’s personal accounts. Santos then used much of that money for personal expenses. Among other things, Santos used the funds to make personal purchases (including of designer clothing), to withdraw cash, to discharge personal debts, and to transfer money to his associates.

Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme

Beginning in approximately February 2020, Santos was employed as a Regional Director of a Florida-based investment firm (Investment Firm #1). By late-March 2020, in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, new legislation was signed into law that provided additional federal funding to assist out-of-work Americans during the pandemic.

In mid-June 2020, although he was employed and was not eligible for unemployment benefits, Santos applied for government assistance through the New York State Department of Labor (NYS DOL), falsely claiming to have been unemployed since March 2020. From that point until April 2021—during which time Santos was working and receiving a salary on a near-continuous basis, and throughout his first unsuccessful run for Congress—he falsely affirmed each week that he was eligible for unemployment benefits when he was not. As a result, Santos fraudulently received more than $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits.

False Statements to the House of Representatives

Santos, like all candidates for the House, had a legal duty to file with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives a Financial Disclosure Statement (House Disclosures) before each election. In his House Disclosures, Santos was personally required to give a full and complete accounting of his assets, income, and liabilities, among other things. He certified that his House Disclosures were true, complete, and correct.

In September 2022, in connection with his second campaign for election to the House, Santos filed a House Disclosure, in which he vastly overstated his income and assets. In this House Disclosure, he falsely certified that during the reporting period:

• He had earned $750,000 in salary from the Devolder Organization LLC, a Florida‑based entity of which Santos was the sole beneficial owner;
• He had received between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 in dividends from the Devolder Organization LLC;
• He had a checking account with deposits of between $100,001 and $250,000; and
• He had a savings account with deposits of between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000. 

These assertions were false. Santos had not received from the Devolder Organization LLC the reported amounts of salary or dividends and did not maintain checking or savings accounts with deposits in the reported amounts. Further, Santos failed to disclose that, in 2021, he received approximately $28,000 in income from Investment Firm #1 and more than $20,000 in unemployment insurance benefits from the New York State Department of Labor.

Santos is scheduled to be sentenced on February 7, 2025, and faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of 22 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

As part of the guilty plea, Santos will pay restitution of $373, 749.97 and forfeiture of $205, 002.97.

Trial Attorneys Jacob Steiner and John Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Harris, Anthony Bagnuola, and Laura Zuckerwise for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case. Former Trial Attorney Jolee Porter and Litigation Counsel Victor R. Salgado provided substantial contributions to the prosecution.

My Crime Fiction: Bozo's Last Stand: A Story Of Stolen Valor

 The below short story first appeared in American Crime Magazine in 2021.

 Bozo’s Last Stand: A Story of Stolen Valor 

By Paul Davis

After I completed my most recent crime column for the local paper, which was about a fraud who posed as a former Navy SEAL in order to received unearned Veteran’s Administration benefits, I thought back to other frauds I knew who lied about being in the military and serving in combat. 

I thought of Tony Russo, an odd guy that I knew from a local taproom in South Philadelphia. One of the other guys told us, half-jokingly, that Russo's mother had dropped him on his head when he was a baby. 

“That explains things,” another bar patron said. 

I didn’t think Russo was a bad guy, just a bit weird and socially awkward. That is until he began telling the guys in the bar, and probably everyone else, that he was a Vietnam veteran. 

I knew that Russo, who was a few years older than me, had certainly not served in the Vietnam War. I knew, because like most veterans, we had discussed what we had done in the service more than once in the bar. 

I told Russo that I had served as a sailor on the USS Kitty Hawk as the aircraft carrier performed combat operations on "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. Russo told me that he was an MP (military police) in West Germany during the early 1960s, before the big build-up in South Vietnam. 

Being an MP in West Germany was honorable service and something to be proud of, but in his twisted mind, I suppose it was not enough. 

Previously, I had interviewed him for my newspaper column when he joined the Vietnam Veterans of America. I quoted him as stating that although he was not a Vietnam veteran, he respected those who did serve there. 

Then, only a few years later, he got it into his head that he had served in the Vietnam War, just as the veterans he hung around did. He claimed to have won a Purple Heart and other medals in the war. Some gullible guys who first met him bought him drinks and sandwiches, which he accepted. This I knew was a crime, although the cost of a beer and a sandwich perhaps made it a minor crime.   

As I noted in my newspaper column, under the Stolen Valor Act of 2013, it is a crime to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefits while fraudulently claiming to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, the Air Force Cross, a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, and other combat medals. 

Russo began wearing a baseball cap with “Vietnam Veteran” embroidered on it, and he also wore a jacket and a sweatshirt embroidered with “Vietnam Veteran.” I can only assume that his underwear was embroidered with “Vietnam Veteran” as well. 

I thought that his lying about serving in Vietnam was a despicable act, and an insult to those who actually served in the war. It was Stolen Valor. But I didn’t bother to expose him at the bar, or call the FBI, because I believed he had mental issues. And most of the guys at the bar didn't believe him in any case. 

I recall one time when he was telling his phony war stories in his usual stammer with awkward pauses, when he stated, “I spent eight months in, hey ya, Hell.” 

“Don’t all guys spend a full year in-country tour?” One of the bar’s patrons asked. 

Russo had a strained look on his face, and then said, “I left because I had high blood pressure.” 

“Didn’t everyone in Vietnam have high blood pressure?” I asked.

 

My thoughts then drifted to another time I encountered a fraud back in the late 1970s when I was a young man.  

I had gone to a jewelry store to pick up a watch that needed to be repaired. At the entrance to the jewelry store were two unarmed black security guards. They both wore black paramilitary uniforms. One of the guards was a big guy and his black uniform shirt was stretched as his upper torso bulged with muscle. He also wore a black baseball cap that read “Navy SEAL Vietnam Veteran” embroidered above the bill. 

The second guard, a smaller, thinner, and older black man, wore a simple black baseball cap and his black uniform hung loose on his lean frame. 

The bigger of the guards stood in front of me and looked me over. He was twice my size but being a South Philly street guy and a former amateur middleweight boxer, I was not intimidated by him. 

I stared up at the big man and looked him in the eye. 

The thinner guard nudged his bigger partner aside and said, “C’mon in, man.” 

“Thanks,” I replied and walked over to the counter. 

A pretty young black girl was behind the counter. I smiled, said hello, and handed her my slip. She smiled back and walked towards the back room, once looking over her shoulder and smiling again at me. 

“What you looking at, pretty boy?” 

I turned and saw space mountain standing next to me. My flirtatious good humor vanished, and I responded like a good son of South Philly. 

“Fuck you.” 

“That girl there is my girl. And you don’t want to fuck with me, boy, I’m a Vietnam veteran. 

So am I,” I said. “Sort of.” 

“I was a fucking Navy SEAL in the shit. What was you?” 

“I was on an aircraft carrier.” 

“Pussy duty,” he said curtly. “This here jewelry store hired me because I fought in Vietnam as a SEAL and won the Silver Star in combat.” 

My bullshit antenna raised. I didn’t believe him. 

“Go back to the circus, Bozo.” 

“Are you calling me a clown? I’ll rip your head off!” 

“Or die trying,’ I said, my right fist balled and ready. 

Bozo ripped his shirt open, struggled to get it off, and then tossed it with a fury to the floor. 

“Do I look like I’m afraid of you?” I asked calmly. “Do you see me running?”   

“Come outside, Motherfucker, and I’ll fuck you up.” 

He yanked the store’s door open and stepped out, and I followed. 

Bozo stood on the sidewalk, flexing his muscles. 

I wasn’t impressed, as I knew that steroid-induced muscles made one strong, but not fast. 

The second security guard came out and stood between us. 

“Man, there ain’t no need for violence.” 

“Get out the way, Harry, I’m going to fuck this pretty boy up.” 

With that he came at with a slow, clumsy roundhouse. 

One did not need to be a former boxer to slip that telegraphed punch. I leaned my head back and turned it slightly to the right and felt the air of the missed punch sail by.  

I countered quickly with a hard right cross and Bozo dropped to the cement. He lay there holding his head and moaning and rolling from side to side. 

The pretty counter girl came out of the store and stood over Bozo. 

“Please don’t hit him again!” She pleaded. “He wasn’t a Navy SEAL. He wasn’t even in the service.” 

I nodded.

She handed me my repaired watch in a bag, and I handed her a $20 dollar bill, which gave her a $5 dollar tip. I turned and walked away. 

Harry rushed up to me. 

“Thank you, man.” He said. “I’ve been listening to his shit for almost a year. He’s always putting me down as I was a Marine in Nam, even though I was shot and almost died. He always saying SEALs is tougher than Marines.” 

“Well,” I said to Harry. “Thank you for your service.” 

“You too,” he said as I walked away. 

© Copyright Paul Davis 2021