Important Information

1) An expose on the Texas Medical Examiners' system is being published this week in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram that has important implications and information for families of victims of suspicious deaths in Central Texas (and elsewhere). The first article in the series came out last Saturday and can be found at http://www.star-telegram.com/crime/story/1638420.html; the second came out today, and I'm told there will now be a new article daily through this coming Saturday. The articles are by Yamil Berard and are apparently based on numerous complaints filed by David Fisher over the years. The first article was the teaser; the rest go into more detail. If you care about justice in Texas at all, PLEASE read these articles and leave your comments on them--the system is broken and MUST be fixed! (People's lives may well depend on it!) Demanding hearings by the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee would be a good place to start.

2) I'm now about half-way through with posting the most important of my Kamau case documents at http://kamaudocs.blogspot.com and am starting to get to some of the most critical/incriminating ones.

Versions of the Truth

During the last half of 2005, I received 4 different invoices from the same few days at the end of June 2005 from the two p.i.s from Boerne that I was working with at the time. One of these invoices (the first one here) was from the former DEA agent, and the other three were from the ex-FBI agent. Notice that there are so many changes and contradictions here, it's impossible to tell from them what really happened. [Very important note: I paid these as soon as I was first given them, at the end of June 2005. Although I received some of the copies much later on, these invoices contained NO past due amounts.]

Here's what I know actually happened. Around 6PM on June 22, 2005, one of my children called me from their dad's house where they had visitation that evening and said their father had just left for what he'd told them was "a big meeting at his office about a major new real estate development in our neighborhood". I immediately told my adult child who was at home with me (because they wanted no more contact with their father by this time due of all the trust-related incidents described previously) that I intended to drive down to my ex-husband's office with a notebook and write down all of the vehicle information and license plate numbers from vehicles parked outside. My offspring insisted on coming with me and bringing a camera to take photographs, so off we went. When we got there, we parked on the street in front of the office; we did not go onto the property at all. We both immediately noticed a small tan car that looked a lot like one we'd seen Ed Hodges driving in the past, and this car also happened to have a license plate frame that said "Arlington" [the city where Hodges lived] at the top which reinforced our suspicions that it was indeed his car. We also recognized most of the other vehicles out front as belonging to local doctors. (There were also a number of vehicles in back of the office that we couldn't see well.) I started writing down plate numbers and detailed descriptions of vehicles parked in front, while my child took photos with their digital camera. As we were sitting there, a white Suburban drove up, pulled into the lot, and parked; then we saw a local doctor we knew well exit the vehicle and go inside. My child photographed this vehicle as well, I took down the information for it, and we watched for a few more minutes as various people milled around just inside the front glass doors of the office with drinks in their hands. Then we left.

Later that evening, I sent an email explaining what had happened that contained all of the vehicle information and some of the photographs to the guys who gave me these invoices and the Boerne lawyer they'd insisted I hire. As explained in my earlier "My Story" post, the next morning the former DEA agent called me with a long list of things he wanted me to immediately do: 1) go to the courthouse and obtain a complete copy of everything they had filed under the fraudulent trust (the one Ed Hodges had forged my initials on and the county had filed without its being properly notarized); 2) mail a retainer check to a lawyer I was told worked for the DEA (her web page with the state bar association listed her as a "Government Lawyer"; I was told to mail the check to a P.O. box) that these two p.i.s said they wanted to consult on my behalf; 3) mail the original of the fraudulent document that had been sent to me to a former FBI document examiner in VA by registered mail, along with a check and a pre-paid return envelope addressed to the Boerne lawyer (rather than me; the p.i. absolutely insisted on this); and 4) go driving around town to see if I could spot the tan car with the Arlington plate frame again. [I did all of these. We did not see the car again, though.]

Now here's what I think also happened, based on these various invoices and other things that happened later on. I believe that shortly after I emailed them the vehicle information and photos, the two p.i.s, the Boerne lawyer, and unknown others had a frantic late-night meeting with this "government lawyer" (whom I have since learned has ties to famed criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin of Houston) that was probably adversarial to my interests. They then had the audacity to charge me the retainer I was asked to mail to this attorney after the meeting with her had already taken place. Contrary to what the ex-DEA agent says about this meeting in his invoice, I absolutely WAS NOT INFORMED about this meeting (so I could not have requested it as he states).

Although I later repeatedly requested to speak with the attorney they'd met with, I was told I "wasn't allowed to talk to her"--despite her having cashed my check that was clearly marked "Retainer". The document expert I was told to mail the document to (who also cashed a check from me) was the one who sent me the letter posted below refusing to write me a report or provide me with an invoice. [I eventually filed a formal complaint against this attorney with the state bar association--that was thrown out by them.]

One final but important note: the former FBI agent mentioned to me at the client meeting he lists that the license plate I took down and my child photographed on the white Suburban we saw the doctor drive up in and get out of did not belong on that vehicle. I believe that's another reason why "Ran license plates" was omitted from one of the later copies of the invoice.

Criminal Intent

After I fired Ed Hodges and company in January 2005, I began to notice that he had used the phrase "Semper Occultus" on some of his documents, as the examples show here; I noticed that he also had this phrase posted on his company's website. This website, which was the only one he ever directed me to, appears to have been set up around the time I first contacted Hodges, and it advertises international investigations his company had supposedly performed for Fortune 500 companies. (At the same time, the man from my church who'd recommended Hodges to me was telling me the same sort of things.)
Because Hodges and his associates only directed me to their own website and never told me about Texas DPS/PSB licensing rules and procedures or the DPS/PSB website for verifying private investigator licenses, I did not discover they'd committed numerous and repeated serious DPS violations: use of an unlicensed company, not being licensed to work for that company, impersonation of a licensed private security guard and private investigator, fake license number, no information on DPS website provided, no required DPS information on their correspondence, improper attire for private security guards, improper and fraudulent charges and invoices, no report or other materials provided when I requested them by certified mail, documented lies to me about having used private investigators "from a school in San Antonio", and more.
Although I complained repeatedly to the DPS/PSB, they refused to take disciplinary action against any of these people. I then filed a complaint with the TX OAG, but they too refused to do anything, so I began complaining to various national consumer organizations and providing them with copies of sample documentation. Eventually I received a call from DPS Trooper Taft Green saying Hodges' license (which he'd belatedly been granted) had been suspended pending an investigation. About six months later, I happened to check the DPS/PSB website and discovered that Hodges' p. i. license had been revoked, which no one with the DPS had ever bothered to notify me of. I also discovered that NONE of the other individuals who committed serious violations in my case had been disciplined in any way, even though I'd filed separate and well-documented complaints against them as well.
After learning Hodges' license had been revoked, I filed an open records request with the DPS for copies of all documents related to this. The DPS first tried to claim they never received my request; then they insisted I send them a money order to cover copying costs that supposedly somehow got lost in the mail (I have the mailing receipt for this) and then magically turned up when I filed a USPS complaint (with a very unusual signature card!). The documents I eventually received were incomplete, contained numerous false statements, were only partially signed, and in one case, listed my name with my ex-husband's address!

Code Names

After I discovered that Ed Hodges had conned me, I went back and examined all of my documents from him more closely. As shown in the examples here [I have more], I began to notice the use of what seemed to be code words, one of which was related to real estate and another of which related to my master's thesis, which I'd never discussed with anyone other than my ex-husband since I'd left Houston.

False Names

This email from Ed Hodges to me documents the fact that he and an associate initially used false names in their dealings with me. (This email also documents the fact that my children and I had been the victims of stalking and harassment while we were on vacation in other states.)

The Oral Surgeon and the Pilot

On May 25th, 2009, prominent Kerrville oral surgeon Dr. James Stokes and pilot Roger Nathanson were found dead in the remains of an ultralight aircraft on a ranch off Highway 16 between Fredericksburg and Kerrville that is owned by lifelong close friends of my ex-husband and his family. [This ranch adjoins one owned by the grandparents of another victim of a suspicious death.] According to newspaper accounts, the FAA concluded that the wings somehow came off this craft causing it to crash. None of the accounts I've seen say anything about what these two men were doing in this plane, where they were headed, etc.
A few days after this incident, the head of the Kerrville newspaper and his wife (both very close friends of Judge Ables and his wife) suddenly left town and were replaced by a man whose wife is from Fredericksburg. [The current Kerrville police chief's wife is also from Fredericksburg, as is the wife of Texas DPS Trooper Gates, newly assigned to our area.]

Even More Trust Issues

Here are some additional samples of documentation of my ex-husband's repeated attempts to get our over-18 children to sign trust documents. (FYI, the date on the excerpt from my letter to a friend is 12/30/03.)

More Trust Issues

Here you can see a copy of the letter I received in the mail along with the first set of trust documents for my older two children (completely unsolicited by us) as discussed immediately below.
To clarify, these two handwritten letters were written by the same attorney that drew up the trust documents (the kids' grandfather and my former father-in-law).

Girls' Trusts, Con't.

This is the second letter described in the post below--the one that was handed to my second child (who had recently turned 18) and carried home by them. Note that the date on the letter is almost certainly wrong (school awards are handed out in May, not April, and at the time this letter was given to us, in May of 2005, we had just had an award ceremony at school); however, it is exactly the same as the date on the first letter I received concerning these trust documents (see above).
The child this letter was written to was a straight-A honor student with near-perfect attendance who has recently graduated from college with a difficult double major.

Trust Issues, Con't.

(See previous post.)

Trust Issues

As soon as each of my children turned 18, their father began pressuring them to sign trust documents drawn up by his father (a lawyer), but I told them not to sign anything I couldn't have another attorney look at (they were not given copies of these documents). Late in April of 2005, two trust documents like the one shown here (one for each of my children who were over 18 at the time, the younger of whom had only just turned 18) suddenly turned up in our mail. These documents were sent to me by my former father-in-law (the attorney who drew them up) along with a handwritten letter from him telling us why the children should sign them.

Sure enough, the next time the kids had visitation with their dad, he insisted that they go straight over to "the office" [it was never clear to us whether he meant his own office or his father's for this] and immediately sign these documents. I'd already shown my kids the documents, though, and I'd pointed out to them that if they signed them, they'd be signing away their rights to whatever was in "Schedule A"--and "Schedule A" was missing, so anything could be added and they should not sign the documents. They understood this, but when they tried to explain to their father why they couldn't sign anything like this, they said he became very angry and told them he wouldn't pay either of their college tuition bills for the coming semester that would be coming due in about a month. This upset and frightened the kids, both because they were worried about their tuition and also because they were upset about being threatened like that, but they continued to refuse to sign anything, told their dad why they couldn't, and then came home early from their visitation because they said when they refused to sign, their dad got "scary". I pulled out my copy of our divorce decree and showed them where it clearly stated that their dad had to pay for their college tuition and repeated to them that they should not sign an incomplete document that took away their rights.

The next time the children went to their dad's for visitation, the eldest almost immediately came back home in tears saying their dad was still insisting they sign the trust documents or he wouldn't pay for the rest of their college, that the two of them had continued to refuse to sign anything and why, and that things had gotten "too weird" for them to feel comfortable about staying at their dad's. After the visitation ended, the other over-18-year-old came home with two more trust documents (one for each child) that were identical to the ones mailed to us except that their grandfather had handwritten in "Schedule A" and the amount of their upcoming tuition bills on each document; it is one of these same documents that is posted here for your inspection. I repeated to the kids that they should not sign the documents because they would be giving up all of their assets to their father and that this should have nothing to do with their tuition payments, which were a separate issue. They said they understood this completely and that they had no intentions of signing any such document, but they also both said they were afraid of going back over to their dad's.

Since all this happened at the time that I was working with the ex-FBI agent, the ex-DEA agent, and the Boerne lawyer (who was on the city council there at the time), I took these trust documents to them and had them looked at. Instead of advising me, however, they all asked me what I thought of the documents, which I thought was very strange. When I told them I felt the kids shouldn't sign them and why, they began trying to change my mind in various ways, but as soon as they realized I had no intention of backing down on the issue, they just said I should tell the children what I felt was best.

After this, the kids said they were still being threatened about not signing the trusts whenever they were at their dad's, but they held their ground and didn't sign anything, made it clear to their dad and grandfather that they had seen what the divorce decree said about their education expenses, and left their dad's house early several more times when they said things got too argumentative. After about a month of this, their father suddenly showed up at our front door one day with two checks, one to pay for each of their college tuition bills (but one of these was several hundred dollars short, and both checks were from his father's account, not his, for some reason). We immediately sent these checks off to the schools involved by registered mail because they were a few days late.

The older of these two children was seriously upset and frightened by this incident and also realized that they had almost no assets of their own for their dad to want--unless the kids inherited our house and land from me. This child was also angry and upset over their grandfather's having drawn up these documents and also about the threats related to it and some other serious but separate incidents that had occurred in the past. They decided it was in their best interest to end all contact with their father and his family at that point, and they now say that even though this decision was very painful at the time, they do not in any way regret it or the peace it has brought them since. The younger of these two handled the situation differently, telling their father that they would overlook the whole incident if their father and his family never again mentioned trust documents and that if they did, they would follow their sibling's lead and also end all contact.

My youngest child recently turned 18, and they said their dad has already mentioned trusts several times. For the record, ALL of my children say they have NEVER signed any sort of trust document.

Another lawyer from my case (the last one, who has ties to both San Antonio and Boerne) is now advertising as an elder law lawyer and is giving "Elder Law Seminars"; the advertisements for these sound as though trusts may be involved. Also, while this lawyer was supposedly representing me, I remember her telling me about other cases she was involved in from all over our area that concerned court cases involving estates, trusts, real estate, etc. (After I fired her, I learned she had previously worked as a criminal defense lawyer in Bexar County and also as a personal injury lawyer with a prominent San Antonio firm.) Update, 3/16/21: This last attorney is now running for public office in Bexar County.

The Texas Rangers Said

This email exchange I had with the Texas Rangers (since our local Ranger had refused to see me or even speak with me on the phone) shows I had prepared and tried to file a criminal complaint at D.A. Bruce Curry's office but was told they couldn't accept it (they said I had to go through law enforcement, but local law enforcement also refused to accept it). Here the Texas Rangers told me I'd been right in the first place to take it to the D.A., so when I went back to Curry's office and they again refused to accept it, I showed Jane [the only person in the office who would ever speak with me] this email, and then she did accept my complaint and all the documentation (which filled a medium-sized cardboard box). She wouldn't give me a receipt, so I asked her to sign the email, which she did as you can see. She also said an investigator would call me the following day after he'd had time to look the complaint over--but I never heard anything from anyone at the D.A.'s office again.

A Reporter Said

The senior crime reporter for the San Antonio Express-News responded to my request for help with something in Arabic? I can't read (and so far haven't been able to get anyone to translate for me; can you help?).

[Note: Members of the Scripps family live in our area; might this possibly be related?]

A Senator Said

One of our senators sent this response to my request for help. (Our other senator never responded in any way.)

Shue Case Update

As you can see from the previous post, I've finally found the time to do some reading at the CBS News blog about the Phillip Shue case (which involves some of the same law enforcement people as our case). There is some additional information there that I wasn't previously aware of, and it's important.

I now believe I know what happened to Col. Shue, why it happened, and the reasons for my strange contact from the Military Corruptions guys. I also believe that any reasonable, thinking person can go to the CBS blog, read through it, and come to the same conclusions I did.

My heart again goes out to Tracy Shue and Col. Shue's family. I feel certain they will someday obtain justice.

Update:  Please see

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cilla-mccain/colonel-philip-shue_b_1424756.html

People Say

Posts to CBS website

The DOJ Also Said

My letter to the DOJ

Response from DOJ

The DOJ Said

My letter to the DOJ

Response from the DOJ (has no document number)

I Was Told He Said

When the former Secret Service agent quit as Ed Hodges' expert witness, I received notice from Hodges' attorney that this expert was taking the agent's place. However, I never saw any sort of report or statement that was actually from this expert witness, so I have only the word of the attorney that this witness was also willing to testify under oath to things I knew for sure weren't true.

Very important note: NONE of the attorneys or document examiners connected with our case ever mentioned anywhere that the fraudulent trust document in question had been filed by the county clerk's office without being properly notarized.

He Said

The first expert witness used by p.i. Ed Hodges was a former Secret Service agent from Wisconsin. I was deeply shocked that someone with such an extensive law enforcement background would state he was willing to testify under oath to something I knew for a fact to be utterly false.
I was not surprised that Hodges would use a Secret Service agent, though, since I knew my ex-husband had grown up with the families of LBJ's agents and knew many of them well. (Notice that LBJ isn't one of the presidents listed here, even though the agent's email address uses the location of the LBJ ranch.) Then I discovered that a woman of about the same age as the agent with a the same rather unusual last name and a local maiden name (his wife?) is a realtor with her own local firm. I also discovered a younger man with the same last name (their son?) works at the local hospital. Then I noticed that my ex-husband had a Wisconsin checking account. Shortly after I pointed all these things out to my attorney at the time [the one in "She Said"], this witness abruptly quit.
On 9/13/07, I received a strange phone call from a man with a distinctive, high-pitched voice who first said he was an FBI agent from Milwaukee, then abruptly said that wasn't right; he was actually an FBI agent from San Antonio. He then proceeded to repeatedly try in various ways to persuade me to leave town: law enforcement couldn't help me, the stalking and harassment would end if I left, I needed to "sign off on the trust" (which I knew by then was a con), etc. He then began trying to quiz me about what I knew about local drug trafficking and whether I'd ever gone to the DEA. At that point, I became frightened and quickly ended the call. I immediately contacted the San Antonio FBI and asked them to confirm that my caller really was an FBI agent. No one there would do this, so I contacted the Justice Department, but they also refused to confirm or deny and investigate this call.
This expert never provided a detailed written report of his findings. And I have to ask, because it's the "elephant in the room": has this guy ever lied under oath before?

She Said

Here's what a document examiner I hired (the only one to provide me with a written report) and the attorney she recommended told me.

Update, 3/16/2012: The attorney that wrote the above, Carmen Samaniego, is now running for public office in Bexar County.

They Said

Here's a sample of what a former FBI agent, a former DEA agent, and the lawyer they took me to were telling me. Later (after I fired them), I asked the former FBI document examiner they sent me to for a written report; this is what he told me.

Addresses

This is a page from my 2003 contract with private investigator Ed Hodges. Aside from the fact that he wasn't properly licensed with the State of Texas at the time, it contains other licensing violations as well.
I wonder who these addresses belonged to in June 2003?

A Little Comic Relief

Occasionally my children have school-related activities that result in our driving home rather late at night on back-country roads. Several times when we were heading northwest from Blanco, we noticed a strange glow in the sky that could be seen from miles away and was so striking that it was impossible to miss. Each time when we reached the source, it was the same: an extremely large complex of barns (covering at least an acre and possibly more) that were brilliantly lit from inside, even after midnight.
Eventually, we made a mental note to ourselves about how locate this place in the daytime, and the next time we drove that stretch of road, we did manage to locate the barns. We discovered that they were on what a sign out front said was a "Llama Ranch". We also immediately noticed that there was a private airstrip directly across the road from this complex, a fact which tends to have special meaning to anyone who has lived for any length of time in South or Central Texas.
Later I was surprised to hear that this ranch is owned by a couple I once knew. I particularly remember meeting this couple for the first time years ago when my (now former) in-laws introduced me to them while we were at a local garage; I never forgot this meeting because the wife was wearing sunglasses indoors in a futile attempt to hide an enormous black eye! (I was concerned about her and tried to talk to her alone, but I was prevented from doing this.)
If you attend any of the local parades around here (County Fair, Christmas, July 4th, etc.), you will see llamas paraded up and down Main Street. If you see any of the spectators giggling when they pass, you will know they are "insiders".

Impersonation

When I first hired private investigator Ed Hodges of Arlington, TX in 2003, he insisted I turn over certain items to him because he said they were important pieces of evidence that he needed to examine and turn over to law enforcement. He was very specific about what items he wanted, so I made this list of the items he asked for while talking with him on the phone. A short time later, a man who said he worked for Hodges and had just driven down from Dallas called and asked me to meet him at the Dairy Queen at the I-10/Comfort exit and bring the items with me, plus the hard drive from our family computer (which had recently crashed). I did as he asked, and as I helped him transfer the items to his vehicle (a red car), he told me he was a security guard hired by Hodges to bring the evidence safely to Dallas. I asked him to sign my list as a receipt for the items he was taking from me, and as you can see, he signed and dated it and even marked the time on it in his own handwriting.
After I confronted Hodges in January of 2005 and subsequently fired him, I discovered this man WASN'T either a licensed private security guard or a licensed private investigator, after I was finally told about the correct TX Department of Public Safety (DPS) website and looked him up. [Hodges had given me incorrect information about this because, as I also later discovered, he wasn't properly licensed either--and had used a phony license number on one document.] I also discovered that this man probably was from Kerrville, not Dallas, even though I had invoices with travel charges for him from Dallas, and that he had worn improper attire for a security guard in this state when I met with him.
I filed formal complaints against both men (and several others also involved in our case) with the DPS's Private Security Bureau (PSB), the agency that licenses private investigators and private security guards in Texas, and I provided them with this document and others containing proof of serious violations. However, despite the signature of this document alone proving this guy impersonated a licensed private security guard, the PSB/DPS absolutely refused to prosecute or discipline this man in any way, even after I made repeated complaints.
So much for protecting the public!--I can only conclude that the licensing process for private investigators and private security guards in Texas is worthless. I'll be glad to provide additional information and documentation to anyone who requests it.

June 16, 2007 Email Exchange With Diop Kamau

Here's a sample email exchange between Diop Kamau, Executive Director of the Police Complaint Center, and me that shows very nicely how Kamau frightened me into purchasing various expensive goods and services I never received. It's important to note that this exchange occurred a few weeks before I finally realized I wasn't getting what I paid for and fired Kamau, NOT when I first had contact with him, in the fall of 2006. It's also important to note that I never saw any working security equipment of the type Kamau claimed to be leasing me as mentioned here. I have LOTS more emails like this and can provide copies on request, as I have already done for the Washington, D.C. Attorney General's Office.