The next witness to the stand for the prosecution in the Preliminary Hearing on January 5th, 2010, in the People versus Hector Porrata, Rene Montes, George Martinez and Cara Cruz-Thompson, was Keisha Woods, an auditor and compliance officer for the Norton Community Credit Union in Riverside, California. Ms. Woods was questioned by the DA, and... Read More
Franchise Tax Board Testifies In Matrix/AIG Case Against WCSC and Rene Montes
After Cara Cruz-Thompson and her attorney, Brian Gurwitz, waived Cara’s right to a Preliminary Hearing and both left Court Room C-53 in Santa Ana, California, on January 5th, Tuesday morning, William Shae, Senior Special Agent from the California Franchise Tax Board, took the stand. Shae was first asked by the DA, Tom Schultz, what his... Read More
AIG/Matrix Embezzlement Defendant Cara Cruz-Thompson Hires New Attorney. Court Agrees to Waiver Preliminary Hearing Until January 5th 2010.
Cara Cruz-Thompson, in a bold action to vigorously defend herself and to free herself from jail, fired her attorney, Michael Currier, yesterday, and hired Brian Gurwitz, a 15-year veteran lawyer who was admitted to the California State Bar in 1994 and who graduated from McGeorge School of Law of the University of the Pacific, in... Read More
Preliminary Hearing Finally Underway in AIG/Matrix Embezzlement Case
So, finally at 2:00 PM, the Preliminary Hearing for Porrata, Montes, Martinez, and Cruz-Thompson began. The three male defendants were led in first. Hector Porrata led the pack. He was wearing Orange and had his dark brown hair cropped very short. He is a small man and he was handcuffed from his left to George... Read More
AIG/Matrix Accused Embezzlers’ Preliminary Hearing Trailed to Friday, December 18th. Plea Bargaining Could Be in the Works.
December 18th, this coming Friday, could possibly be an eventful day in Court for alleged AIG/Matrix embezzlers Hector Porrata, Cara Cruz-Thompson, Rene Montes and George Martinez. But, who knows at this point? I’ve said this before: the Preliminary Hearing got “trailed”. So, once again, yesterday, December 15th, the scheduled Preliminary Hearing in the above, aforementioned... Read More
An Interview with Cara, Part One. ‘Do I Feel Betrayed? I do… I do… ‘
This time when I spoke into the darkened one way glass-mirrored booth at the Orange County Jail’s Intake and Release Center, the Deputy within the darkness spoke positively, “Yes. I remember you. I got a phone call just a while ago. I am going to set this up for you.” I had called the Director... Read More
Alleged AIG Embezzlers Spend Thanksgiving in Custody. November 17th Preliminary Hearing Postponed Once Again. Part One.
November 17th was a Tuesday. That day I got up very early to get to the 8:30 am Preliminary Hearing for alleged embezzlers Hector Porrata, Rene Montes, George Martinez and Cara Cruz-Thompson at the Orange County Superior Court House. The traffic was everything everybody always rants and raves about: it was Hell! I left my... Read More
Preliminary Hearing for Accused AIG Embezzlers Now Set for November 17th
A new Preliminary Hearing has been set in the embezzlement case by the Orange County District Attorney against Hector Porrata, Cara Cruz-Thompson, George Martinez, and Rene Montes. The date and time will be November 17th 2009 at 8:30 am. It will take place at the Central Justice Center, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana,... Read More
