A True Horror Story; Some High Place Crooked Lawyers

[mountainannie]

When I heard my first story of someone buying a house with a false title, I just figured that was up in Las Terrenas. The second story of a lawyer stealing a car, while he was filing papers of ownership.. that was perhaps just "bad karma" on the part of the owners.. But I wanted incomers to have this story of what happened to a Dominican American-- fluent in Spanish, who came down here to reclaim property that his grandfather had.

I have seen the papers in question, along with this man´s passport- yes, clearly fraudlent. I offerred to post this here for him since I wanted to offer him a bit of support from the "expat" community since these particular lawyers are VERY HIGHLY PLACED... He was willing to post his name and number but I was fearful that he would be "disappeared"

To wit:

DOMINICAN REALITY FOR AMERICAN PROPERTY OWNERS

On Tuesday June 17 of this year my home was damaged and ransacked by the assistant district attorney Rosa Vasquez. Most of my valuable personal possessions were removed along with my all my archives of private and very personal files of acts of corruptions committed by local authorities against myself and other Americans for the last thirteen years. Along with its legal proof of each case, so as in any democratic system of judicial justice. The guilty would be in jailed, but instead I was brutally handcuffed and arrested in front of my neighbors and wasn’t explained and neither shown nor allowed to read the accusation that is the cause for their action.
The reason for the action was taken a lawyer called Martin C. Freites and his partners Jose Luis Mateo Concepcion and the public notary Carmen Victoria Castillo Rodriguez registration number 6078. Months earlier I denounced them publicly on the radio and to local authorities as the persons involved a falsified legal contract and invasion without permission of my private and independently furnished room that I rent only to foreign travelers .
These lawyers and individual fabricated and notarized a legal rental agreement of my property with my obliviously forged signature and expired U.S. passport number. The purpose of this act was to then proceed to accuse me legally of stealing from one of them in order to keep me jailed while they established physical possession of my home based on the fake rental agreement while I endured the long and endless court hearings removed from my home. Based on the faked rental contract and dwindling economic resources for being locked in jailed. These lawyers would then proceed to fabricate a fake bill of sale of the property using a proven successfully fake rental agreement as proof of my signature.
Incredible but true. It’s been done before in D.R.
Its ironic that the assistant district attorney Rosa Volquez who raided and seized my possessions from my home is the same authority who only months earlier was and presently is assigned to handle my case against Elizabeth Calcagno who illegally cashed a rental check for $22,000.00 directed to me, Miss Calcagno’s brother just happens to be fellow assistant district attorney Carlos Calcagno Dominguez. Need I say more?
The bottom line is that the Dominican Republic is a poor property investment and financial banking choice for honest individuals. With hard earned resources. And for their lawyers: a competent honest one does not exist. Even the president of the Lawyers Association, Jose Fernando Perez Volquez was once my lawyer who came to me saying that he was sent to me by the American consulate to help me in my time of need. Only to proceed to empty my bank account, and go on vacation, leaving me to rot in prison. Based on another false accusation with questionable legal procedures.
Fortunately months later I was released with the help of outside non- lawyer caring individuals under my directions.

[MikeFisher]

where nis he now Annie?
if released he should really look out for a 'safe house',
no kidding with thieves on that high level.
could they remove all proofs of his acusations??
if yes would mean nothing left to accuse any of them for something?
if that's the case i hope he's free and left the country for ever.
bring in the info of what happens/happened afterwards,
names and positions of such should be published everywhere to warn people about those...
Mike
additional note:
if you ever plan to accuse somebody,
save all your proof documents aso on at least 2 different internet servers and do notdo that from your own PC, so nobody can find out where you saved such.
you print them out to use them, but don't rely on copies stored in your property or on your own computer. they are good for fast access, but they are not save there.

[catcherintherye]

I probably already know the answer to my own question, but what was the US Consulate doing while all this was happening?

The above story is both sad and disgusting, but not really surprising.

My other question, that I probably also already know the answer to, is, are there any honest lawyers or judges in Puerta Plata, or anywhere in the DR, for that matter?

[MikeFisher]

or are there some on the planet??
i hate them,
i don't trust them,
yes, we need them and it is hard to find trusteable ones.
i have since over a decade a little lady lawyer in St Dgo,
i never needed her for anything like the described above,
i just let her handle anything related to my business, even any little contract when purchasing a new car, property, boat, renewals of residency, problems with customs when bringing in donations( i am in war with the corrupt customs since mid april),
she always been honest to me,
compared to rates for the same jobs other lawyers always tell me much higher rates, so i sure stick with her.
i would even pay her more than others ask for just because of the trust in her loyalty.
it is hard to find a trusteable lawyer at home,
harder to find one when new in a foreign country.
i would always recommend to first talk to people in the expat community where you plan to live, about their lawyer experiences, who they would recommend and why.
they sorrily have a lot of power at the moment we sign some papers and when new over here we often understand not 50% of what is written in the 'small meanings' of the big words on such papers.
til today my papers like 'company related', car papers, property papers aso are in my name and the originals in my hands.
i hope that trust will never end.
Mike

[Bronxboy]

Lawyers and Dentists all have a license to steal.

(Well most of them!!!!)

[catcherintherye]

Mike,
It sounds like you found yourself a keeper, much like a good wife (and some of us would question if there any of those either).

I know there are a couple around, but not for all situations, and perhaps not for every individual.

I tend to agree with Mike, I hate them in general, but there are always a few that are honest and competent. It's just tough finding them.

[Bayx-**]

I'm not surprised... I heard of a few cases similar to this one....all in the north coast.
It's very sad to see things like that happen.

I'm not surprised to hear that the president of the lawyer association is involved in this tragic situation.

Is this person out of the country?

Before going public with any type’s legal issue in DR... One must take the necessary measures to protect itself.

Make a few copies of all documents of evidence you possess and give a copy to a few trusty family members or friends.

Store all originals documents in a trusted place...preferably outside your resident.
If you are a foreigner or live somewhere outside DR makes sure you take all your original evidence with you.

If you have a lawyer outside DR for example in US…… make sure you make him aware of the situation and give him a copy of any evidence your possess.

If you speak more than one language….make video in the different languages explaining the situation and put away in a safe place and give someone you trust a copy.

Always carry a small tape recorder and record any conversations including any incoming or outgoing telephone calls.

Save any e-mail relating to the case.

Don’t ever trust your lawyer 100% regardless of his reputation.

If you must need to make the case public….try the international media.

If you’re using the local media make sure you have someone else do it for you without disclosing your identity.

If the District attorney is given you’re hard times move your case to the Supreme Court.

Make the embassy aware of what happening.

Believe it or not there is always someone above that might just care about your case.

Definably, don’t trust anyone.

Don’t give up.....there has to be a way out!!!

[Fabio J. Guzman]

There are honest lawyers and crooked lawyers everywhere.

In the Dominican Republic, because of the low standards of legal education, there are certainly more incompetent lawyers that in a First World country.

The way to proceed is to get references from friends, from forums like this, etc. before retaining one. Also, fees should not be most important factor in choosing a lawyer, as long as they are reasonable. Don't expect a competent lawyer to be the cheapest. Competency and good service come at a premium when incompetency is the standard.

[MikeFisher]

yeap Catch,
and such a keeper is worth more than just one wife, lol.
i don't know what she would be worth in case i wouold have a major prob,
but at least i would actually feel sure to hear her opinion and take her opinion on a recommendation 'who to ask for help' on such.
for me it is all about 'experience', and such newbies(and neither the ones with just 3-5 years in the same area)don't have, so recomendations on a bord like DR with "Oldies" who experienced 'good and bad' is a huge value.
Mike

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by MikeFisher

for me it is all about 'experience', and such newbies(and neither the ones with just 3-5 years in the same area)don't have, so recomendations on a bord like DR with "Oldies" who experienced 'good and bad' is a huge value. Mike

I agree it is all about experience; I had to 'live it' for many, many years before I felt comfortable about making choices of lawyers. Now I am comfortable but I also choose different lawyers for different tasks - your reputable conveyancing lawyer may not be the choice for litigation against someone where more of the street fighter is required, for example.

Recommendations are fine, Mike, but who is going to publically answer the question 'Is Joe Bloggs a dishonest lawyer?' when you live in the same town as Joe Bloggs, know he is dishonest and also know his history in retaliatory actions? No-one of any sense is going to put their skin on the line to answer a newbie question. So there is a value in positive recommendations but it has to be remembered that it does have its limitations.

Originally Posted by Fabio J. Guzman

There are honest lawyers and crooked lawyers everywhere.

In the Dominican Republic, because of the low standards of legal education, there are certainly more incompetent lawyers that in a First World country.

Of course this is true, Dr. Guzman. But it isn't just incompetence - if it was, then educated Dominicans who know all about the incompetency wouldn't get taken in. And I would suggest new gringos get caught by blatant crookedness which they are not expecting: they want to believe the plausibility, so they do. The crookedness of some lawyers in the foreigners country of origin has perhaps more subtlety, so when the foreigner experiences blatancy here in the DR together with a plausible explanation, they run with it, believing 'the best'. And of course most foreigners have simply no idea as to whom is related to whom, as in the OP's example.

Bayx-** has given some really helpful pointers above.