Background

I have had a few setbacks in my life recently, but not as bad as my friend Daniel's. I wish this was a simpler story but as it is long and complicated we might as well start at the beginning.

As some of you already know, in April 2000, my Bed & Breakfast Inn in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico, was raided by the Tijuana police. They stole everything in the house and arrested everyone in the building, including guests and workers alike, on trumped up charges. The most of the others were released after seven months but I spent over three years in one of Mexico's worst prisons.

Finally my friend, Daniel, who I met inside, recommended an honest lawyer and all my charges were dropped. Unfortunately, some people still think that where there is smoke there is fire, but I can reassure you there was no fire. The main reason we were arrested was that most of my guests were gay. If interested, you can read all the details in my book, Tales from the Tijuana Jails, Vol. 1 & 2 (presently under revision). After Daniel fought and beat five prisoners as one time, his reputation was made in the prison. Using his power and prestige, he protected all the American prisoners and saved lives, including my own.

Daniel and his wife were both in the same prison on marijuana smuggling charges. Daniel is a health and fitness nut and does not even take coffee, but his wife smoked pot and had some in their car. He is a former Special Forces sergeant with medical training and a world class martial arts expert. He was undefeated in a national U.S. competition after he was released even though he was over 40 yeas old.

The Set Up

After he was released, he traded rent for an apartment in a complex, owned by my friend of over 35 years, Ed. Esworthy, for maintenance and other services. Ed was getting senile and in bad health. Daniel saw to it Ed's bills were paid; his property kept up; his cars fixed, insured and registered; his medications adjusted so they would not conflict; saved him over $100,000 on his mortgage; took him on two vacations; got him to exercise, etc. Unfortunately, neither Daniel nor Ed kept records of what was spent as they were like father and son. Also, Daniel signed checks for Ed and used his ATM and credit cards. He had Ed's verbal permission.

However Ed, who was worth over a couple of million dollars, hired an illegal Mexican houseboy, Roberto, to take care of his house, cook and be a companion. Roberto had applied for citizenship and had signed a document under perjury that he was not living in the U.S. He also was driving with an illegal driver's license. Roberto and a computer repairman friend of his, Joshua, transferred money from Ed's PayPal account into Joshua's account. Daniel found out about it and wanted to fire Roberto but Ed wouldn't have it.

Then Roberto got an older friend of Ed's to call Adult Protection Services and claim that Daniel was abusing Ed. Daniel was arrested and charged with Elder Abuse. Roberto would not let Ed bail him out although Ed wanted to at first. Ed even told the police that he has absolute faith in Daniel.

The Deputy District Attorney was not interested in justice but just making a conviction. He would not even investigate the facts and witnesses we had to show that Daniel was innocent. He thought, “He is a bit on the rough side with a prior record (over 10 years ago), he was in charge of Ed's finances, there were very few records (even thought enough if they were investigated). ergo – he is guilty.”

Luckily, Daniel has a good memory and I help him to gather all the facts to prove that he, not only did not take Ed's money, but the reverse was true. With Daniel's prior record, Deputy District Attorney Michael Groch, threatened Daniel with 20 years if he did not take a plea bargain of only 7 years. The conviction rate in San Diego is 98%, the highest in the nation.

Daniel and Ed were partners in a boat hull cleaning business. The business was destroyed when Daniel was arrested. I tried to keep it alive by forming a new partnership with Ed, George Frenier (the diver), and me as manager and accountant. I took over Daniel's apartment as residence and office.

Because I was trying to help Daniel, and with Ed's weakened mental condition, Roberto turned Ed against me even though we had been friends and business partners for over 35 years. He even got Ed to believe that I was embezzling money from him. The DDA threatened to have me arrested as an accessory if I tried to help Daniel. It is on tape where the DDA actually corrected Ed when Ed did not say what the DDA wanted him to say.

Daniel is not an angel and can be very abrasive and controlling. But he has always been a take charge kind of guy and has always been there for his friends and the weak. He spent over 6 months in Sri Lanka saving lives and rebuilding an orphanage after the big tsunami in South East Asia. He managed the orphanage, stopped all the corruption, and saw to it that the children were fed and cleaned. A person he fired had a very inaccurate, negative and false article published on MSNBC and Daniel was forced out of the country. I have copies of a number of faxes from officials in Sri Lanka backing Daniel. I believe that this article helped to put Daniel into a negative light without even having a chance to defend himself.

A Bad Idea

Roberto continued to take advantage of Ed and the neither the INS or the SDPD would do anything about his as the DDA put a hold on him. After Daniel had been in the San Diego county jail for over 10 months, he had some people he met inside the jail to make a citizens arrest and have Roberto deported. I coordinated on the outside. The deportation failed were were arrested for attempted kidnapping. Daniel got 7 years in San Quintin and I got 6 months as an accessory. Daniel agreed to the plea bargain as he was threatened that I would have to go to prison with him if he didn't. The elder abuse charges were dropped because of lack of evidence and Daniel did not get credit for time served.

I am out and we are trying to make an appeal, which looks promising. Daniel has many friends, many who are businessmen and lawyers. There is a lot more information I have and many stories of how Daniel has helped others. He deserves a metal, not a prison sentence.

Ed died on December 24, 2006, of heart failure. I deeply regret that he died before I could prove to him that I wasn't a traitor to our friendship. Roberto inherited Ed's condo in Hawaii which he rents out. He continues to tell people I was an embezzler. The DDA fixed my probation so I could not have any contact with Daniel, either directly or indirectly, except through his lawyer.

Update

Daniel studied law in San Quentin, became an advisor to the warden, had his plea bargain dropped, was sent back to San Diego, as a pro per (as his own lawyer) he was able to prove DDA malfeasance, all charges dropped including mine, Roberto and Joshua are wanted by the police, Daniel is suing Ed's estate, and he is now back running his diving business.

What a waste of time, money and manpower. No wonder our courts are broke, we have the most crimes and the most prisoners locked up of any civilized country. My innocence on U.S. justice has changed. In some ways, the U.S. is worse than many third world countries.

BOOKWARREN PUBLISHING SERVICES
Sam Warren
3922 Eighth Avenue, Studio 1
San Diego, CA 92103

(619) 674-3066

sam@bookwarren.com