White Collar Crime
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8/8/2008
Since moving to Orlando (late 2001) I have been the repeated victim of white collar crime which has cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars. I thought I would be able to semi-retire and have a nice little business but now I have no savings left and instead of thoughts of retirement, I am faced with having to begin all over again. At the age of 57 this is daunting.
I have been told by various police officers and Bill Vose of the State Attorneys Office that there is no money in their budget to deal with white collar or economic crime as they call it. In each of my experiences, I have been told to seek recourse through the civil court procedure. In this environment, it is the person with the deepest pockets who will win. Attorneys are only interested in what's in it for them and have no desire to see justice being done. It has also been my experience that they will "bat for the other side" if there is enough in it for them.
Despite the fact there is no money to deal with this type of crime - it seems that most of these perpetrators appear to be caucasian and are only prosecuted when vast amounts of money are involved and the victims have some kind of social clout.
In addition to that, it appears there is a system within our local government, both city and county, whereby, officials reaching retirement age "pretend" to retire for about 30 days and then are re-instated. In this new capacity they receive their retirement pension and at the same time continue to receive the wages. Is that double dipping or what?
Individuals in this category include Lawson Lamar - Orange County State Attorney - the office with no money to fight white collar crime and Bill Donegan our Property Appraiser - he is the guy who tells us how much tax we have to pay in order to keep the corrupt wheels within the system well oiled.
I don't think this situation is particular to Orlando, Fl, I am sure it goes on elsewhere. I find it very sad that a once great nation has been reduced to a flock of sheep, helplessly bleating to each other while the country burns!
Tara | Orlando, FL