Anthony Bosch Portrait of A Mole? ~by Legal Pub

Major League Baseball continues its crusade to destroy its own reputation.  In the past we discussed Barry Bonds in depth.  LINK. We may have even been one of the first sources to take a critical look at steroids in baseball. Mitchell Report Link.  Yet we still recognize that steroids have been often a scapegoat. Benoit Link.  Unfortunately, baseball just doesn't know when to quit. But that will not stop 60 Minutes from piling on in an attempt to stimulate ratings by making star witness, Anthony Bosch a household name.  Bosch is the leagues weapon against Alex Rodriguez. Bosch claims that he designed and administered an elaborate performance enhancing program for Rodriquez beginning  in 2010.

Anthony Bosch was the founder of a Florida anti-aging clinic, Biogenesis.  He claims that Rodriguez paid him $12,000 per month to provide him with banned drugs (including testosterone and human growth hormone.) Bosch also claims that he cooperated with Major League Baseball in part because he feared for his life. Rodriguez's suspension of 211 games has been reduced by an arbitrator to 162 games plus all playoff games next season. Nevertheless, Rodriguez's lawyers plan to file a suit in federal court to overturn the arbitration ruling.

Commissioner Bud Selig said, "In my judgment his actions were beyond comprehension," Selig said on the show. "I think 211 games was a very fair penalty." Of the 14 players suspended as a result of the Biogenesis investigation, Rodriguez was the only one to appeal the ban. Credibility may be an issue. Bosch himself is no saint.  He was once fined $5,000 for practicing medicine without a license. Furthermore, Rodriguez never failed a drug test during the period in question. Bosch claims he personally injected Rodriguez  because he was afraid of needles. (If Rodriguez can shoot up in front of a federal judge, does that further destroy Bosch's credibility?)  Since the Joint Drug Agreement and Collective Bargaining Agreement requires confidentiality from both sides, why all the publicity now? Rodriguez's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina criticized Major League Baseball for participating in the 60 Minutes segment; however, it appears Tacopina also had his 15 minutes of fame in the same broadcast.

The players' association, initiated an appeal on behalf of Rodriguez.  The players association expressed its disappointment in the public airing of the issues.  "It is unfortunate that Major League Baseball apparently lacks faith in the integrity and finality of the arbitrator's decision and our Joint Drug Agreement, such that it could not resist the temptation to publicly pile-on against Alex Rodriguez..  MLB's post-decision rush to the media is inconsistent with our collectively-bargained arbitration process, in general, as well as the confidentiality and credibility of the Joint Drug Agreement, in particular... As a result, the Players Association is considering all legal options available to remedy any breaches committed by MLB."

The 38-year-old Rodriguez has denied he ever using banned substances after 2003.  (A-Rod's hypocracy can only go so far as he apparently admitted in 2009 that he took steroids from 2001-03.)  60 minutes purported to show a  redacted document consistent with a payment from "A-Rod Corporation" to Bosch's lawyer.  (The nearly $50,000 payment was apparently returned.  Why?  Did the league pay Bosch more to talk? Admittedly, MLB is paying Bosch's attorney fees and paying for personal body guard security.)  Bosch also claims that A-Rod's folks suggested that he "leave town" until the case was over. (Colombia was allegedly suggested as a nice destination or an extended vacation.) Bosch also claims that his ex-girlfriend received a text that said Bosch would not live until the end of the year.  (If Bosch is such a great guy, why did his girl friend leave him.)

A lawyer allegedly advised Bosch to "align" with MLB because he needed some one as "powerful as Alex."  (But if Bosch is so great at making up performance enhancing concoctions, why did he not take his own medicine and thus become a super hero of standing up to the slugger?)


Baseball and Bosch struck a deal in exchange for testimony. The deal was presumably better than anything offered by A-Rod.  Is Bosch a dealer who suddenly developed a conscious or is he just a willow bending in the direction of whatever side looks sunnier? Only time will tell what effect this will have on the so called integrity of the America's past time... performance enhancement!

Time To Leave Letourneau Alone?

Pink Floyd made the song, "All We Are Is Just Another Brick in the Wall" very popular. The song said, "teacher, leave those kids alone."  Made sense at the time.  But now maybe it's time to leave some of the teachers alone. After all, people get in trouble for suspended drivers licenses all the time without making headline news, even in Seattle.

To be fair, Legal Pub has taken its shot at a few educators. Bad Judgment.  Teacher Trouble. But maybe it is time to give some of the teacher's a break.  Unfortunately for former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, every misstep she makes is potential headline material.   As you may recall, Letouneau was the former teacher who was arrested after she had sex with a 12-year-old student.  This Burien teacher's photo was plastered in the media back in the 1990s when she was convicted of raping a sixth-grade boy. Letouneau was 34 at the time. She served a prison sentence and then married her former student, Vili Fualaau in 2005 when he was 22.

Now the former teacher reportedly was booked into the King County Jail early Monday for failing to appear in court for a suspended driver's license.  Bail was reportedly set at $5,000.


Letourneau did her time.  She even married the "victim."  Isn't it time for the media to leave her alone?

Big Mistake in Tupelo, Miss.!

Big mistake! It is one thing to rob a bank.  It is quite another thing to kill a police officer.  Look out idiot, you are now on the most wanted list. The FBI is going all out to catch the idiot who shot officer Gale Stauffer.   Tupelo, Miss., police officer   Stauffer was only 38 when he was slain by a bank robber trying to flee the scene. Another officer, Joseph Maher, 26, was also critically wounded.

Officer Gale Stauffer A suspect seen in a surveillance video from BancorpSouth bank in Tupelo was wearing khaki or cargo-style pants. His white Converse tennis shoes, a long-sleeved jacket and a blue ski mask stand out on video.  The get-away vehicle appears to be a charcoal-colored, medium-sized sedan. The suspect is pictured above in the mask.



$160.000 in reward money was offered by authorities for information leading to the killer's arrest I suspect bounty hunters and relatives in need of some cash will be happy to join in the hunt!

Update:   Mario Edward Garnett, 40, once threatened the president in 2010.  He was suspected of carrying out the deadly  Mississippi bank robbery.  He was killed in a shootout with police during a Phoenix bank robbery at a Compass Bank branch Saturday morning.

In 2010, Garnett was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to threatening to kill the president. A judge later ruled Garnett violated the terms of his supervised release and sentenced him to 24 months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Garnett was released from federal custody about five months ago. Garnett has been connected to a Dec. 23 bank robbery attempt in Atlanta, a bank robbery later that same day in Tupelo, Miss.which resulted in the death of officer Stauffer. (Cellphone records are consistent with Garnett being in Atlanta, Phoenix and Tupelo at the time of each incident.

Apparently Garnett was wearing a black ski mask and black gloves and carrying a handgun. After failing to get any money from a teller, he apparently demanded and received an undisclosed amount of money from someone at an ATM.It is believed that Garnett left in a light gray sedan without a license plate.Later that day, someone stole an undisclosed amount of money from the BancorpSouth in Tupelo before fleeing in a gray sedan.  The two responding officers were shot.

On Saturday in Phoenix, someone called 911 to report seeing a man run into the bank while wearing a mask. The first officer to arrive saw the man leave the bank with a bag and a handgun. The suspect then began firing and a detective shot Garnett dead.  No officers or bank employees were injured.

In California for Holidays? Maybe You Better Take a Taxi! ~by Legal Pub

Firefighters help as a tour bus is towed out of a drainage ditch after the bus went off the shoulder of an Interstate 10 off-ramp in Baldwin Park, Calif. on Monday Dec. 23, 2013. The tour bus heading back from a Southern California casino crashed on a freeway east of Los Angeles early Monday, injuring 13 people, authorities said. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Take the bus and leave the driving to us!  Perhaps not so good advice these days in California.  A tour bus heading back from a Southern California casino crashed east of L.A.injuring 13 people. The bus drove off the shoulder of an Interstate 10 ramp near Baldwin Park early Monday morning. Apparently the bus tried to get on the ramp to exit, but was traveling too fast according to passenger Eduardo Magana. Thirteen were inured, 11 with minor injuries and one with a broken arm.  It is unclear the extent of injury to the other person injured.  

 40 occupants were returning from the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio when the incident occurred. Rescuers freed the occupants from the blocked door. This accident occurred four days after last weeks three bus crashes that claimed the lives of two people and injured dozen others.

Khang Tieu, 91, died Thursday night, eight hours after a bus returning from a San Diego County casino overturned on Interstate 15 near Corona.The road was slick and the bus was allegedly driving too fast for the rainy conditions. Nearly 50 miles away, another bus heading to a San Diego County casino also overturned.  In that accident, Tayde Murguia, 64, was killed and 19 others injured.

14 occupants were injured Thursday morning near Perris when a Riverside Transit Agency bus slid sideways on State Route 74  and hit a car traveling in the opposite direction.

So if you are headed out to the Rose Bowl and wish to see the sights, perhaps you might want to take a taxi. Happy Holidays.

William Riley Knight's Act of Kindness ~by Legal Pub

We could talk about the latest Colorado shooting, but why continue to give publicity to bad acts. Rewarding such conduct by making selfish idiots famous only seems to aggravate the situation. Instead let's instead discuss a real hero.  William "Riley" Knight, 49 of Crown Point, Indiana was such a real hero.  Knight was married for less than seven hours when he stopped to help a stranded motorist in the snow coming back from his wedding reception.  As he was helping the stranded motorist, Knight and the woman were struck and killed by several vehicles.  

Knight's bride, Nikki, was still in the car Saturday evening when her new husband lost his life.  Nikki told the Chicago Sun-Times that they saw a woman slide off the road.  Her groom said, "We've got to stop, it's late and they need help.'" So Knight pulled his truck into a nearby driveway and Nikki Knight waited for her husband to help Linda Darlington, 42, of Crown Point. Knight and Darlington were standing by the side of the road when they were struck by a vehicle, and then by two more.

Nikki Knight, a registered nurse, said Knight nor Darlington were dead at the scene."I went from a being a newlywed to a widow in less than 48 hours - the highest high to the lowest low," Nikki Knight told the paper.

Thanksgiving Spirit Saves Lives?

Terri Fontanez, a mother in Rochester, N.Y, is counting her blessings. She can't even thank the two good Samaritans who saved her four children from a burning minivan. Terri was driving home from a birthday party when another driver T-boned her minivan.  According to WROC 8 News the van immediately burst into flames. Christine Wilson, an off-duty Rochester police officer, saw the accident and rushed to rescue a nine-year-old, six-month-old and one of the two-year-old twin boys from the van. Wilson was overcome by heat and smoke and had to be pulled from the an by her own mother according to  WHAM 13.  One child remained in the burning van.  Certain death but for the brave actions of an unknown man who snatched the child from the burning vehicle. There were no serious injuries reported.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the Good Samaritans who make this world a better place.

Is Everything For Sale For The Right Price?

Talk about a script, this one has it all.  Enter a main character nicknamed "Fat Leonard" a gregarious Malaysian businessman is well known by U.S. Navy commanders and "The Commander" a top naval officer. Fat Leonard's company has serviced warships for 25 years. To say he is connected may be a bit of an understatement  As the other main characters consist of prosecutors who accuse Leonard Francis of obtaining secret military information in exchange for hookers, Lady Gaga tickets and other bribes.

Surely, it has all the makings for a great drama. Accusations in a federal court in San Diego paint a scene dominated by serious national security breaches and corruption.  High ranking officials could end up being sucked into the drama.  A Colombo type prosecutor shakes his finger at Navy commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz and accuses him of passing confidential information on ship routes to Fat Leonard's Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA. Fat Leonard and the commander counter the accusations of moving battle ships and aircraft carriers as if they are matchbook cars with denying looks of innocence.  Were the moves legitimate or designed to fatten profits by inflating costs?


Misiewicz did in fact move Navy vessels, but after all he is a commander.  He may not own the toys, but he certainly controls their movement as part of his job function.   Did Fat Leonard illegally overcharge for fuel, food and other services his company provided the navy or was he just buying into the concept of capitalism?  Questionable  tariffs and port authorities, isn't that expected in the world of foreign trade?

"It's pretty big when you have one person who can dictate where ships are going to go and being influenced by a contractor," said retired Rear Adm. Terry McKnight, who states the obvious to the AP even  though he has no involvement in the investigation.  Alex Wisidagama; and a senior Navy investigator, John Beliveau II do have some information about what is going on.  Perhaps too much information as Beliveau is accused of keeping Francis informed about the investigation and advising him on how to respond to allegations.  (Sounds like practicing law without a license?)   All characters in this alleged ploy pleaded not guilty. Defense attorneys, as expected, have declined to publicly comment concerning the allegations.

It's too early to tell how much interest will be generated by this investigation and whether it will ever crack the top revenue block buster stories in Hollywood. Prostitute stories sell but merely getting gifts from venders tends not to generate too much curb appeal in Hollywood. While Fat Leonard is an interesting sort known for great parties held in his modest 70,000 square foot home in Singapore, Leonard is expected to testify that all of the business transactions were legitimate.  Navy Criminal Investigative Service agents have been investigating Leonard since 2010, but it didn't take much undercover work because probably every captain of every ship knows Fat Leonard.

The question is whether the commander was offered prostitution services in exchange for providing  ship movement schedules. The USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group and other ships are at issue. So did Fat Leonard cheat the Navy out of $10 million in just one year in Thailand or was he just a good capitalist businessman?  Perhaps the answer won't be known until the court drama and the movie rights are all settled.  In the mean time, the federal government has suspended its contracts with Francis. The defendants face up to five years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery. But of course, all defendants are to be presumed innocent!