Bonilla’s trial
Now that the trial has ended I feel more comfortable commenting on it because we know facts that we had no knowledge of before. It is very irresponsible passing judgment when the information is not fully available and I didn’t want to fall into speculations. Anyone who has taken the time to read what José Ayala wrote having spent six days listening to testimonies and taking notes, has to come away with the certainty that Melix Bonilla was framed.
Before you start mixing politics in your head, listen to what I want to explain. If you don’t want me to bother you with ‘facts’, then don’t continue reading because your mind is made up and you don’t want to be educated.
It was great having former Chief of Police John J. Romero testify under oath how Bonilla came to him first with the idea of trading the cars. He listened and gave his approval to get it done. Months went by being kept abreast of what was being done until the day he went to the garage to inspect the vehicles traded.
Then, it dawned on him that ‘they had done something illegal’ and called the FBI to investigate. During the trial he was asked why he didn’t advise Bonilla as to the correct way to proceed according to the rules and notify the District Attorney’s office, instead of letting it go all the way through until the trade was finalized. He didn’t respond.
Captain Roy Vasque was kept informed at all times of the progress and Auxiliary Police Chief Jay Jackson is the one who did most of the running around to see the deal through. I have friends in the legal professions who have told me that Judge Feeley had authority to press charges against all three at that point. Fortunately, the members of the jury realized what was being done to Melix.
Had the results been different, I was not about to scream that the jury made a mistake (like the readers of the daily newspaper). That’s the law and I was willing to accept it. When Lenny Degnan was found guilty I accepted the verdict because I was not there, I had no access to the evidence that the jury had before them and because who am I to question their actions. My heart breaks for his family and that’s all I could think about if the result in Melix’s case were different: His family.
That’s the way it’s been done
Had anyone taken an interest in finding out when was the last time the proper procedure took place exchanging cars seized in drug raids, it would have been easy to discover that through the years they have been traded among friends or given to other police officers as gifts.
There are laws and rules on the books but only to be used when needed to malign someone. The Lawrence Police Department has never had appropriate supervision from City Hall and it has always acted as an independent form of government.
We’ve got a scapegoat!
It’s been very funny reading after nine months since City Comptroller David Camasso was fired, the reason for that decision. I say it’s funny because we still hear every now and then saying that the deficit Mayor William Lantigua found in 2010 was not real – Michael Sullivan himself has denied it.
Part of that $21 million deficit was the $9.7 million stolen by Bryan Cahoon, director of the Information Technology Department but Rumbo is the only one to have mentioned it through the years. We described the system used to submit purchase order numbers and invoices more than once for non-existent merchandise and services.
When Mr. Cahoon was finally accused of stealing close to one quarter million dollars from a federal grant, he pled ‘guilty’ instead of going to a trial that my show the rest of his dastardly deeds. He is serving a short sentence at present.
Now, over four years later, let’s get Camasso and throw the book at him for what has happened two administrations ago.
Perhaps (Oh, my God, I’m speculating now and I don’t like to do that) Camasso was under threat of doing his job a certain way at the risk of losing his job. Let’s face it, the next four years he seemed to be doing an OK job. So, why not go after Michael Sullivan?
How refreshing it is that the current Mayor Daniel Rivera has confessed to something so many wanted to maintain under the rug. During the past four years Rivera was a City Councilor and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the City Council. He certainly knew what had happened and never dealt with the issue.
