I
have mentioned before that I would report on organizations that appear to be
taking advantage of anomic people. This report concerns certain vendors who
appear to be promising help for men and women in prison, but upon examination,
the vendors seem to fall short of their promises.
More
than a handful of proprietors exist to provide products and services to people
in prison and their families. The product may simply be a book or a magazine
subscription or even something more complicated such as photo copies or
internet research. The majority of these businesses have proven legitimate or
else they would not remain viable. A few are performing criminal acts.
One
example of the criminal kind is Quadir Abdul Shabazz, wo by all accounts, was
the proprietor of INDIGENT INMATES in Atlanta, Georgia Mr. Shabazz is now in
federal custody [Docket No. 13-CR-00441 in the Northern District of Georgia,
Atlanta Division] on charges of aggravated identity theft.
I
recently met with Billy Dee at the Bill Clements Unit in Amarillo, Texas who
just discovered he is a victim of Shabazz. Mr. Dee says Federal District
Attorney, Thomas Krepp informed him that Shabazz had filed false tax returns
using Billy’s identity by Billy innocently provided in order to retain services
from Indigent Inmates. Fraudulent returns were submitted without Mr. Dee’s
knowledge so Shabazz could pocket the refund checks. By stating this I am not
suggesting that every business that requests a Social Security Number and date
of birth is using it for criminal purposes. I am implying that, to convicted “con
men” the request for personal information combined with a vague premise is
cause for pause.
The
say is “You can’t con a con man.” Since convicted people generally fall into
that category (due to experience behind bars), we are sensitive to schemes that
might negatively affect us. Perhaps even paranoid about it. Sometimes out of
desperation, we tend to overlook the warning signs. An example of a process
that might fit this category is one promoted by Eileen Lawrence of OMEA 17, now
at P.O. Box 5043, Hemet, California 92544. The OMEGA 17 “process” has evolved
over time from one involving buying conviction ‘bonds’ for a fee of $4,000, to
one that establishes ‘private citizen status’ for $8,000. Both are purported to
cause release of the convicted man or woman. Are we being conned? Besides the
fantastic nature of the claims by Ms. Lawrence, other anomalies point to possible
illegitimacy. For example, Eileen uses letterhead titled “PARALEGAL SERVICES”
that expresses she is licensed in Washington State, yet the return address is
Hemet, CA. Why the inconsistency?
Another
inconsistency is Eileen’s associate, Wes Jarvis of 572 E. Broad Street in
Pataskala, OH 43062. Jarvis charges $125.00 for a CUSIP number to be connected
with the conviction bonds which are believed to be sold to investors by the
trial courts.
Convicted
people in prison don’t have much money as a rule, especially in Texas where we
are not paid for our work. Much of the funds we do have are one’s gifts which may
be irreplaceable. That being the case, you can imagine what it takes for any of
us to turn loose of $8,000.00.
In
a effort to finally determine whether the OMEGA 17 process is a scam or real, I
sent a letter to Wes Jarvis on March 10, 2015. The letter asked that Jarvis
respond to 4 questions I 30 days. He never responded. Additionally, I mailed a
copy of Jarvis’ letter to Eileen Lawrence where I also asked her to answer 12
questions. She never responded. Both letters are posted in previous blog posts
and each suggests that a non-response is evidence of fraud.
What
are the chances that both letters were not received? It is sad that vendors
would promote services for enormous sums and fail to back up their claims. What
are they hiding? We want to believe! These vendors offer hope where none exists
otherwise so their unconventional methods are attractive. Are they getting rich
of us for nothing? The process of OMEGA 17 and others indicate the government is
creating and selling bonds using our names and that the profit belongs to us.
If that is true, then why do the vendors ask such large fees? Could they not
assist us on a contingency basis? How funny that most of those vendors profess a
Christian attitude and they want to ‘help’ or they wish to ‘expose’ the fraud
of government.
I
want to expose anyone who is trying to exploit the downtrodden. That is what I
am doing in this article.
