Where is that from? I thought to myself.  Who is calling me?  I decided, oh well, I'll just answer it.  Whatever. So, I pressed "Answer" and I said, "Hello this is Lonce." 

And then I heard a recording.  It said, "You are receiving a call from Orange County Jail... to accept this Call, press 0..."  At that point I panicked, I looked at my Blackberry and tried to figure out where the 0 (Zero) is.  Blackberry key pads are different from traditional telephone key pads, and I often can't find the right numbers.  I have had this problem numerous times when trying to pick up my voice mail messages left on my land line number from my Blackberry. So, I took a long moment to figure out where the 0 was. And I guess I got lucky. Within a couple of seconds or so, I heard, "Hi, this is Cara..."

It was Cara Cruz-Thompson calling me from within the Orange County Jail.  She has been encarcerated since the early Spring of this year. She has been accused of being a main party to embezzling approximately 1.4 million dollars out of A.I.G. in Costa Mesa and Matrix Absence Management in Ontario.  She is accused together with Rene Montes, Hector Porrata, and George Martinez, all of whom are also still in custody in Orange County Jail. 

I immediately wanted to say the appropriate thing, so I said, "Hi, Cara, how are you?" And then I thought about saying, "Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?" but I immediately thought that is not something you say to someone who spent Thanksgiving in jail, so I did not say that.  I kept my mouth shut and said nothing more.  I decided to just let her reply to my simple "how are you?"

She spoke forthright without hesitation. "I need help! I'm living a hell. I'm in hell. This is crazy."

"Yes," I said.  "I understand."  I wondered what else to say. But I didn't have to struggle too hard.  Cara spoke easily.

"I need a voice. There are people (in the industry) that know me. I want them to hear me.  I can't survive something like this."

I told her I would come to see her, and we could talk.  I told her I had come to see her on October 8th and 9th, and had been turned away.  I told her the Deputy had said to me that she said she didn't know who I was.

"I didn't say that," she expressed.  "I know who you are." She went on to say that she has known who I am for perhaps around 20 years.  And I laughed.  This was just more affirmation that the Deputies at the Orange County Jail come up with more miscommunications than can ever possibly even be miscommunicated.  It's pretty impressive.

Cara explained that she signed the form consenting to be interviewed by me.  I replied to her that, yes, I had seen her signature on the form; but, then when I took the form to IRC (Intake and Release Center) the Deputy there told me that she had not understood what she had signed the day before, and that she didn't know who I was.

Cara explained that she knew exactly what she was signing. Now I know better that there is clearly more bullshit that comes out of that Orange County Jail than gets shoveled out of a real bull pen.  Now I have made plans to interview Cara on Wednesday, December 2nd, in the afternoon. And Cara knows I am coming. I am going to arrive at Noon to start the paperwork.  Cara has my cell phone number, and I have the Global Tel-Link account set up so she can call me freely.  If that Deputy hassles me again this Wednesday, or tries to baffle me with any more bullshit, I am going to as eloquently as possible make a scene and demand my way in.  I just might cause some trouble if he tries to turn me away, but I'll try not to make trouble.

Let's hope I don't get arrested or get into any more types of house arrest like I did in Court Room C-55 on November 17th!  Holy smoke!  I need to stay out of trouble.  So wish me luck...

Cara clarified for me what was so confusing after November 17th when the Preliminary Hearing was "trailed" to some future date.  At first Gil Carreon, Hector Porrata's attorney, told me the new Preliminary Hearing would be scheduled for January 26th.  But, this date was selected before approval by the Judge.  Later on the Orange County Sheriffs' Department website, I saw the date of December 15th.  Cara let me know when we were talking on the phone Sunday that December 15th has been chosen as the date for a Settlement Conference.  So, plea bargaining is taking place. 

Cara Cruz-Thompson would like to make a statement to the industry; she wants "a voice" as she has expressed, so I am going to let her express her voice through www.adjustercom.com. I am going to write out to you, my readers, what she wishes to say to you. It is my intention, my design, to simply exactly document what Cara states, and publish it for you, the claims community. 

Cara's words will be published on Thursday, December 3rd, hopefully, if all goes well. 

We'll see... Stay tuned... I need to get past those Deputies...

Readers may write to writer Lonce LaMon at lonce@adjustercom.com