I had called the Director of Media Relations of the Jail hours earlier during the morning of Wednesday, December 2nd.  It was now approaching mid-afternoon.  His name was John McDonald, and I had diplomatically complained to him about having gotten the run around on October 8th and 9th.  I told him I wanted to interview Cara Cruz-Thompson, one of the alleged embezzlers in the AIG/Matrix case, who was still in Jail along with Hector Porrata, George Martinez and Rene Montes, the other codefendants on the same case.  I assured McDonald that I had gotten her consent.  Thus, by the end of the conversation, he assured me he would pave the way for me to interview Cara that afternoon.  So, I told him I was on my way there.  

Now, the place was nearly empty.  Only a few people sat on chairs in the very large waiting room.  Within a short time the Deputy spoke to me again, “Okay.  Go through this entrance right here, take the elevator up to the top, get off and go to the left, and follow the circular path all the way around to Section N Booth 9.” 

So, I started ahead.   The metal detectors were turned off.  The door was open.  I walked right through unhindered.  Nobody stopped me, nobody checked in my purse, nobody frisked me, nobody even so much as looked at me from there on forward.  The place was completely empty.  I took the elevator up.  I stepped out. I found the circular hallway.  It was all painted off-white.  It went around in a circle.  It went on and on...   I kept walking.  It was like a labyrinth.   I thought of Dante’s inferno: the concentric circles of Hell. I kept walking around in this circle.  I passed Section L which was completely empty, then Section M, which was also empty.  Then I got to Section N and I stepped into this section.  There were rows of booths with phones in front of glass partitions.  I read off the numbers, I found Booth 9 at the very end, which I knew was my booth.  It was an especially big one—very wide and very spacious.  It reminded me of the handicapped stall in public rest rooms.

So, I stepped inside Booth 9, sat down, got out my bottle of water and got comfortable on the stool.  And I waited for Cara. 

She took some time to get there, so I got lost in my thoughts.  Then, suddenly she appeared.  She stood before me and she sat down gracefully.   I looked at her and I smiled.  I picked up the phone but there was no sound.  Cara told me I had to close the door, so I stood up and went to close the door.  That made the phone work.  So I came back to the phone and I said, “Hello.”

I just started to talk and I can’t even remember what I first said.  But I just spoke to her as she looked right at me into my eyes.  She made direct eye contact and she kept the eye contact going.  So, as I continued to talk I looked down a few times and at my papers, and then I looked up again because I learned from the French that you should not without any pause just stare a person down.  To do that is very rude.  So I would look back at her after diverting my gaze for a while and when I looked back in her face she would keep a comfortable eye contact with me. 

Cara is an articulate woman, who speaks in the manner of a well educated professional.   She never swears.  She never used even a single cuss word the whole time I talked to her for nearly two hours.  She said, “my stars” a lot, which reminded me of my grandmother Ida, who had been born in 1892, who never even so much as said “damn”.  Instead of saying damn, she would say “my stars”, which is exactly what Cara would say.   

Cara has a petite countenance with medium brown hair she wears off her face.  She was wearing a dark blue V-necked tunic-like top.   She spoke of her hope for the Settlement Conference she believes will happen on December 15th.  She believes a settlement could be made on that date and that she could be released from jail then.  She is very hopeful.

Cara:  I have no faith in the judicial system, though.  So we shall see.  Stay tuned.

Lonce:  So, when were you arrested?

Cara:   May 6th.  (Of this year.)  I was at home.  I was recuperating from a major surgery, an abdominal surgery.  Hector had just left for work.   I got a call on my cell phone.  It was (from) Hector’s phone.  And I answered it.  But (it wasn’t Hector) it was a man identifying himself as a police officer.  He said, “We have Hector outside, in custody, can you come and get his stuff?”  So, I said, “Why do you have him in custody?” And he said, “Well, we’ll let you know when you come out.” 

Lonce:  So you were living with Hector?

Cara:  I’m married to Hector!

Lonce: Oh, what I have understood from others is that you were married to someone else, and also Hector was married to someone else, and then you two got close while married to others.  So, when did you get married to Hector?

Cara:  January 2nd of this year. 

So, what happened is Cara walked out in her pajamas, which for her is a pair of shorts and a tank top, to get Hector’s “stuff”.  And when she did this she was seized by the cops and arrested.  She was put in the back of a police car.  She was not allowed to go back into the house to get her purse, to put on more clothes, to get her toothbrush, or to get anything.  She was simply snatched up in her pajamas.

Thus, Cara was on a Medical Leave from Keenan & Associates in Riverside on May 6th 2009, that day she was arrested.   She had been working at Keenan since November of 2005, and she was scheduled to return to her job on May 18th  2009.   She only worked at AIG for a short period of time: from February of 2005 to November of 2005.  She explained that Hector started living with her in September of 2005, just shortly after Labor Day.  So since she and Hector were living together, she did not want to work in the same place he was working.  Therefore, Cara’s employment at AIG only lasted for 9 months. 

Lonce:  What would you like to say to people in the industry?

Cara:  That I have not been talked to by the DA.  I have not been given the benefit of them asking me one single solitary question.  Since I have been in here, nothing.  I feel like I’ve been locked away and they’ve thrown away the key.  I feel helpless.  It’s a horrible feeling.  

Lonce:  I understand.

Cara:  I have no voice.  Period.  The only ones I have fighting out there for me are my kids.

Lonce:  You have a daughter and… ?

Cara:  I have two daughters.  Ashley is 21 and Jennifer is 24.   I am losing my home.  My home that I bought on my own.  I am losing my car.  I am sure I have lost my career, that I’ve worked so hard for.  I established my name, my reputation, that it took 20 years to build.  I am losing everything…” 

Lonce:  So you have a house in Victorville and you’re losing it?

Cara:  Yes.  They haven’t sent the foreclosure notice yet, but I know it’s inevitable.  You know, by the time I get out of here… My last house payment was made in May, for goodness sakes.  It’s just a matter of time.

Lonce:  Is your car still there?

Cara:  It is still there.  The repo people came to get it.  The girls locked it in the garage.  And then I told them, just put it out.  Let it go.  I mean, that’s hard for me.  That’s really hard for me to do.  Well, they put it outside for two weeks, and the repo people didn’t come back.   So, they put it back in the garage.  So, I still have it.

Lonce: What is your car?

Cara:  It’s a little PT Cruiser.

Lonce: How do you feel about your career now?

Cara: You know, you’re so proud of something because you’ve worked so hard for it.  And you are ethical in everything that you do.  And you give everything your all.  And then to have it snatched away.  Right out from under you.

Lonce: How is Hector doing?

Cara:  I don’t get to talk to him. 

Lonce: Have you talked to Hector since May 6th?

Cara:  Just on the bus on the way to Court.  We don’t see each other.  Because we are co-defendants.

Lonce:  Do you love him?

Cara:  I do.  Do I feel betrayed?  I do…  I do…

Lonce: How do you feel about your marriage?

Cara: This has got to be off the record.  It has to be because this is not over yet…

We’ll be back on the record with Part II of An Interview With Cara, in a few days…

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