I asked her how she felt about having just a few more days now to wait before her release, and she said, “It’s just three days and a weekend,” as the expression goes according to the lingo that goes on inside the jail. 

She expressed that she liked the district attorney, Thomas Schultz, and that he was good to her and treated her well.  “I had to plead guilty to more than I was guilty of, in order to get out…” she explained.   And she explained that she felt that Thomas Schultz understood that.  She indicated that he made her a good and fair deal.   She also expressed that her attorney, Brian Gurwitz, did a favorable job for her, as well.  She is happy with him and has now further retained him to get her a divorce from Hector Porrata. 

Cara further commented on how Hector Porrata, her husband, entered payments for her and paid several of them to Rene Montes’ business, WCSC & Associates in Riverside, using her User identification.  Without going into too much detail, as is hard to do over a noisy cell phone connection, I assumed she meant that Hector had used her User ID and Password in the AIG system.  I made a mental note to dig further into this issue in the future when she is out of jail and not talking to me over a bad cell phone connection.

Cara explained that she had gotten advice and direction about what career to pursue moving forward, and what careers she could do with a felony criminal record.  She indicated that cosmetology is something she would like and enjoy, and is something she could get into without having to clear a heavy fiduciary background check.  But, she is also open to other career options, as well, and will move forward with an open mind.  Good cosmetology training takes about 11 months, she expressed.    

Her house in Victorville is still there for her, waiting for her to come back home, and has not been foreclosed upon.   The bank has indicated it will do a “work-out package” with her, as Cara hasn’t made her mortgage payments for one full year.   Also, her car, a PT Cruiser, is still there for her and did not get repossessed. 

She will be formally sentenced this Friday in Judge Frank Fasel’s court room in the Orange County Superior Court House in Santa Ana.  Cara’s plea agreement sentences her to two years in State Prison, for which she will have served full credit by this Friday. 

Cara and her husband, Hector Porrata, were arrested outside the front of their home in Victorville last May 6th 2009, when Hector was snatched up by the police as he left in the morning for work.  Cara was coaxed out of the house by the police after they called her while she was still inside the house from Hector’s cell phone.  She was then hauled off to jail with Hector in what she described as her pajamas: a tank top and a pair of shorts.   

Hector made a plea agreement in court on April 9th for eight years in State Prison.  He pleaded guilty to 118 counts of grand theft and insurance fraud, plus conspiracy and “enhancements”.   Cara pleaded guilty to 23 counts of grand theft and insurance fraud, plus conspiracy and enhancements.

This Friday Cara and Hector will be formally sentenced together, which Cara doesn’t like.  She explained that she gets too upset in court, and does not like to see Hector.  She has not seen him in a long time and no longer corresponds with him.  One of the reasons she waived her rights to the Preliminary Hearing is that she could not hold up well in court, and would get too upset and sometimes break down and weep.  It was to her best interest, emotionally, not to sit through that very long Preliminary Hearing next to her soon-to-be former husband along with the other two defendants: Rene Montes and George Martinez.

All four defendants were charged with conspiracy, grand theft, and insurance fraud for actions they took over about a three to four year period from 2003 to 2006 against Matrix Absence Management, a Third Party Administrator, which then had an office in Ontario, California, and AIG (now Chartis) whose office was and still is in Santa Ana.  The total amount embezzled from the two companies was approximately 1.4 million dollars.  In both the plea deals of Cara and Hector, they have agreed to make restitution.  The cases of both Rene Montes and George Martinez are still pending trial. 

One of Cara’s comments during my Happy Hour conversation with her yesterday, was that Rene and George would both be “dumb” not to make plea deals. 

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