Rene Montes' attorney, Fred McBride, engaged in a friendly banter with DA Tom Schultz before they both stepped back into the Judge's chambers for a rather long period of time.  McBride had appealed to Schultz: "All you can do is deal with the uncertainty of where I'm leading..."  And Schultz had retorted back, "I'm doing the best I can.  If I've got people I'm flying in, then I'll have to deal with them..."

They discussed their thoughts openly in the court room for some five minutes, as they sallied back and forth with their arguments and issues.

Tom Schultz is determined to try this case against Rene Montes beginning on June 21st, Monday, 2010.  This writer cornered Schultz in the elevator on his way out of the court building after he and McBride walked directly out of the Judge's chambers and straight out of the court room without engaging in any motions whatsoever.  Judge Fasel never even appeared on the bench. I directly asked Schultz what was going on with Rene Montes. 

Although Schultz would not offer to tell me what his plea offer was, he told me clearly that he had made Rene Montes an offer and that Montes had refused it.  He then stated, "I intend to try this case on June 21st. Maybe he'll come to his senses by then."

Rene Montes, who acted as the phoney shell companies of WC Surgery Centers and WCSC & Associates, from 2003 until his arrest on May 6th 2009, is charged with 59 felony counts of grand theft, 59 felony counts of insurance fraud, three felony counts of tax evasion, and one felony count of conspiracy, with sentencing enhancements allegations for aggravated white collar crime for losses of over $1.5 million and $500,000.  Montes faces a sentence which hits a maximum of 108 years and 4 months in prison.

Insider information not directly from the DA suggests the offer to Montes was for 10 years in State Prison.  If this is the deal Montes has refused, then he may very well be just "dumb" as Cara Cruz-Thompson stated that any of the defendants would be to go to trial, just days before she was released from jail on May 7th, after having coped a plea agreeing to 2 years in state prison for which she had already served credit.  George Martinez agreed to a deal for the same prison time and was also released on May 7th, like Cara, while Hector Porrata was sentenced to 8 years in State Prison and is currently waiting to be transferred to Wasco State Prison just 25 miles northwest of Bakersfield.

Informant leaks to this writer suggest that there is no Swiss bank account that holds any portion of the nearly 1.5 million dollars that was embezzled out of Matrix Absence Management in Ontario, California, and AIG Claims Services in Santa Ana, California, collectively. Some of these same informants assert that perhaps between $200,000 and $400,000 was also embezzled out of Sedgwick Claims Management Services in Riverside, but yet Sedgwick chose not to prosecute. Therefore, if it is true that Sedgwick was indeed robbed, as anonymous informants assert, then close to 2 million dollars was stolen in grand theft actions collectively from three companies: Sedgwick CMS, Matrix Absence Management, and AIG Claims Services.

It is clearly believeable now that most likely no money was wired to Mexico and saved there either.  All suggestions point to the fact that Rene Montes had a gambling problem and most likely a cocaine addiction.  All suggestions point to the idea that nearly 2 million dollars was gambled away in Las Vegas and through other casinos and resorts around Riverside County, such as Morengo and the other Indian-run casinos, and spent on "nose candy" and "ladies of easy virtue". 

It seems that this conspiracy was no Robin Hood-like adventure.  There was no noble cause behind stealing nearly 2 million dollars from what is suggested through not just the legal evidence, but through the hearsay of off-the-record informants.  What is suggested is a frenzy of addiction consisting of gambling, drug addiction, and possibly sex addiction which may have included high priced Las Vegas hookers. 

Deputy District Attorney, Thomas Schultz, stated as his final comment as we walked towards the exit of the Orange County Court House late on Friday morning, "It's a sordid web."

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