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| | Rene Montes' Hearing For Final Sentencing In Orange County Superior Court To Be Postponed Once Again. Montes' Attorney, Fred McBride, Not Ready. By Lonce LaMon - August 27, 2010Deputy District Attorney Thomas Schultz stated yesterday that Rene Montes' attorney, Fred McBride, told him he's not going to be ready today to plead on behalf of his client for his final sentencing. Schultz said that he will answer the judge, the Honorable Frank Fasel, that he is ready. But McBride has already told D.A. Schultz that he is going to answer that he is not ready. Therefore, Schultz guessed that Judge Fasel will grant him one more continuance.
This sentencing hearing has already been continued from July 30th to today. On July 30th, Fred McBride was simply not available. This time he is available but not ready.
How he intends to plead likely mitigation for the maximum 12 year sentence for Rene Montes is not known. Tom Schultz guessed he would be likely to plead the law, not any of the facts of the case.
Schultz is confident that Judge Fasel will give Rene Montes the full 12 year sentence to which he agreed as a maximum. There are too many aggravating factors involved in Montes' crime--such as the fact he was the mastermind of the embezzlement scheme, he assumed a position of leadership in the crime, the crime involved sophistication and complexity, and there was planning. These are all aggravating factors. As far as mitigating factors, there are too few. The one that's most obvious is Rene's dearth of a criminal past.
Rene Montes was a workers' compensation claims adjuster in the 1990s and up until the early 21st century, when he worked in the Conagra Unit at Sedgwick Claims Management Services in Riverside, California. It was at this time at Sedgwick just after the turn of the millenium that Montes also worked with Hector Porrata, George Martinez, and Cara Cruz-Thompson, all of whom were arrested on the same day as Montes--May 6th 2009--but made their plea deals in March, April and May of 2010. Sedgwick never prosecuted. The companies that prosecuted were Matrix Absence Management in Ontario and AIG Claims Services in Santa Ana.
Hector and Cara worked at Matrix after leaving Sedgwick. Hector, Cara, and George all worked at AIG after Hector and Cara left Matrix. After Rene Montes left Sedgwick he was no longer a claims adjuster but worked full-time at his shell game and his gambling and cocaine addictions. His shell company was first named WC Surgery Centers and then he changed the name to WCSC & Associates. He propositioned adjusters to pay liens and hospital bills to him with the promise he would negotiate the liens and the bills, while taking a piece out of the payments for himself. He allegedly gave kick-backs to Hector and George, but none to Cara. According to Hector, who is Cara's husband, he duped his own wife into paying liens to Rene Montes without telling her the truth that Rene's business was a scam. Montes was never authorized by the Providers to negotiate bills for them.
George Martinez and Cara Cruz-Thompson had the least number of counts, and were therefore released from Orange County jail on May 7th 2010, serving no actual prison time--although their sentences were for two years each in state prison. They both had enough credit for time served. Hector Porrata, however, pleaded guilty in April and made a deal for eight years in state prison, with nowhere near enough credit for time served to cover eight years. He is now encarcerated in Wasco State Prison just northwest of Bakersfield, California. Since being transferred from Orange County jail in early June, Hector has been quite ill, and finally last month it was discovered he was suffering from pneumonia. He was finally cured with heavy doses of antibiotics and is now well, but lost his prison job as a porter because of his illness.
Hector has lost over 45 pounds of body weight since being incarcerated. He is now in 23-hour-a-day lock-down and has not seen his counselor yet. He is hoping to be well enough and strong enough to qualify for a fire camp.
On July 31st, Hector wrote to this writer, these words: "There is not any one reason or event that I can substantially link to my decision to steal all that money. Now you must realize that I am not trying to justify my actions! Not one iota! What I did was wrong, wrong, wrong!"
Rene Montes' new date for sentencing is to be determined. Most likely, today will be the last allowed postponement.
Readers may write to writer Lonce LaMon at lonce@adjustercom.com
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