{"id":7064,"date":"2015-11-22T12:25:40","date_gmt":"2015-11-22T19:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/?p=7064"},"modified":"2017-02-20T15:39:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T22:39:12","slug":"15-unanswered-questions-in-the-dui-manslaughter-hit-and-run-death-of-mallory-rae-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=7064","title":{"rendered":"Unanswered Questions in the DUI manslaughter hit-and-run death of Mallory Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Unanswered%20Questions%20in%20the%20DUI%20manslaughter%20hit-and-run%20death%20of%20Mallory%20Dies\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>1) Beyond Mollie Culver and staff members in Rep. Lois Capps\u2019 D.C. office, who else was involved in the scheme to get Mr. Morua out of jail and into a V.A. funded treatment facility (New Directions in L.A.) in the four days immediately following Mr. Morua\u2019s DUI hit-and-run accident which sent Ms. Dies to the ICU at Cottage Hospital?<\/p>\n<p>As reported in Part Four of my series,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3221\">Damage Control<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0when I contacted officials at New Directions to ask if anyone there was aware of that scheme,\u00a0<strong>Cindy Young<\/strong>,\u00a0vice president of development and marketing, had this to say:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many steps that would need to occur before a veteran could be court-ordered to New Directions. For starters, a court process involving\u00a0<strong>a judge, public defender and district attorney<\/strong>\u00a0would have to occur that would lead to a decision to make an alternative sentencing order for a particular veteran. New Directions has no power to bring a veteran into its program that would somehow sidestep this court process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EOS-shot-of-RVM-hitting-MRD.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"EOS shot of RVM hitting MRD\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EOS-shot-of-RVM-hitting-MRD.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"513\" height=\"342\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>2) To what degree was Craig Lea, a re-entry specialist at the VA\u2019s Desert Pacific Network in Longbeach, CA involved in the scheme?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As I reported Ms. Culver had sent the first of\u00a0<strong><a title=\"VA Forms\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/VA_Forms_Mollie_Culver_for_Raymond_Morua_12_9_13.pdf\">two official forms<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to Mr. Lea in which she had forged Mr. Morua\u2019s signature. That first form VA 10-5345 was an authorization to release Mr. Morua\u2019s medical records to Mrs. Capps\u2019 Santa Barbara office. Ms. Culver also filled out and forged Mr. Morua\u2019s signature on a VA form 10-10 EZ, an application for health benefits which would have sent him to New Directions if approved.<\/p>\n<p>After sending in the first form on or about December 9th, three days after the crash, Ms. Culver, according to\u00a0<strong>Teresa Montoya<\/strong>who later married Mr. Morua, met with her in person and urged her to send in the second form to Mr. Lea which Mrs. Morua did. At the time she didn\u2019t know that she might be violating federal law since that form calls for \u201ca fine and\/or imprisonment for up to 5 years for concealing a material fact or making a materially false statement.\u201d<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.40.50-PM2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 10.40.50 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.40.50-PM2-266x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"266\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As reported in Part Five of my series\u00a0<a title=\"Part Five\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3229\"><strong>Cover Up<\/strong><\/a>, I contacted Mr. Lea during the research phase of my series and he agreed to talk with me, but later VA officials refused to make him available. However, on April\u00a04, Mr. Lea paid a visit to Mr. Morua in Santa Barbara County Jail, and according to Mrs. Morua, her husband confirmed for Mr. Lea \u00a0that those were not his signatures on the forms that had been sent into the VA. Therefore:<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) What if anything has the Veterans Administration done to investigate my findings on this scheme to defraud the VA?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As of this date no one from the VA Inspector General\u2019s Office, the DOJ or the FBI has contacted me to get the originals of the forged documents which Mrs. Morua gave to me. Nor, to my knowledge, has anyone from the VA sought to investigate the evidence of possible fraud by Ms. Culver and others in Mrs. Capps office.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4) What happened to the investigation of my findings by the FBI and Public Integrity Section (PIN) of \u00a0The U.S. Justice Department which was the direct result of a\u00a0referral by Santa Barbara County D.A. Joyce Dudley to Andr\u00e9 Birotte, then the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In mid-May, according to an email from Ms. Dudley to<strong>\u00a0Matt Dies,<\/strong>the father of the victim, Mr. Birotte sent my five-part series to PIN and on May 27th\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Martindale profile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.martindale.com\/Marquest-J-Meeks\/157225057-lawyer.htm\">Marquest J. Meeks<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0an attorney from Main Justice traveled to the Santa Barbara area to investigate the V.A. allegations.<\/p>\n<p>As first reported\u00a0<strong><a title=\"FBI probe\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4092\">on this website<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and picked up by\u00a0<strong><a title=\"News-Press FBI probe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newspress.com\/morua-capps\/1.html\">The News Press<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Fox News\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/06\/09\/fbi-doj-reportedly-probing-california-rep-ties-to-driver-in-dui-death\/\">FoxNews.com<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<a title=\"AP FBI story\" href=\"http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2014\/Jun\/12\/feds-probe-aftermath-of-crash-involving-house-aide\/\"><strong>The Associated Press<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong><a title=\"LAT\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-probe-capps-aide-20140612-story.html\">The LA Times<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0the federal investigation first involved an interview of Mrs. Morua by Mr. Meeks and two Special Agents from the Bureau\u2019s Santa Maria Resident Agency (RA)\u00a0<strong>Dieter Willcomm<\/strong>\u00a0and<strong>\u00a0Marni Barton. \u00a0<\/strong>That night, after Mr. Meeks had departed for D.C. the two SA\u2019s interviewed Mr. Morua in the presence of his then attorney\u00a0<strong>Darry Genis<\/strong>\u00a0and \u00a0later his mother\u00a0<strong>Rose Saucedo<\/strong>.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-probe-capps-aide-20140612-story.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 10.31.16 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.31.16-PM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"317\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>All three interview subjects confirmed my findings regarding Ms. Culver\u2019s scheme to get Mr. Morua out of jail and into New Directions, but the probe apparently ended there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) If the FBI and DOJ were interested in confirming my findings of federal crimes, why didn\u2019t they ever ask to interview me or request the original VA forms which are in my possession?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the research and reporting of my series I relied on no confidential sources. Since this was a matter of public interest, I sent repeated emails to Mr. Meeks copying SA\u2019s Willkomm and Barton along with senior FBI officials offering to cooperate. But not a single official from the FBI or DOJ followed-up or even asked to examine the two VA forms for Ms. Culver\u2019s fingerprints. Why?<\/p>\n<p>By September, three months after his trip to Ventura County where he interviewed Mrs. Morua, Mr. Meeks was no longer working at The Public Integrity Section of Main Justice in Washington. Instead had been re-assigned as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Louisiana. On October 6th he made the opening argument in\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Marquest Meeks N.O. tria link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nola.com\/crime\/index.ssf\/2014\/10\/trial_begins_for_orleans_traff.html\">the trial of a traffic court accountant<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0charged with embezzlement. So that apparent change in his status at DOJ leads us to this question: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.33.25-PM3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 10.33.25 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.33.25-PM3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"228\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>6) Did Marquest Meeks\u2019 investigation of possible forgery and fraud by Mollie Culver, whom I reported was\u00a0<a title=\"Mollie electoral college\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4412\">one of 55 members<\/a>in the California delegation of the Electoral College voting for Barack Obama in 2012 lead to a demotion?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>7) Further, did politics play any role in the apparent unwillingness of the Justice Department to pursue charges against Ms. Culver who is also the former political director of The California Democratic Party?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>8) Why did the defense of the civil suit filed by attorney Bob Stoll on behalf of Matt and Raeona Dies shift from Mary Beth Walker, in the U.S. House of Representatives Office of General Counsel to\u00a0<a title=\"Julie Zatz state bar\" href=\"http:\/\/members.calbar.ca.gov\/fal\/Member\/Detail\/155560\">Julie Zatz<\/a>, an AUSA in Andr\u00e9 Birotte\u2019s office \u2014 the very federal prosecutor\u2019s office which had forwarded my series for investigation to The Public Integrity Section in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to correspondence sent by Ms. Zatz to Mr. Stoll on May 28th (the day after the FBI-DOJ investigation began) she asked that Mrs. Capps\u2019a name be removed from the list of defendants in the wrongful death suit, substituting \u201cThe United States of America\u201d as a defendant.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<a title=\"Part Five\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3229\"><strong>Part Five<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of my series I raised the question of whether Ms. Walker might be guilty of obstruction of justice for sending a letter to Santa Barbara D.A. Joyce Dudley asking to \u201cwork with (her) and (her) office and\/or investigators to segregate\u201d what Ms. Walker termed \u201csensitive official information\u201d from Mr. Morua\u2019s office iPhone 4 seized on the night of his arrest.<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.47.16-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 1.47.16 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.47.16-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"125\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If the D.A. or SBPD had acquiesced to Ms. Walker\u2019s request, evidence that might have helped the Dies family\u2019s civil case (or a potential criminal prosecution of Ms. Culver) could have been removed.<\/p>\n<p>When I asked Mrs. Dudley for her assurance that no one from her office or the Santa Barbara Police Department had complied with Ms. Walker\u2019s request, she replied, \u00a0\u201cTo my knowledge, the DAs office has not done anything with the cellphone records. I can\u2019t speak to what the SBPD may have done or will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But when Mr. Genis received a download of data from Mr. Morua\u2019s iPhone 4 and his personal iPhone 3 executed by the SBPD, it appeared that some material had been removed including Mr. Morua\u2019s last text to his then fianc\u00e9\/now wife Teresa Montoya at 12:06 a.m. just after he\u2019d crashed his Dodge Caliber:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBaby I\u2019m Done,\u201d were the words he texted that were received by Ms. Montoya on her iPhone but they were apparently missing from the download of data furnished to Mr. Genis by the SBPD, leading to these questions:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.48.22-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 1.48.22 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.48.22-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"455\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>9) Was Ms. Walker ever investigated by the Public Integrity Section for her attempt to \u201csegregate\u201d what she termed \u201csensitive official information\u201d from Mr. Morua\u2019s cell phone? And did her letter to Mrs. Dudley, lead to the defense of the case being handled by Mr. Birotte\u2019s office?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In mid-September, around the same time that Marquest Meeks left Main Justice, Ms. Walker left the House Office of General Counsel to take a job in the Office of the Solicitor of the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office. Her departure was marked by a \u201cTribute\u201d in the Congressional Record by GOP\u00a0Congressman<a title=\"Walker TRIBUTE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/congressional-record\/2014\/9\/16\/extensions-of-remarks-section\/article\/E1425-4\"><strong>\u00a0Darrell E. Issa.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>10) Did Ms. Walker\u2019s departure have anything to do with the way she initially handled the representation of Mrs. Capps and her staff and, was her exit related to the takeover of the defense by AUSA Julie Zatz, the Assistant Chief of the Civil Division in Los Angeles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And if, in fact, the Feds have dropped the ball and failed to further pursue an investigation of my findings of VA fraud and possible obstruction of Justice:<\/p>\n<p><strong>11) Will D.A. Joyce Dudley commence an investigation since forgery and obstruction of justice are also state crimes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Dudley only made the referral to the Feds after Mr. Dies got more than 1,000 signatures on a petition asking Mrs. Capps to come clean and tell the truth about my findings. The petition also called for the D.A. to call in the DOJ.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12) Now that Justice has apparently stalled in its probe, will the District Attorney, a close friend and political ally of Lois Capps, move forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>13) Will Lois Capps finally tell the full truth about how much awareness her office had of Raymond Morua\u2019s prior criminal record at the time he was brought on board as an intern and later promoted to District Rep?\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Capps-Morua-back-of-jeep-copy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Capps &amp; Morua back of jeep copy\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Capps-Morua-back-of-jeep-copy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"323\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2006 Mr. Morua had two prior DUI arrests and a third arrest for a vehicular hit-and-run. In 2010, while working in Mrs. Capps office he was convicted of grand theft embezzlement. He had spoken openly about his problems with alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>In the hours leading up to his manslaughter hit-and-run in which he struck Mallory Rae Dies at a speed (estimated by an SBPD detective) of 60 m.p.h. he consumed no less than eight drinks, including two bourbons at dinner and six vodkas at the Santa Barbara Independent\u2019s annual Holiday Bash, an invitation-only event at which I proved he was working for Mrs. Capps. See Part Two of the series,\u00a0<a title=\"Part Two\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3206\"><strong>Everybody Loved Raymond<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14) One of the Capps staffers present at the party, whom Mr. Morua texted Ms. Montoya he was with, was Chris Meagher, Mrs. Capps\u2019 press secretary and a former reporter for the Indy.\u00a0<strong>Why couldn\u2019t Mr. Meagher or anyone else at that party who watched Mr. Morua consuming so many drinks, have pulled him aside and asked for his car keys before letting him walk out into the night?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Morua, for his part, took responsibility and pled guilty to his crimes. He\u2019s now serving 20 years to life at Wasco State Prison. Mrs. Capps and Mr. Meagher were quoted by The Independent and FoxNews.com as charging that my series was\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Indy. Full of Inaccuracies\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2014\/apr\/15\/morua-pleads-guilty-dui-and-fatal-hit-and-run-char\/\">\u201cfull of inaccuracies.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>But they have refused to cite a single fact or allegation in the 20,500 word series that was incorrect.<\/p>\n<p><strong>15) When will Lois Capps, who won a 9th term in November, take responsibility for Ms. Culver and the other members of her staff who watched Mr. Morua develop into\u00a0<\/strong><strong>a ticking time bomb and tell the full truth about this case?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Unanswered%20Questions%20in%20the%20DUI%20manslaughter%20hit-and-run%20death%20of%20Mallory%20Dies\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>1) Beyond Mollie Culver and staff members in Rep. Lois Capps\u2019 D.C. office, who else was involved in the scheme to get Mr. Morua out of jail and into a V.A. funded treatment facility (New Directions in L.A.) in the four days immediately following Mr. Morua\u2019s DUI hit-and-run accident which sent Ms. Dies to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1184],"tags":[782,584,779,526,1211,531,668,193,527,567,529,905,189,109,909,770,583,508,522,910,904,523,510,538,576,906,907,908,557],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7064"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7085,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7064\/revisions\/7085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}