PLEASE
FORWARD ALL CONTRIBUTIONS
TO:
JOHN
FRANCES
300
BAYOU BOULEVARD #217
PENSACOLA
,
FL
32503
www.legalfundfrances.org
E-Mail
Address: [email protected]
I want to personally thank each of you who have taken the time and
shown interest in reading the story regarding the circumstances behind the
“Johnny Frances Legal Defense Trust Fund.”
This story is somewhat complicated, bizarre and perhaps not
believable. Nevertheless, it
is absolutely true and everything written in this letter is verifiable.
Johnny Frances has been a member of the Pensacola
,
Florida
community since 1989. He has
also been a member of the Pensacola
,
Florida
business community since 1990, and now he is reaching out to his community
and to the entire nation for help.
Citizens of the Pensacola
community know John Frances as a person who has brought millions of
investment dollars and economic growth to the local home improvement
industry. His social
conscience also is deeply responsible for the revitalization and continued
improvement of the
Lincoln Park
and Wedge Wood communities. These
communities were regarded as areas typically neglected by the financial
community and thus property values remained depressed.
From the early 1990s Mr. Frances
has quietly educated the members of these and other communities in the
value of home ownership and how to increase the value of their homes.
Until
now
Mr. Frances
has kept a low profile and has never sought public applause or recognition
for his accomplishments. The
gratitude Mr. Frances
received throughout the years from his customers was felt in the warm
feeling in his heart after seeing the smiling faces of his customers.
This feeling was all the thanks Mr. Frances
needed. But now he needs your
help and support.
On November 15, 2007 Johnny Frances was put on trial and convicted
of two counts of burglary and two counts of criminal
mischief. The story of his
conviction involves Charles Cross and a detective with the Pensacola
Police Department by the name of Erik Goss.
Many of you may not realize this, but Mr. Frances
has been arrested three times while a member of the Pensacola Community.
These arrests reach back to 2001.
Each time Mr. Frances
was arrested the complaint originated from Charles Cross.
Each time the case was investigated, it was by the same detective,
Erik Goss.
Mr.
Frances
has lived in Pensacola
Florida
at the same address for 18 years and has operated a business for 18 years.
He has come in contact with thousands of people, and he lives in a
condominium complex with 67 other residents.
Yet no other person other than Charles Cross has ever filed a
criminal complaint against Mr. Frances.
Mr. Frances
does not even have a speeding ticket in the past 18 years.
So what is going on?
Well, this story is really about a man named Charles Cross and a
police officer named Erik William Goss.
Back in October of 2001 Mr.
Frances
was carrying a television set
through a doorway at the clubhouse in the condominium complex where Mr. Frances
lives. Without provocation
Charles Cross intentionally blocked Mr.
Frances
’ path and punched Mr. Frances
in the face. Initially, the
police investigated a complaint Mr.
Frances
filed for being punched in the face. But
the police closed the case and cleared it as unfounded.
Approximately three months later in December 2001 Mr. Frances
was arrested for striking Charles Cross with the television set.
Charles Cross bypassed the police process and went directly to a
judge by the name of Parnham and Charles Cross signed an affidavit and
then Judge Parnham issued a warrant for Mr.
Frances’ arrest. This was all done
after the police had investigated the case and found John Frances had not
committed a crime.
Mr. Frances
represented himself at the trial and he filed what is known as a “motion
to dismiss.” The motion
alleged that Charles Cross knowingly filed a false affidavit to have Mr.
Frances
arrested. The Honorable Judge
David Ackerman dismissed the charges precisely on those grounds.
Here is the relevant testimony from that hearing.
During the hearing in front of the Honorable Judge David Ackerman,
Charles Cross admitted intentionally striking Mr. Frances
in the face. The testimony was
also witnessed by the detective who had initially investigated the case,
detective Erik Goss. The judge
asked Charles Cross, “What legal authority did you have to block Mr. Frances’ path and punch him in the face?”
Charles Cross’ reply: “I
am the president of the condominium association.”
This case was dismissed on the grounds Charles Cross knowingly
filed a false affidavit to have Mr. Frances
arrested. So you would think
Charles Cross would then be arrested for filing a false police report and
committing a battery on Mr. Frances
.
Well, when Mr.
Frances
attempted to file a complaint against Charles Cross, the reply from
Detective Erik Goss to Mr. Frances was, “You need to be a little more
careful and not put yourself in
these
types of situations.” Mr. Frances
was so frustrated with this response he decided to write a letter to the
chief of the Pensacola Florida Police Department, John Mathis.
The chief was kind enough to respond in writing to Mr. Frances
.
The chief wrote in his letter that Mr. Frances’ complaint was
more of a civil complaint and not criminal.
Can you believe this! It
was criminal when Mr. Frances
was merely innocently carrying a television set and being punched in the
face intentionally by Charles Cross. But
it was a civil complaint when Charles Cross punched John Frances and filed
a false police report. Mr. Frances
still has the letter written on the chief of police’s letterhead.
I personally think the chief of police should not be serving in the
position of chief of police, if he does not understand how to interpret
the law.
Then in August 2003 Mr. Frances
was viciously attacked at the Bayou Breeze Condominium complex by the
maintenance employee Jeff Simpson. Here
is the story behind this incident. Mr.
Frances
recently had sold one of his rental properties to Lillie
Robertson. Lillie Robertson
had been a tenant of Mr.
Frances
in one of his other properties, but she was seeking home ownership.
During the time Lillie Robertson was a tenant she was experiencing
a lot of harassment from Charles Cross.
Charles Cross was going up on the roof above her unit and disconnecting her air
conditioning unit in the middle of the night.
The police were called, but they said they could not do anything
about it because Charles Cross claimed he was the manager.
The truth of the matter was that John Frances owned and managed
Lillie Robertson’s unit. Shortly
after that incident Claudia Abrams, the condominium association manager,
made a comment to Mr.
Frances
that the “Association” was going to do whatever it took to get rid of
that “Nigger” in Mr. Frances’ unit. (This was a racial
comment directed at Lillie Robertson.)
Mr. Frances
was then kind enough to sell one of his properties located in the same
complex to Lillie Robertson, making Lillie Robertson an owner in the
condominium association.
Shortly after Lillie Robertson purchased her new home, she began to
experience problems with the roof leaking.
She asked Mr. Frances
for assistance in taking pictures so she could bring them to the insurance
company.
Mr.
Frances
witnessed Charles Cross and Jeff Simpson, a maintenance employee for the
condominium, on the roof above Lillie Robertson’s unit at approximately
1:00 PM on the afternoon of August 5, 2003. Mr. Frances
was then involved with the condominium association in a pending civil
lawsuit regarding the numerous leaks from the roof above his rental units
in this condominium building. So
he decided to videotape from inside his home and unbeknownst to Cross and Simpson,
what they were doing above Lillie Robertson’s unit.
Later that same day Mr. Frances
was exiting his home that is located in the same complex as Lillie
Robertson’s and he noticed that her door was open.
So Mr. Frances
went upstairs to her unit, but she was not home.
But Jeff Simpson was inside cleaning up water that was pouring
through the ceiling from a rainstorm that had occurred after Cross and
Simpson were on the roof earlier that day.
Simpson told Mr. Frances
that Lillie Robertson was not home. Now
keep in mind that Simpson was well aware that Mr. Frances is one of the
owners at this condominium. Mr.
Frances
was no stranger to Simpson.
Mr. Frances
then walked back to his unit and retrieved his video camera, thinking it
would be a great opportunity to preserve on video what is going on with
the roof above Lillie Robertson’s home.
Mr. Frances
then walked back up to her apartment, opened the door and raised his video
camera toward the ceiling. At
this point Jeff Simpson charged at Mr. Frances
yelling, “No! NO! NO.! You can’t be in here!”
The video is quite clear as to what happened.
Despite having the video of the attack, Mr.
Frances
was arrested for videotaping the roof leaking, while he was being attacked
and assaulted by Jeff Simpson. So
you would think the State Attorney’s Office would have enough sense to
dismiss the case and charge Jeff Simpson with filing a false police report
and assaulting Mr. Frances. No that is not how it works
here in
Pensacola
,
Florida
.
This is how it works in Pensacola,
Florida. Mr. Frances
was put on trial. During the
trial Jeff Simpson testified that Charles Cross told him to go down to the
police department. Mr. Frances
also learned during the trial that the first call to the police was made
from the home of Charles Cross. Now,
how did Charles Cross know what had occurred?
Charles Cross was not present when Simpson was attacking Mr. Frances. In fact Charles Cross was in
his home four miles away. Charles
Cross had Claudia Abrams (the same condominium manager who was trying to
get rid of, as she put it, The “Nigger,” Lillie Robertson) make the
911 phone call to the police.
Mr. Frances
was lucky he had a videotape that showed exactly what happened. Despite all
this evidence, Mr. Frances
was put on trial not once but twice for the same alleged crime.
I did not think you could do that in America.
But then again this is Pensacola,
Florida. Mr. Frances
was eventually acquitted by a jury.
Then Mr.
Frances
went to the City of Pensacola City Council
to try and resolve this problem of being falsely arrested.
The City Manager arranged a face-to-face meeting with the Chief of
Police John Mathis. Prior to
the meeting the chief sent Detective Goss over to Mr. Frances’ home. Detective Goss
watched the video of Simpson attacking Mr.
Frances
and told Mr.
Frances
, “Tough luck.” That Mr.
Frances cannot go around videotaping water destroying property he has a
mortgage on while he is being assaulted.
Detective Goss told Mr.
Frances
he needs to be a little more careful of the situations he gets into.
Mr. Frances
was trying to help Lillie Robertson, he is attacked, and he was the one
arrested. Unbelievable!
Now once again it is a crime for John Frances to be holding a video
camera while Jeff Simpson attacks Mr. Frances. But it is not a crime to
attack John Frances and then file a false police report, unless you live
in
Pensacola,
Florida. Mr. Frances
was told by the city manager, “I know Charles Cross and I know he has a
temper but we are not going to arrest him.”
When Mr. Frances
asked the chief what he intended to do, the chief replied, “Nothing.
I don’t see where any crimes have been committed against you, it
sounds civil to me.”
Now during the time from 1999 through 2003 Mr. Frances
had purchased a number of units at the same Bayou Breeze Condominium
complex, and Charles Cross did not like that.
So
Charles
Cross started levying fines against Mr. Frances’ units. Charles Cross then
conducted illegal association meetings to give the fines a false
credibility. Several other
owners became suspicious about Charles Cross’ conduct and they filed a
civil fraud lawsuit against Charles Cross.
Charles Cross and the Bayou Breeze Condominium Association were
also being investigated and were being sued by the State Attorney
General’s Office and then Attorney General Charlie Crist.
This lawsuit was for discriminating against a family with children.
According to court records, Charles Cross was harassing the small
children and trying to prohibit the children from accessing the common
elements of the condominium.
During a condominium homeowners’ meeting Charles Cross made some
damaging remarks to his legal position concerning the lawsuit with the
Attorney General’s Office. This
meeting was recorded on audiotape. A
duplicate of this audiotape was forwarded to the Attorney General’s
Office by another owner, Ida Nissen. Shortly after this
occurred, Charles Cross reported a
burglary
to the Pensacola Police Department. Charles
Cross claimed in the report that the condominium association clubhouse was
broken into and the audiotape was stolen.
Well, Charles Cross was accusing owner Ida Nissen of breaking into
the condominium office and stealing the audiotape and then giving the tape
to the State Attorney General Charlie Crist.
Now Mr. Frances
has known Ida Nissen for quite some time and let’s just say Ida is an
elderly lady who previously served on the board of directors for the same
condominium. Ida Nissen does
not appear to possess the characteristics necessary to carryout a
burglary.
Unless
you are Detective Erik Goss.
Yes, Detective Erik Goss was the investigator and Ida
Nissen was arrested. Mr. Frances
was kind enough to assist Ida Nissen in preparing and filing a motion to
dismiss the case. Shortly
after the motion was filed, the local State Attorney’s Office realized
that if they were going to prosecute this case, they were also going to
need to file charges against then Attorney General Charlie Crist for being
in possession of stolen property. Needless
to say, but I will say it anyway, the case was dismissed very quickly.
Back to the illegal liens signed and recorded by Charles Cross
against Mr. Frances’ condominium units. Charles
Cross did not like the fact that Mr. Frances was purchasing units that had
been participating in a rental program operated by Charles Cross and the
condominium association. In
1994 John Frances caught Charles Cross for misappropriation of condominium
funds. A county judge by the
name of G. J. Roarke had previously rendered a judgment in the favor of
Mr.
Frances
against this same condominium association for illegally using Mr. Frances’ condominium dues to operate a rental program.
So Charles Cross began to use the power and the umbrella of the
association to carry out a personal and vindictive retribution attack
against Mr. Frances. Charles Cross started this
retribution by threatening to knock Mr. Frances
out. He assaulted Mr. Frances
at Mr. Frances’ front door. But the police
would not arrest CharlesCross. Then
Charles Cross began levying $1,000 fines on all of John Frances’ units.
Charles Cross also claimed the condominium association did not
receive payment from John Frances for condominium dues.
The condominium account record was clear that the association
management received the payments via certified mail and Charles Cross’
own attorney Lisa Minshew acknowledged that she was in possession of the
checks a year after the payments had been received by the association.
So what was the attorney Lisa Minshew doing with John Frances’
condominium dues when the dues were supposed to have been deposited into
the condominium associations’ account?
Well, Lisa Minshew could not pursue a lawsuit and charge legal fees
if Mr.
Frances
was current on his payment of the condominium dues.
So Lisa Minshew and Charles Cross attempted to conceal this fact
from the court. Luckily for
Mr.
Frances
, there is a wise judge in Escambia
County
by the name of Kim Skievaski. Judge
Skievaski has since been promoted to tchief judge in Escambia County,
Florida
.
Charles Cross’ attorney Lisa Minshew was trying to foreclose on
Mr. Frances’ property with illegal liens signed and recorded by Charles Cross.
Mr. Frances
proved to Judge Skievaski that Charles Cross could not sign the liens, and
after several months of lengthy review by the judge, the judge concluded
that Charles Cross was not an owner of any of the property at the Bayou
Breeze Condominiums. Therefore,
Charles Cross did not have the legal right to be the president of the
condominium, and therefore, could not legally execute and sign the liens
against Mr.
Frances
’ units. Charles Cross and
his attorney Lisa Minshew had perpetrated a fraud against the court and
the other owners of the Bayou Breeze Condominium Association.
But the State Attorney’s Office refused to investigate this
crime, as is true with other condominium frauds in Florida. This fact can be verified
through Jan Bergemann, President of Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc., a
Florida Corporation at [email protected].
A criminal complaint was then filed against Lisa Minshew for her
failure and refusal to record a satisfaction of one of the liens recorded
against Mr. Frances
’ property. This is a crime
in the State of
Florida. So Mr. Frances
contacted the State Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Frances
spoke with an assistant state attorney by the name of Greg Marcille.
Mr. Marcille told Mr. Frances
it was a crime and that he should file a complaint with the City of
Pensacola Police Department.
Mr. Frances
filed the complaint and guess who was assigned the case.
Yes! Detective Erik
Goss. Detective Goss contacted
Lisa Minshew. Lisa
Minshew admitted committing the crime.
She then corrected the crime by recording the satisfaction.
She was not arrested for the crime, that the assistant state
attorney Greg Marcille told Mr. Frances
to report. In other words, if
you rob a bank in Pensacola,
Florida
and you get caught but you return the money and Detective Goss is
investigating, you will not be arrested.
Lisa Minshew’s conduct was also reported to the Florida Bar.
But the Bar Association viewed it as a first-time offense, and no
action against her law license was taken.
Meanwhile, Charles Cross was still trying to steal Mr. Frances’ eight rental properties. Now
you are probably wondering how someone could steal a condominium unit.
Well, this is not an ordinary theft, as if someone came up to you
and picked your pocket. This
crime is a white-collar sophisticated crime.
Here is how it worked.
Charles Cross recorded in the public records of
Escambia County,
Florida
illegal liens against the property owned by Mr. Frances. Then Mr. Frances
tried to sell his property. Charles
Cross and the condominium management interfered with each sale.
In other words, the association and the association’s attorney
Lisa Minshew deliberately delayed and then provided the title companies
hired to close Mr. Frances’ property sales with false account information.
Charles Cross and the condominium management also told the
potential buyers that they were not approved by Charles Cross to buy the
units. Additional false
information was provided to the title company from Charlene Busbee, the
manager’s assistant for the condominium association.
Charlene Busbee had created dual account logs to keep track of Mr. Frances
condominium payments. One log
was a legitimate log and the other log was used to provide false
information on the status of the accounts.
Therefore, the closings on the property never occurred.
This was also reported to the Pensacola Police Department and Mr. Frances
was told by the responding Police Officer that it was not a crime to make
false entries into the corporate books.
A quick review of Florida Statutes clearly states that making false entries into corporate books is a crime.
Then Charles Cross went to Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby and
asked him to levy against John Frances’ property.
The sheriff of
Escambia
County
conducted what is known as a Sheriff’s Sale. Guess who was the only
bidder at the auction? Out of
about six billion people in the world Charles Cross was the only bidder.
He purchased four of Mr. Frances’ properties
worth
an estimated $350,000 for $1,000. Now
what is interesting about this transaction is that the buyer, no matter
who it may be, would be
required to pay all outstanding property taxes, mortgages, and yes the
outstanding judgments Charles Cross received from Judge Frank Bell.
Oh! I forgot to mention! After
Judge Skievaski made his finding of fact that Charles Cross was not an
owner, and therefore, could not have signed those illegal liens recorded
against Mr.
Frances’ property, this is what happened.
Judge Skievaski ruled and denied the summary judgment case Charles
Cross was seeking against Mr. Frances. Then Charles Cross and his
attorney Lisa Minshew went to a different judge by the name of Frank Bell.
Without getting into a lengthy detail of the trial Judge Bell did
not allow Mr. Frances
to have a jury. He denied Mr. Frances
from showing any of his videotape evidence he had collected for his
defense. Then the judge
awarded the Bayou Breeze Condominium Association a judgment for
condominium dues that were eventually paid by Mr. Frances
and a separate $75,000 personal judgment for absolutely nothing.
Then Charles Cross and the association claimed Mr. Frances
violated the judge’s judgment order of $75,000.
The judge subsequently awarded the condominium association an additional
judgment in the amount of $25,000.
The reason was because Mr. Frances
asked one of the condominium board members why the association was
interfering with the sale of his properties.
Imagine you want to sell your home and you talk to someone and a
judge says that will cost you $25,000.
This is exactly what happened to Mr. Frances
.
So now we have one Judge Kim Skievaski ruling that
Charles
Cross is essentially a fraud and another Judge Frank Bell rewards Charles
Cross and the condominium association with a $100,000 judgment that has
absolutely no merit.
Now after Charles Cross made a personal purchase of the four
condominium units for $1,000, he was required to pay all outstanding
property taxes, mortgages and yes any outstanding judgments.
Except in this case, Charles Cross used the association funds
to employ the attorney Lisa Minshew to dispute the mortgage balances.
Charles Cross claimed the mortgage balances owed by Mr.
Frances
to his mortgage company were not accurate.
Charles Cross then threatened the mortgage company with a
protracted lawsuit using the association’s money.
This is ILLEGAL and prohibited by Florida Condominium Law.
Charles Cross used condominium funds for his own personal property
litigation. The mortgage
company was so frustrated with the shenanigans of Charles Cross and the
lengthy and costly court procedures that it was cost effective to reduce
the mortgage balances to settle the case.
But whatever happened to the judgment in the amount of $100,000
owed to the association?
Well if anyone else in the world had purchased these four
properties, that person would have been required to pay the association
over $100,000. But Charles
Cross simply released this judgment against the four properties he had
just purchased, thus stealing the units and defrauding the other owners of
the association. Because
whether the judgment was legitimate or not, it was still owed to the
condominium association, and it was not paid.
But this story is just beginning.
After the Sheriff’s
Sale
was conducted at 10:00 AM on the morning of December 6, 2006, Charles
Cross filed a police report on December 7, 2006 alleging that Mr. Frances
had burglarized two of the four properties after the Sheriff’s Sale. This is the testimony from
the trial.
Charles Cross testified that he received a call from Charlene
Busbee, the condominium office manager, on the day of December 6, 2006.
According to Mr. Cross, Charlene Busbee told Charles Cross he
should go over to Unit 120 which is in the same building as the other
units, and Charles Cross should talk with Jeffrey Panella.
According to Charles Cross, Jeffrey Panella was remodeling Charlene
Busbee’s unit and according to Charlene Busbee, Charles Cross might want
to hire Jeffrey Panella to remodel Charles Cross’ units.
Now Jeffrey Panella had recently rented a unit from John Frances
and had been evicted from the unit for nonpayment of rent.
According to the testimony of Charles Cross, he arrived at the
doorway of Jeffrey Panella’s Unit 120 some time between
7:00 and 8:00 PM on the evening of December 6, 2006.
Charles Cross knocked on the door of Unit 120.
As Charles Cross was waiting for Jeffrey Panella to come to the
door, Charles Cross testified he glanced over his shoulder (this would
have been 180 degrees from the direction facing the door of Unit 120) and
he claims he saw John Frances enter Unit 310.
When asked if he called the police upon witnessing this, Charles
Cross responded that his attorney Lisa Minshew advised him not to confront
John Frances. But Charles
Cross could have called the police and let the police confront John
Frances. The real reason why
the police were not called is because Charles Cross was not at the door
and thus the incident did not occur.
Otherwise, Charles Cross simply could have called the police
and the police would have caught Mr.
Frances
in the act of burglarizing the property.
However, there was a second “witness,” Nicholas Petkovic.
Nicholas Petkovic is the son of Kathie Petkovic, the registered
agent for this condominium association and a business associate of Charles
Cross. Nicholas Petkovic
testified that he was standing approximately 60 feet away from Charles
Cross and he saw Charles Cross at the door of Unit 120.
Nicholas Petkovic testified that at the same time he saw Charles
Cross at the door of Unit 120 he also saw John Frances entering Unit 319.
Well, Well, Well. If
you could see this property, Unit 310 and Unit 319 are on the opposite
sides of the building and each witness testified that he didn’t see John
Frances walking toward the units. Cross
and Petkovic both only conveniently glanced up at the doors just at the
opportune time as Mr.
Frances
supposedly entered the units. Now
Mr. Frances
does not have a twin, and he is not a magician.
So it is physically impossible to be in two places at the same
time. So the police were not
called that night and the witnesses did not confront John Frances.
There is a simple explanation.
Mr. Frances
had an alibi. In fact, it was
a very well-documented alibi provided to the Assistant State Attorney
Kelly Simon. But I will get
back to the alibi in a minute.
According to Charles Cross, Jeffrey Panella went to Units 310
and 319 the next day on the morning of December 7, 2006.
Mr. Panella
testified he discovered the units had been damaged.
This is when the police were called at approximately 10:00 AM on
December 7, 2006. Charles
Cross’ statement to the police officer and it is written in the police
report: Charles Cross stated
he witnessed John Frances entering Unit 310 at approximately 17:32 hours
or 5:32 PM on the evening of
December 6, 2006. Charles
Cross also stated that two other witnesses saw John Frances enter the
units. But these witnesses
were not named in the police report.
Nicholas Petkovic testified he was present when Jeffrey Panella was
in the condominium office reporting the damage to the condominium manager
at approximately 10:00 AM on the morning of December 7, 2006.
This would have been a perfect time to report to the police officer
what Nicholas Petkovic allegedly had seen the night before.
The problem was Nicholas Petkovic did not see John Frances the
night before because John Frances was seven miles away from these
properties.
After Mr. Frances
was initially arrested he decided to represent himself as he had done in
the prior cases against Charles Cross.
Mr. Frances
obtained sworn affidavits from his alibi witnesses and provided these
affidavits along with his telephone records and a number of receipts from
stores where he had been a patron that day.
It was quite clear that at 5:32 PM when Charles Cross first claimed
John Frances entered Unit 310, Mr. Frances
was on his home telephone at exactly the same time.
So at trial Charles Cross then changed his time to some time
between 7:00 and 8:00 PM.
But how would Charles Cross and his partner in crime Nicholas
Petkovic know when and what times to change their stories to? Well,
during the past year Mr. Frances
filed with the court what is known as a Notice of Alibi.
This notice specifically outlined each and every witness Mr. Frances
intended to call at trial and exactly where each witness would testify
concerning the whereabouts of Mr. Frances
for the entire day of December 6, 2006.
Well, Mr. Frances’ alibi ended after 7:00 PM, and Charles Cross’ testimony changed from
5:32 PM in the initial police report to some time between 7:00 and 8:00 PM
during the trial. So either
Charles Cross lied to the first police officer the morning of December 7,
2006 or Charles Cross lied during the trial.
So you are probably wondering how a jury could have found Mr.
Frances
guilty after all of Mr. Frances’ alibi witnesses testified he was
somewhere else other than where Charles Cross initially claimed Mr. Frances
was.
Detective Erik Goss.
Yes, Detective Goss. See
the investigation was turned over to Detective Erik Goss with the City of
Pensacola Police Department. Detective
Goss testified that he spoke via telephone with Mr.
Frances
four days after the alleged incident.
According to Detective Goss, Mr.
Frances
first denied knowing anything about the burglary, but that during a second
phone call, according to Detective Goss, Mr.
Frances
admitted burglarizing the property.
See how convenient that was?
Charles Cross makes a false report, but learns that the times
don’t match up with Mr. Frances’ alibi. Charles Cross
changes his story during the trial and Mr.
Frances
gets convicted.
On November 15, 2007 John Frances was put on trial and convicted of
two counts of burglary and two counts of criminal
mischief. Mr. Frances
is facing 7˝ years in a Florida State Prison because of allegations made
by Detective Erik Goss and Charles Cross.
Now this story has what will probably not be the final chapter.
Here is what happened after the verdict.
The judge immediately put Mr. Frances
in jail pending a sentencing hearing on January 2, 2008.
Mr.
Frances
then employed me to look after his business and personal obligations while
he was in jail pending sentencing for a crime he did not commit.
Mr. Frances
contacted me from jail one day and I told him I thought someone had broken
into his home. He told me that
the wind had probably opened his door and that he had lived here for 18
years and no one had ever broken in before.
Then I started to open his mail.
Mr. Frances
had received a notice from his bank notifying him a check in the amount of
$420 was paid but he was being charged a $30 fee.
Mr.
Frances
asked me to look in the checkbook to see to whom the check had been
written. This is when I
discovered that three checks and the check stubs were missing from the
checkbook. Mr.
Frances
had pre-signed these and several other checks so it would be easier for me
to conduct his business. I
then realized that a spare set of car keys and his wallet with 15 $100
bills were also missing. Mr. Frances
was in the process of getting out of jail pending his sentencing hearing.
So we waited to file a police report.
Mr. Frances
went to his bank on December 3, 2007 to look at the front and back of the
check. Shockingly, the check
was written
to Jeffrey Panella in the amount of $420.
Jeffrey Panella signed the back of the check along with his
driver’s license number.
Within six days of Mr. Frances
being incarcerated Jeffrey
Panella,
a State Witness who falsely testified against Mr.
Frances
, broke into Mr. Frances’ home, stole his wallet, his car keys, and wrote a check to himself.
Burglary and Grand Theft and now Jeffrey Panella is on the run.
Mr. Frances
needs your help to clear his name. This
is a true story about crimes that need to be exposed.
Because this terrible injustice has occurred, Mr.
Frances
needs the help of the community, the State of Florida
and the nation.
Charles Cross and Charles Cross’ employees have stolen most of
Mr. Frances’ property and most of his money. Please!
John Frances desperately needs
your help.
PLEASE
CONTRIBUTE WHATEVER AMOUNT YOU ARE ABLE TO AFFORD.
MR.
FRANCES
THANKS YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY, AND MAY GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERY ONE FOR
THEIR KINDNESS.
Sincerely,
Angelina
Berzett
Trust
Fund Manager
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