Jeff:
Some time ago you said that you would try to post Mr. Elgindy's handwritten explanation regarding the airport arrest and the fake identification. If you cannot post it, perhaps you could fax a copy to my attention at (604) 687-2304.
Tony also tried to sell his jewelry on EBay (I have the ID he used but prefer not to share it, so you'll just have to trust me on this). Wherever he traveled he tried to sell it (e.g. Florida). He always had the best luck in New York. So the simple answer to your question is that he couldn't sell it all as fast as he wanted.
Is this not essentially the same jewelry that was seized from his office when he was arrested in 2002?
If you were a convicted felon of middle-eastern descent attempting to flee the country and you lived in San Diego, would you a) walk across the border to Mexico where they almost never check IDs, or b) travel via a fake ID from New York, the site of 9-11, to Phoenix, AZ?
When he attempted to fly from New York using the fake ID -- and with another fake ID in his luggage -- wasn't his ultimate destination San Diego?
Frankly, while it may be the case that this can all simply be put down to terribly bad judgment, that suggestion seems rather thin to me.
As I recall from the transcripts, Mr. Elgindy did indeed file the documentation to travel to San Diego on a certain date. Then, using a false ID, he tried to fly out of New York two days earlier than the date he had submitted to the case officer.
It is my understanding that Mr. Elgindy was not fitted with a monitoring device while he was in New York, but had to report to the case officer in San Diego to be fitted with an ankle bracelet while he was in that jurisdiction.
The San Diego case officer would not have expected Mr. Elgindy to report to have the monitoring device attached until the date specified in the travel request submitted in New York.
It may well be that Mr. Elgindy, travelling on one fake ID and with another fake ID in his possession, fully intended to report to the San Diego case officer two days earlier than expected.
Still, I think a reasonable person could entertain another possibility.
To wit, if Mr. Elgindy had managed to travel from New York to San Diego, there would have been no record of that travel under his real name and he would not have been missed for at least two days.
During that time, with no monitoring device and while in the possession of fake Montana ID under the name of Herbert Manny Velasco and a fake California ID in the name of Heriberto Velasco, Mr. Elgindy would have been in a place where you say someone can "walk across the border to Mexico where they almost never check IDs."
Perhaps Mr. Elgindy's own explanation is more convincing, but I really have some doubts about the suggestions, at least as I understand them, that you are putting forth here.
Lee
lwebb@stockwatch.com |
