Water, Water, Everywhere

Just how vindictive is North Miami Beach councilman Frantz Pierre? Based on a recent suspicious incident reported to the Police Department, it sure seems to me that he’ll go to just about any length to get even with his “enemies.”

According to yet another Internal Affairs Memorandum dated April 13, 2012 from Sgt. Richard Silberman to Interim Chief Larry Gomer, there was an incident on March 28, 2012 at the home of one Antonio Ortega involving his water meter. Yes, folks, this is the very same Water Meter Reader Antonio Ortega who had the run in with Frantzie a scant 24 days earlier when Mr. Ortega tried to read Pierre’s water meter, which I reported to you only two days ago in “Don’t You Know Who I am?”

The problem with Mr. Ortega’s meter was discovered quite by accident when one of his neighbors had her water turned off due to an unpaid bill. According to the Internal Affairs Memo, once she paid the bill, employee Lucio Gutierrez went to her house to turn her water back on when he “apparently miscounted the number of houses in the alleyway and subsequently went to the wrong meter box which was located behind … (Ortega’s residence). When Gutierrez opened the concrete box to access the meter, he noticed that the meter was in the reverse position,” which means that “any water flow would cause the meter to reverse the odometer count, which could in effect reduce the amount of water consumption a customer may be billed for.”

Then everything snowballed.

Mr. Gutierrez called his supervisor, who confirmed that the meter was in reverse, and since Mr. Ortega happens to be a water meter reader, naturally, he would be under suspicion immediately. Yeah, how much does that suck?

Enter the incredibly astute Sgt. Silberman, who was asked by Interim Chief Gomer to investigate the meter. He went to Mr. Ortega’s house and inspected the water meter, which is placed outside the fence surrounding his property, “with no visibility to the residence.” It is also located “on grass swale area adjacent to the paved driveway.” Sgt. Silberman further noted that “the meter was easily accessible and the box interior was clean of the usual debris normally found in the meter housings. The area appeared to be recently disturbed and the sand around the meter showed fresh moisture as compared to surrounding sand within the housing.” The meter was, indeed, in a “reverse” position.

After examining Mr. Ortega’s last four years’ worth of utility bills, Sgt. Silberman noted that the there was “an average consumption of 13 thousand gallons of water usage per quarter” amounting to approximately “40-45 dollars per quarter.”

The report states emphatically that Mr. Ortega is an exemplary employee and that “his work performance has set the bar for others to follow.” I seriously doubt that Mr. Ortega would consider risking his job, his reputation or his freedom in order to save $15.00 a month. That’s just unthinkable to me!

Luckily, Sgt. Silberman came to this very conclusion, because he also included in his memorandum that, “[a] major issue with this incident comes to the forefront.” He went on to describe the details of the Mr. Ortega’s nightmare when his path inadvertently crossed Frantz Pierre’s a month earlier. The good Sergeant went on to state, “The timing and coincidence of the events indicated above give rise to much concern. Key individuals were interviewed…and there is no evidence that Ortega tampered with the meter, nor is there any direct evidence of whom else may have done so.” However, “[d]uring Ortega’s interview on his original complaint against Pierre, Ortega stressed his concern for retaliation…”

I’d say poor Mr. Ortega had every reason to be concerned. It’s not as if L’il Frantzie P hasn’t made false allegations against his enemies before. It’s not as if he hasn’t filed false police reports. Is it so hard to believe he’d be able to get his buddy from the water department to try to frame someone that Frantzie thought done him wrong? It’s certainly not a stretch by any account. I’m just saying.

Between North Miami’s corruptocrat Andre and our own devious Frantzie, I’ve got lots of dirt to fill this column. No doubt they’re Two Pierre’s in a Pod.