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Transcript of the Testimony of Jim West
Date:November 14, 2013Volume:I
Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
Printed On: November 27, 2013
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078
Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]
Internet:
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IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION
SWORN STATEMENT OF
JIM WEST
Taken on Thursday, November 14, 2013, from 1:05 p.m. to 1:47
p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626
S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of
Missouri, before
SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,
a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and
for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.
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APPEARANCES
MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE
Loraine & Associates, LLC
4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300
Osage Beach, MO 65065
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S T I P U L A T I O N
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn
Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by
SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and
afterwards reduced into typewriting.
It is further stipulated that the signature of the
witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of
said witness shall be of the same force and effect as
though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.
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I N D E X
Page/Line
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4
E X H I B I T S
Exhibit #A. . . . . . . . 5-7
Advice of Rights
Note: Exhibits in separate binder
(sic) - typed as spoken
(ph.) - phonetic
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1 JIM WEST
2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,
3 testified as follows:
4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:
5 Q. Before we began, Mr. West, you and I chatted
6 a little bit about this Advice of Rights form
7 I have marked as Exhibit #A. Did you execute
8 that for me, sir?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. I'm just going to put it into our record, if
11 you don't mind.
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Mr. West, as I understand it you've served on
14 the City Council. Can you tell me what
15 period of time you served?
16 A. I was first elected in 1988 and I served from
17 1988 until 1992.
18 Q. '92. It doesn't sound like there were
19 sixteen years.
20 A. Let me back up. I served from 1988 to 1994.
21 Now that's eight years, right?
22 Q. Okay.
23 A. I lost my seat. I stepped down, that's what
24 happened. I lost, all right, so I came back
25 and ran again so I got back on.
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1 Q. In '96?
2 A. Yes, and I served '96 for four years into
3 2000, and I lost in 2000 and I came back and
4 ran again in '06 and I won in 2006. I
5 stepped down in '10 to run for the Missouri
6 House of Representatives. That should be
7 sixteen years.
8 Q. Okay. So you didn't lose the last time
9 actually?
10 A. No, I didn't lose, I stepped down to run for
11 the Missouri House of Representatives.
12 Q. I take it that wasn't successful?
13 A. No, that's separate because this is Jasper
14 and opposing county and that's what happened
15 so it didn't work out very well. One thing
16 about it they're a different crowd, filed it
17 and I stayed with it.
18 Q. My wife ran for a house seat I think it was
19 2004 after eight years as Presiding
20 Commissioner and she did not make it either,
21 so it's a step up.
22 A. It's a step up. And of course I mean every
23 time when we get to what we're going to do
24 (inaudible) I was told you can be a Republic
25 you can win, but, you know, I have a theory
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1 about that and my theory is I'm now going to
2 sell my soul to the devil because he'll call
3 the mark some day.
4 Q. I'm not going to get into that political
5 thing, but I understand where you're at, let
6 me say that.
7 A. That's my theory.
8 Q. Mr. West, having established that you have
9 had a lengthy period with the City Council
10 you've come forward and asked to talk to me.
11 Can you tell me a little bit what it is that
12 initiated you come forward? Why did you think
13 you had to approach me for the investigation?
14 A. Before your investigation was going on in one
15 of the areas that I was interested in was the
16 area around Council member Mike Woolston,
17 what I heard he did, so therefore I wanted to
18 relate that on it, and then something about
19 the City Manager that kind of sparked my
20 attention. But in the case of Mr. Woolston,
21 he's the first person I wanted to address,
22 which I know that on the Council he done real
23 estate doings and he's out trying to get
24 people to move into a building that he's
25 trying to rent for his business partner. And
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1 he had went to a friend of mine's business on
2 Range Line, Aaron's Rental Service, the
3 owner, business manager there is Keen Cortez.
4 Well, Mike goes into Mr. Cortez' office and
5 says, hi, Keen, here's my business card and
6 all, I've got a real estate company now and I
7 want to know if you'd like to move your
8 business into one of my buildings that I'm
9 trying to lease up on South Main. At that
10 time Mr. Cortez says, no, we're happy where
11 we are. Mike says, well, you know, we'll
12 make it good for you and try to do what we
13 can to make it easier for you and your rent.
14 So he said, no, thank you, but he left. I
15 believe this is one of the same dealings up
16 in the tornado district, that area got tore
17 up, and I believe the contractor told him
18 Keen owns this property. I think that's
19 probably what Mr. Woolston was trying to do
20 was get people move into that building. I
21 would be 99 percent sure that's one of the
22 ones that the deal is. So that went by. So
23 then about a week and a half later Woolston
24 goes back out to Mr. Cortez' office and asks
25 if he changed his mind. Of course Mr. Cortez
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1 says, no, I'm not changing my mind, we're
2 still where we are and stuff. Well, okay, if
3 you do I think it might make things better
4 for you there. And I thought that was a
5 little bit inappropriate. Mr. Cortez told me
6 about it and I thought that was something
7 since this thing is going on about the real
8 estate I thought that's something that needed
9 to be addressed because it is what's
10 happening on that issue there. So that's
11 what I wanted to relate that.
12 Q. Okay. Would he talk to me?
13 A. Well, I tell you what I can do. I can talk
14 to Mr. Cortez and ask him and see what he's
15 doing and see what he will say.
16 Q. Okay.
17 A. I will be happy to do that.
18 Q. Would you mind?
19 A. I'll do it today.
20 Q. I'll give you a little sheet of paper and a
21 pen to make yourself a note, because there
22 might be something else. But if you'd find
23 out if he'd talk with me I'd appreciate it.
24 A. That building is up on South Main. I'm sure
25 that's one of the ones that got destroyed and
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1 I think they're fixing up up there so I will
2 talk to him and see what he'll say about
3 speaking with you.
4 Q. I appreciate it if you would. Of course
5 these are being recorded and confidential.
6 I'm not saying that at some point some of the
7 conclusions aren't going to come out, though.
8 I believe they will, you know, I believe
9 they will.
10 A. It speaks for itself.
11 Q. I mean this is certainly an area that's very
12 fertile.
13 A. It sure is. Because if you're a Council
14 member, you're a Council member. Yeah,
15 you're not there, but you're still a Council
16 member and you still need to watch what you
17 do. I was a Council member for sixteen
18 years. I got slapped around several times.
19 I realize you're a Council member still so
20 you have to kind of watch what you do, what
21 you say off and on that bench. And you're
22 still there. They still know who you are.
23 Former Mayor Mike Woolston, everybody knows
24 who he is so he's still a Council member. I
25 thought this was just a little bit wrong to
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1 be out there at this site that he's working
2 on this process.
3 Q. So you believe this was some sort of attempt
4 to influence Mr. Cortez to get him to move
5 his business to one of Mr. Woolston's
6 partner's buildings?
7 A. Yes, he even give a business card to him.
8 Q. And that card remains - you saw that card?
9 A. I know Mr. Cortez told me he had it. I think
10 it was a high rise, some kind of real estate.
11
12 Q. I'd like to see that card.
13 A. I will sure speak to him about that.
14 Q. If you can make a note.
15 A. I will sure speak to him about that. He came
16 back a second time he gave him a card again.
17 Q. Maybe you could get me one of them.
18 A. We'll see what we can do about it.
19 Q. Okay. I'm pleased to have you come forward.
20 Now do you know Councilman Scearce?
21 A. Yes, sir, I do. I've known Bill for a long
22 time.
23 Q. And you know he supposedly was involved in a
24 gambling scheme or something, I've been told
25 that he rented one of his outbuildings on a
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1 different lot to somebody named Lovett.
2 A. Uh-huh.
3 Q. I talked with Mr. Lovett and Lovett said he'd
4 kind of talk to me and now he's not going to.
5 I think he's a little afraid. I don't know
6 what he's afraid of, but his lawyer told him
7 not to talk to me so I'm not going to get
8 anything more from him on that so I'd like to
9 just pursue that a little bit. Do you know
10 anything at all about any involvement that
11 Mr. Scearce had actually with the gambling
12 ring?
13 A. I know nothing about it.
14 Q. Have you heard about it?
15 A. I didn't hear about it until it surfaced
16 again.
17 Q. You're talking about recently here?
18 A. Yes, sir.
19 Q. That's been twenty years ago.
20 A. I didn't hear it back then. No, I know where
21 his office was down on 15th Street where his
22 employment service was, a friend of mine
23 worked there, but I didn't know anything
24 about that at all.
25 Q. And you didn't know this Lovett guy?
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1 A. No.
2 Q. You just can't help me on that issue?
3 A. No, any of the parties involved in that
4 issue.
5 Q. Do you as an ex-Councilman do you know of
6 anything that you've read in the newspaper or
7 anything that raises you to say that, hey,
8 Mr. Scearce violated his ethics in some
9 manner?
10 A. No, what I read, what I heard about it I
11 didn't hear anything to get him on I mean
12 because I believe he was off the Council when
13 this was going on.
14 Q. He never was on it at that time.
15 A. At that time. Mr. Scearce is a long ways
16 back. When I was on the Council in '88 Mr.
17 Scearce was there. There's a little history
18 about that. And him and I didn't get along
19 very well because I didn't vote for him for
20 Mayor. This Mayor thing is the biggest
21 fiasco we have and our Mayor of Joplin,
22 Melodee Colbert, is a very personal friend of
23 mine.
24 Q. The present Mayor?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Delightful.
2 A. We go to church together, we sing in the
3 choir together. She's a nice lady.
4 Q. She is a delightful woman.
5 A. She just turned the door the wrong way and
6 didn't say the right thing, and bless her
7 heart, I grieve for her. I'll tell you about
8 her and I've got a minute. Melodee won in
9 1996. Do you know who inspired her to do it?
10 Me. I'm her personal mentor. She will tell
11 you that. She said without Jim West I
12 wouldn't be here now, and that's where she
13 is. She did it, she stayed with it, she
14 worked with it, and that's where she is now
15 to the point of being the Mayor. Yes, I knew
16 some people and she deserved a shot. I mean
17 I am the second black member of the City
18 Council history of Joplin. I am the second
19 black male since 1957. Since 1957. And
20 Melodee comes along in 1996, she's three
21 things. The first black female, the first
22 black Mayor Pro Tem, and the first black
23 Mayor, period. I served on the Council
24 sixteen years. I never got to the second
25 seat. Never got there. I didn't mind it
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1 because I knew where I was, but I knew where
2 I was, timing was right, timing was right for
3 her to get there, and that's where she is
4 now. No higher person that I have respect
5 for and anybody that starts on her my back
6 starts getting nervous about it.
7 Q. I want to tell you something, I've
8 interviewed her and she's a delightful
9 person. Highly educated, delightful.
10 A. Very educated nice person. You'd love her
11 people. Back to Scearce for a second. So
12 what happened was in 1988 the biggest thing
13 out of Joplin, it's been awhile, the first
14 thing you do the next night is elect the
15 Mayor and you've got to make a decision which
16 side of the table you're going to go on.
17 Well, I didn't go for Mr. Scearce, I went for
18 Dr. Clark. Dr. Clark was my mentor. That
19 building down at 3rd and Virginia, the Dr.
20 Clark Justice Center, that's Dr. Clark's
21 building. So Bill and I didn't get along well
22 so he didn't like I didn't vote for him for
23 Mayor so we had some problems back and forth
24 and he didn't like it. He watched every move
25 I did, ever tying I did, so finally he lost
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1 his seat because he popped off, said the
2 wrong thing about the trash collection. He
3 told the people, well, you're just going to
4 pay for trash one way or the other so in time
5 he lost his seat. So then that was it. But
6 Bill and I never had a word, then got back on
7 Council, he came back on Council, but other
8 than that I don't know anything about that
9 process.
10 Q. Let me direct you back a little bit to Mr.
11 Woolston. Have you heard any other rumors
12 that you could give me leads onto improper
13 conduct on Mr. Woolston's behalf?
14 A. Well, what I heard - again we're talking --
15 Q. I understand that's hearsay.
16 A. You may have already talked to the people. I
17 did hear somewhere along the line he went to
18 someone and asked this person, not Mr.
19 Cortez, to get into his building, and I guess
20 the guy said, no, whatever, I don't want to
21 talk to him, and he allegedly said, well, you
22 know, maybe you shouldn't even be doing
23 business in Joplin. I heard that as a
24 hearsay. I wasn't there.
25 Q. Could you tell me anybody that I could talk
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1 to to try to follow that lead up? Anybody
2 would be helpful.
3 A. Have you talked to Mr. Golden?
4 Q. Who?
5 A. Jack Golden?
6 Q. Yes.
7 A. Nothing?
8 Q. No, he didn't say anything about that.
9 A. Did talk to Dr. Rosenberg?
10 Q. I have. He didn't say anything about it
11 either.
12 A. Then I don't know. I don't know because
13 that's what I heard, but I'm telling you fact
14 on this one here. That's the one I got, so I
15 don't know on that.
16 Q. Okay. Let me ask you this question. Did you
17 ever hear about anything concerning Mr. Rohr
18 and this Wallace-Bajjali firm? Have you
19 heard anything about that?
20 A. I heard from street talk that maybe Mark was
21 too close to Wallace, to David Wallace, and
22 maybe there would be something going on, but
23 it's just - nobody in the City, some people
24 on the street said this that they thought
25 Rohr and Bajjali was awful close,
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1 Wallace-Bajjali was awful close and maybe
2 there was something wrong on there, but I
3 have no substance or no facts that say that,
4 but you hear those things on the street.
5 Now, I know that he's awful close and the
6 things that Wallace-Bajjali is doing are
7 things that Rohr wanted to have done to the
8 City. I know that. These are all things in
9 the same category.
10 Q. Okay. Have you heard anything about, can you
11 tell me if you know anybody that has
12 experienced Mr. Rohr's methodology of dealing
13 with people or his temper or any of those
14 issues?
15 A. Yes, I do know of two issues I want to relate
16 to you. Again I was told this, and I don't
17 know if you've been told or not, but I heard
18 that this year, the early part of the year,
19 maybe Vicki or someone from the City
20 Manager's office called out to Goodyear Tire
21 and Mr. Rohr needed to get some tires changed
22 on his car, his own personal car. Well, the
23 manager of Goodyear at that time told the
24 lady whoever was talking said, well, I've got
25 12 people in line out here and I can't move
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1 them around to get Mr. Rohr's car in here, so
2 that's a little conversation of no. Well,
3 she hung up. Well, the next 10 minutes, 15
4 minutes go by and I understand Mr. Rohr
5 called out there and talked to this same
6 manager and he said, yes, Mr. Rohr, I know
7 someone called about that. Mark said, well,
8 I need to get these tires on my car. What
9 can you do for me? He said, I tell you what,
10 there's 20 people out here in front of you,
11 if you want to come out here and ask them if
12 they can move you in you come out here and do
13 that. Other than that I can't help you. Next
14 thing I hear within two or three months time
15 all of the City's tire business was moved
16 from Goodyear to another tire company,
17 Firestone. Now I heard this, factual or not
18 if it's true, but I heard somebody told me it
19 was true. And the one person that told me it
20 was true it was Bill Scearce told me it was
21 true. Scearce told me it was true. And I
22 think that intimidation is part of Mr. Rohr's
23 scheme of operating and I don't like that. I
24 don't like his scheme of operation and how he
25 handles his way in the City. I've been off
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1 the Council and I see a lot of stuff that he
2 does that's inappropriate. Inappropriate.
3 Q. Can you give me any other examples of his
4 inappropriateness?
5 A. Are you aware that I did an investigation on
6 Mr. Rohr for assaulting his wife?
7 Q. I'd like to hear that. No, I did not hear
8 that. Were you the police officer that went
9 out?
10 A. No, sir, I just did an investigation by
11 myself.
12 Q. Okay. Tell me about that because I heard
13 about it and I heard there was nothing to it.
14 A. There was nothing to it because when the
15 policeman got to the house, well, his wife
16 recanted and said, he wasn't, we was just
17 having an argument. But I did a Sunshine
18 request, all the reports I could get out of
19 the Police Department and everything, but
20 everything came to be that there was nothing
21 showing no physical contact that he made with
22 her, but I believe there was something there.
23 I heard, again we're talking rumor, I heard
24 the actual 911 tape that the daughter made to
25 the police station said get out here right
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1 away, he's beating up on my mother. Now I
2 heard the 911 tape.
3 Q. You heard it?
4 A. Yes, sir.
5 Q. How did you hear that?
6 A. Well, it was given to me.
7 Q. By whom?
8 A. I'd rather not say.
9 Q. Okay.
10 A. But I've got it somewhere.
11 Q. You've got the tape still?
12 A. On flash drive.
13 Q. I've got the tape so I guess what I'd like to
14 ask you about that is you're suggesting that
15 the tape differs from the final conclusion in
16 some way?
17 A. That's what I'm suggesting, yes, sir. We had
18 a lot of officers listen to the tape and I
19 could hear what's going on, and then when you
20 hear that, when you heard the tape, what I
21 listened to when they kept calling back to
22 the police officer and she's giving blow by
23 blow description what's going on in the house
24 and then the Sergeant Corporal he cuts in and
25 she said, yes, this is the Rohr we're talking
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1 about. Well, the Corporal comes in and says
2 I'll be en route to that location. Other
3 police officer, somebody got involved, you
4 want the truth, I was there, and something is
5 going to go down. So the truth advisor
6 officer went there and they came out things
7 were not right. I didn't like that. I
8 didn't like that at all. There's something
9 there. I have my reports, I've got them all,
10 and I give them to the Mayor.
11 Q. Which Mayor?
12 A. Mayor Colbert-Kean.
13 Q. So she received something like that from you?
14 A. She called a meeting with the City Manager on
15 the end of the session. Of course she told
16 him where the information came from, which
17 she probably shouldn't do that, it doesn't
18 make a shit to me, she told him that I got it
19 from Jim West, but they were all in there
20 talking. He denied, denied, denied. Well,
21 Dr. Rosenberg said I'm not going to fire him
22 for slapping his wife around, said do you
23 slap your wife around, Dr. Rosenberg, and
24 Patty said, he'd better not hit me. Exactly
25 what Patty said. But that's what happened
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1 because I had heard a very good friend of
2 mine - this case came to me from the Sheriff,
3 a very good friend of mine, the Sheriff of
4 another county, not this county, we worked
5 with police officers together, he told me
6 about it. I got the information. I even got
7 the case number how to find the damn case.
8 That's how I got to it. I got a case number
9 and got into it and I don't think they
10 understand how I got in there to it, but I
11 found the case and did another Sunshine
12 stuff, but you know, like you are, I don't
13 want to get indicted here.
14 Q. You can't get indicted.
15 A. Nobody is supposed to get those 911 tapes.
16 They're supposed to be sacred as a cow, but I
17 got it somehow and they didn't. But that's
18 one thing. I completed it, give it to them,
19 and of course he hasn't spoken to me and I
20 really don't care because --
21 Q. Let me ask you a question. Having heard the
22 tape do you believe that it would be helpful
23 to the investigation if that issue came up?
24 I mean Mr. Rohr was at that time the City
25 Manager and if it actually occurred do you
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1 believe that perhaps the Council members
2 should listen to that 911 tape to further
3 understand the rest of the facts?
4 A. I think they should, but I still see a line
5 drawn in the sand. You're going to have a 4
6 to 4. But the problem with having Mr. Rohr
7 didn't fired last time because the Mayor, she
8 didn't do what she was going to do to fire
9 the City Manager and it really turned to a
10 complete chaos. They beat her up for five
11 days in the paper because she didn't stand at
12 the time, say I'm going to do it now. She
13 came back and said I'll do it, but she didn't
14 tell the rest of the Council she was going to
15 do it. There was a 4-4 straw vote taken, 4
16 to fire him, 3 not to fire him, and the Mayor
17 and Morris Glaze abstained. That blew the
18 whole thing against the wall. We talked
19 about that and after that was over she said,
20 well, so I came down here talking here
21 Thursday where she knew she had the 4 votes
22 to straw to get him so she decided to go do
23 it. But she went in and he said I'm not
24 going to quit because you didn't tell me what
25 I'm supposed to be doing and about threw her
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1 out of his office. The thing just blew up
2 from there, blew up from there. Let me tell
3 you something else about Mr. Rohr. This
4 varies here because we were on the same page
5 and I found this out by my investigations.
6 This happened in the City and I'm really
7 disappointed in this as a police officer,
8 stealing is stealing, I don't care how you
9 paint the picture stealing is stealing, and
10 what I'm getting at goes with the story. And
11 this truly happened and the records will
12 reflect this. The Police Chief, Lane
13 Roberts, is a nice Police Chief. I was on
14 board with him when we hired him and he did
15 so well, but the police officers and fireman,
16 they pay to the pension fund. They don't pay
17 social security, they pay the pension fund,
18 so after their term of 20 years is up they
19 get their pension, they get a monthly salary
20 life until they die. That's how it works.
21 So in your check you get your checkstub, on
22 your checkstub you'll see this and health
23 insurance, you'll see pension, pension.
24 Well, this is true. When Lane got on board
25 with the City the check came, his wife said
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1 the money for your pension didn't come off
2 your check this time. It's okay, probably a
3 computer error or messed up. Okay. Two
4 weeks later I'm theorizing what happened and
5 then I'll get to the end. I'm like a lawyer,
6 I'm setting the stage for it. They'll get
7 it. Okay.
8 Q. Who is the one that's saying?
9 A. His wife is saying that money is still not
10 taken out of your check. Well, they'll get
11 to it. Cut to the chase. This went on for
12 $33,000.00 they did not take out. The Police
13 Chief did not - $33,115.00 of pension money
14 that the Finance Department failed to get out
15 of the Police Chief's money. Now after it's
16 all said and done the report came out and Mr.
17 Rohr, he had to make this decision. He
18 didn't fire the Police Chief. Pay it back
19 when you're done with it. And Lane paid it
20 back, but that ain't right. About the second
21 time my wife, my girlfriend, either one, come
22 and telling me there's something missing I'm
23 the Police Chief I'm going to call somebody.
24 I'm not going to wait for $33,000.00 down the
25 road and say, well, I'd better get to this
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1 thing.
2 Q. How many months would that have been roughly?
3 A. About a year and a half, two years. What his
4 percentage is, yeah, they take it out of his
5 salary. Whatever the Chief's salary was, you
6 know. The record is there because that
7 information is in the notes, the pension
8 notes is where it is. I think it's
9 $33,000.00, but at least probably a year or a
10 year and a half because it depends on what
11 Lane is making. Lane is still here so
12 therefore - and the money got paid back. He
13 got it paid back somehow, but that's not
14 right. That's selective in my opinion.
15 Q. How would the Chief have known that it was an
16 inappropriate amount?
17 A. Well, the City paid by direct deposit so you
18 get a direct deposit. My company pays direct
19 deposit now and you can look at the
20 deductions and you see what's on there and
21 you got to look on there and see the pension
22 is not taken out. That's not very hard to
23 understand. There's a section on that thing
24 for pension, so and so, so and so. If that
25 zero is showing there that don't take a
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1 rocket scientist to figure out something is
2 wrong. It shouldn't have took no $33,000.00.
3 Q. Who brought it to the Chief's attention?
4 A. Somebody with the pension board caught it.
5 Q. For the City?
6 A. Yeah, one of the pension board members caught
7 it.
8 Q. Who would be the pension board?
9 A. The pension board, the people there now, but
10 the one - there's two pension board members
11 that I know very personally and they were
12 probably involved in that. One he just come
13 through a real nasty wedding with his
14 daughter. Tom Robinson is one of my personal
15 firefighter friends, and Bob, Bob, Bob
16 something, Bob Thomas, and they're pension
17 board people and one of those two, they found
18 it and reported it and it just hit the wall.
19 And then they put it up Leslie responsible,
20 but that Leslie that's her responsibility.
21 Q. Leslie who?
22 A. Her name is Haase now, the Finance Director.
23 That's her job.
24 Q. She didn't find that?
25 A. Didn't find it for $33,000.00. Didn't find
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1 $33,000.00. Now Melodee or anybody like me
2 come out with $500.00 you'd be looking
3 through bars. $1,000.00 you'd be looking
4 through bars, you know what I'm saying? I'm
5 looking at the time.
6 Q. Don't worry about your time.
7 A. I'm okay. No, and that burnt the - I like
8 Lane. Lane is a good person. The only
9 problem me and Lane had, him and I had an
10 argument over the tasers. His department has
11 the most taser use in the City. We had a
12 meeting with them, myself as a black man in
13 the community, I'm a member of the AACP, I'm
14 Vice President of the AACP, we have meetings
15 with the Chief about once every three months.
16 We was talking about this tasing so I was
17 talking to the Chief and he had a couple of
18 his officers there, Lamont Ratcliff that's
19 retired and another officer. I said tell me
20 about these tasers. Well, Mr. West, we use
21 them to stop the men and slow them down if
22 they're coming at you. I said, okay, fine.
23 I said how does it work? They said, well, we
24 just point it at them, shoot them in the leg
25 or back or something, it stops them and
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1 brings them down and then they come up. What
2 do they do? They said two darts come out and
3 hit them. I said, okay. He said we've got a
4 picture to show you what we did. I said
5 let's see a picture of it. Brought that
6 picture back and showed him laying down and
7 the guy with two darts right in his heart.
8 Hit him right in the chest. That's not his
9 leg, not his back, that's his chest. Two
10 darts. And they showed the pictures to me
11 and I said really?
12 Q. Do you have that picture?
13 A. No, it's in the Department. It's down there
14 somewhere. Might be gone now.
15 Q. Did that ever come out?
16 A. No.
17 Q. Let me ask you this question. Did it ever
18 come out on this pension issue? Did it ever
19 get in the newspapers?
20 A. I think they knew the story.
21 Q. You think they did?
22 A. I think she's the Globe reporter, she covers
23 the pension board meeting, and I think it
24 did. In fact, Debbie is not a Mark Rohr fan.
25 She's very straight up about it.
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1 Q. What about her editor?
2 A. I don't know about Carol Stark. That's part
3 of Scearce's thing. Of course Debbie works
4 for Carol Stark, but Debbie has the rights
5 you ask her about a story or something she
6 needs to tell you or she may ask her editor
7 can she tell you about the damn thing. The
8 story, it's in the paper. It came in the
9 paper. I'm almost sure it did. That's what
10 blew me away. And that was one of the things
11 that I told Melodee when they brought Mark in
12 to try to work him over about him showing
13 special treatment to people I said tell him
14 about the $33,000.00 that he had Lane pay
15 back. No, the Police Chief is too close to
16 the City Manager. The Police Chief wants to
17 retire at the first of the year, needs to
18 retire at the first of the year. Lane wants
19 to get out. He's awful close. He's real
20 close. I'm telling you he's close because I
21 guarantee you when I was a police officer my
22 Police Chief, of course then all reports are
23 read and don't you not believe that. They
24 may report to Mark Rohr's house about a
25 disturbance, Lane read that report. You know
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1 he did. He knows all about that damn thing.
2 Excuse my language. He knows about that
3 before. I'm not stupid. I know for a fact
4 that happened so Lane knows so I think Lane
5 is too close to him. He's close to him, but
6 $33,000.00. And that money a police officer
7 and working, the interest is lost off that
8 money to pay my firemen. The interest lost
9 off of that money over a period of time, I
10 know Lane has paid it back, but I bet he
11 didn't pay it back with interest. We passed
12 in Joplin, Missouri, we have a public safety
13 task. We passed that on Council. We have a
14 public safety task. I worked with the
15 committee and Keen Cortez, my friend, he
16 cherished me. What this tax is they said
17 it's a specific tax. It's specific for what
18 they said, policemen, it's a public safety
19 task fun. No matter what need in police and
20 fire that's what that fund is for. We built
21 two fire stations already off of that fund.
22 We brought a brand new $800,000.00 fire truck
23 off that fund. We're going to build a 6
24 million dollar training center out by the
25 airport.
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1 Q. Who has control of that fund?
2 A. It's in the finances. It's finances.
3 Q. City?
4 A. Yes, it's the City, and she can tell you
5 exactly what's in there. We're getting ready
6 to build a 5 million dollar training center
7 out by the airport out of that fund because
8 it's there.
9 Q. That's where the pension money would have
10 come out of?
11 A. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
12 Q. Do you know if the interest was paid back on
13 that?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Do you think it was?
16 A. I doubt it.
17 Q. But you don't know?
18 A. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if
19 the interest was paid back on it or not.
20 Q. Do the Council members know about this matter
21 with Mark forgiving that money?
22 A. I don't know. He's got four saviors on that
23 Council.
24 Q. Who are they?
25 A. Gary Shaw.
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1 Q. He'll be in here in a minute. Who else?
2 A. Mike Woolston, Morris Glaze, and Mike
3 Seibert. Is that four?
4 Q. Yes. Who will he be running against?
5 A. Either Gary Shaw.
6 Q. He's also his pastor?
7 A. Yeah, he's associate pastor at Central
8 Church. We call him marshmallow man. He's
9 so puffy, he won't say - he'll tell you right
10 now - he'll say that's a nice tie you've got
11 on, it looks good, but you know, I wouldn't
12 wear that tie today. That's kind of
13 personal. You'll see that. Now in the
14 general council, this is what is going on in
15 general council, there's three general
16 council seats open. Here they are. Mike
17 Woolston, Trisha Raney, Jack Golden. That's
18 three general. And two zone seats is Gary
19 Shaw, Zone 1, and Mike Seibert, Zone 4. Now
20 if it goes like they're talking about Jack
21 Golden might run for Zone 4 Council against
22 Mike. He don't like Mike Seibert. Now
23 Seibert off the Council. Then I will run for
24 general council seat in that area where
25 Trisha Raney, Mike Woolston going to be
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1 running and I'm sure the investigation is not
2 going to be very good, I know Mike Woolston
3 outcome in the election. The petition will
4 be picked up Tuesday. Tuesday pick up
5 petitions. And this is tight. Now on Shaw
6 --
7 Q. When is that election?
8 A. April, the first Tuesday in April.
9 Q. The report will be out before then.
10 A. Oh, yes. Now Shaw, Shaw and I, so Bill
11 Scearce and Dr. Rosenberg don't think I can
12 beat Shaw because he's got such a Christian
13 big church and stuff and they like the grumpy
14 old man. I told him I'd run against him two
15 months ago, thought I'd scare him off. I'll
16 raise the money. You can see I'm a good
17 campaigner and people like me in this town.
18 I'll raise $45,000.00. I'm a good candidate.
19 I told him that, but he - well, he said this
20 in the paper and you being a lawyer and words
21 mean something, when they did the story about
22 Mike Seibert says I'm going to run for
23 re-election, Gary Shaw says I plan on running
24 all the words. Woolston says I'm planning on
25 running. Didn't say I'm going to run, did
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1 he? I'm planning on running. Now that's
2 what they said. Now Shaw is Mark Rohr's
3 savior and the other five, the gang of five,
4 I know who they are, it's Jack Golden, Bill
5 Scearce, Dr. Rosenberg, Trisha Raney, and
6 Melodee. When it gets tight in that room
7 that five are going to stand together and
8 that's what happened. She didn't pull the
9 string on Mark Rohr and fire his ass last
10 month. That's when they got really bitter
11 with her and she knows it, too. I talk to
12 her about that every day.
13 Q. Let's go off the record.
14 (Short break taken 1:42 to 1:43 p.m., back on
15 record)
16 A. Moving money, moving money, now we have quite
17 a bit going on in the City and this is what
18 happened, and I was told this by one of my
19 engineers at City Hall named Dan Johnson.
20 We're building two new fire stations after
21 the storm. We've got one going at 13th and
22 Schifferdecker and one at 2930 Main. Anyway
23 the one at 13th and Schifferdecker is the one
24 I'm talking about. Dan designed this so that
25 the sewer pipe would go around without -
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1 trying to keep under the budget. We had to
2 keep under the budget. All right, cut to the
3 chase. Well, Mitch, the Fire Chief and Jack
4 Schaller, Dan said this sewer go around this
5 direction, that way we can save us some
6 money. Mitch said Mark wants that sewer to
7 go right in front of the fire station. Dan
8 said, well, if we do that it will cost us
9 more money and we've got to stay in budget.
10 Mitch said I'll talk to Mark about it. Mitch
11 came back and said Mark said to put that
12 sewer right in front of that fire station and
13 he'll get the money someplace else to make
14 the thing whole. So Mark went over to the
15 wastewater sewer fund, pulled out the extra
16 money to make this sewer pipe right, but he
17 never got Council permission to pull this
18 money over into that fund. Never did it.
19 And his own engineer talked to me, Mr. West,
20 he can't do that. That's illegal. But he
21 did.
22 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Who is the engineer?
23 A. Dan Johnson.
24 Q. Would he say that if I asked him?
25 A. He needs to come down and talk to you.
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1 Q. Is he a City employee?
2 A. Yes, sir.
3 Q. Still?
4 A. Yes, sir.
5 Q. I can make him come in.
6 A. Make him come in. Dan Johnson. He told me -
7 I've got many friends in the City. They like
8 me. They can't stand --
9 Q. That's what he does?
10 A. He designed the sewer pipe. He's a sewer
11 pipe designer.
12 Q. Well, he did that to save money.
13 A. He did.
14 Q. What's wrong with saving money?
15 A. And you should have seen that big ass pipe
16 they put in.
17 Q. What did it cost?
18 A. I don't know. It cost more. It went over
19 budget.
20 Q. Would that have been directed through
21 Wallace-Bajjali?
22 A. No.
23 Q. Not there?
24 A. No, this is a fire station we're building to
25 keep it on budget, so Dan had to - he went
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1 back and did it and I saw that big ass pipe
2 out there and I said, my god. Dan said, Mr.
3 West, he can't do that. And that's what Dan
4 did.
5 Q. Give me the address on that fire station.
6 A. 13th and Schifferdecker.
7 Q. Schifferdecker?
8 A. S-C-H-I-F-F-E-R-D-E-C-K-E-R. I'll tell you
9 how to get there. It's simple. 7th Street.
10 Go out 7th Street, go all the way down 7th
11 Street to 7th and Schifferdecker. When you
12 get there you'll see the intersection. The
13 Empire District and a golf course is here,
14 okay? Turn left, go down five blocks, and
15 you'll run right into it. It's on 13th
16 Street, but 13th Schifferdecker intersects.
17 It sets there on the northeast corner. It's
18 a new station. Go to 7th and Schifferdecker,
19 turn left, and go all the way down five
20 blocks and you run right into it. It's a
21 brand new station. Brand new station being
22 built.
23 Q. And Johnson told you that he transferred the
24 money from what account?
25 A. From wastewater sewer. We have a wastewater
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1 sewer account that puts - Dan said he
2 transferred the money from that to make it
3 hold in the pipe out there and he never got
4 Council permission. It didn't come to
5 Council because I told two Council members
6 about it and they didn't know about it.
7 Q. Who are the two that you told?
8 A. I told Jack Golden about it. I think I told
9 Bill, but I'm not for sure. Dan told me - I
10 like Dan. Dan, he's worried about his job.
11 When I get to my office I'm going to call him
12 and find out if he'll talk to you.
13 Q. Yeah, also call this, if you wouldn't mind,
14 call this guy Dan and see if he'll talk. So
15 he doesn't get worried.
16 A. Do you want me to call him first?
17 Q. Yes. That's all.
18
19 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)
20
21
22
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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
STATE OF MISSOURI
ss.
COUNTY OF JASPER
I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the
State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the
foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the
14th day of November, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was
examined. That examination was then taken by me by
steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn
Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set
out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith
returned.
I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or
relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of
either party or of the attorney of either party, or
otherwise interested in the event of this suit.
__________________________
SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650