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 Editorials | Issues | May 2008 
Parole Board Won't Consider Martin's Guilt
 Jennifer Macmillan - Globe and Mail
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| | Brenda Martin could be free within weeks. But questions remain: Is she guilty? (AP/Guillermo Arias) | | |
When the National Parole Board considers the case of Brenda Martin, it will weigh whether the 51-year-old cook will pose a threat to others once released, but it won't consider the question that has been most in dispute during the two years Ms. Martin has been in a Mexican prison:
Is she guilty?
Ms. Martin contends the Mexican courts treated her unfairly, but a parole board spokeswoman said it isn't the mandate of the board to evaluate whether an inmate was justly convicted in another country.
She has maintained her innocence, and said she had no idea that her former boss, Alyn Waage, was the mastermind of an Internet scam he ran out of his Puerto Vallarta mansion, where she cooked for him.
Mr. Waage is serving 10 years in a U.S. prison for bilking 15,000 investors out of nearly $60-million (U.S.) from 1999 to 2001.
Last week, a Mexican judge found Ms. Martin guilty of involvement in the scam and profiting from the proceeds of criminal activity.
A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Ms. Martin will be eligible for an accelerated parole review - meaning she could be a free woman within weeks or months.
Mexican court documents detailing the web of transactions among Mr. Waage's inner circle, including Ms. Martin, shed light on the reasoning behind Judge Luis Nunez's ruling.
According to the 110-page verdict, the judge found Ms. Martin guilty of depositing and transferring illicit funds. Between March and August of 2001, she received nearly $60,000 in Canadian funds in her Mexican bank account, and about $3,000 of it was transferred from the Latvian bank account of one of Mr. Waage's shell companies. Most of the money - $38,700 - was transferred by Ms. Martin from another account in her name.
Ms. Martin also received a $15,000 transfer from Keith Nordick, a Saskatchewan man living in Puerto Vallarta who was Mr. Waage's right-hand man in the scheme.Mr. Nordick pleaded guilty in a California court to fraud and money laundering in 2005.
Ms. Martin also transferred $16,000 from her bank account to Mr. Waage's sister, Lynn Johnston. Ms. Johnston is wanted on fraud charges, but has never been apprehended.
In a 2002 statement to the Mexican authorities, Ms. Martin said that she met Mr. Waage in a Puerto Vallarta bar in 2000, and he invited her to become his chef. She said she became responsible for buying food for the household and cooking meals for his family and staff for $500 a week. She said that at first, only three people were working for Mr. Waage out of the nine-bedroom house, but that number soon climbed to 10, including a web designer and bodyguards.
Many staff, including Ms. Martin, lived in the house.
"There were always new faces around," she said in her statement. "I only made breakfast, lunch and dinner ... When they ate, nobody talked about the business, just trivial things."
She added that Mr. Waage told her that the business located in the house dealt with transport trucks and real estate and that he said he had investments abroad.
Ms. Martin's defence offered testimony from people who knew her in Puerto Vallarta that she had no knowledge of his illegal dealings. Mr. Waage has also testified that she was not involved, but the judge gave little credence to that.
In March of 2001 Mr. Waage fired Ms. Martin after she had a dispute with his mother. He gave her a year's wages, $26,000, as severance pay.
Ms. Martin later invested $10,000 of that into Mr. Waage's scheme, the Tri-West Investment Club, but he said in a statement that he returned the money to her.
"I didn't want to make enemies with people in my own backyard," he said.
In his verdict, the Mexican judge concluded that Ms. Martin's conduct with the illegal funds was conscious and voluntary.
Ms. Martin and her lawyer, Guillermo Cruz, have maintained that overzealous Mexican authorities went after anyone connected to Mr. Waage, guilty or not.
"You have the right to put as much money as you want in your bank account," he said, adding that her attempt to invest in Mr. Waage's scheme was innocent.
"She really thought her boss was an honest and legitimate guy," he said. "She thought he could help her protect her money."
Includes report from The Canadian Press |
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