The Story
In January 2006, my brother met a Woman through a dating service (listed in the newspaper and online). They communicated quite often before she decided to come to Houston, Texas from St. Louis, MO.
This person (Jocelyn Diaz) told my brother stories of a malpractice lawsuit of which she was the recipient. She said she couldn’t ask her family to help her because they had stolen other monies from her that she had previously received. She asked Reggie to help her by accepting the lawsuit in his name (she would give him power of attorney) to do so. He declined several times before he eventually decided to help her.
He told her he would help her buy a house, a car and to gain employment if needed because she really wanted to continue to practice nursing.
She told him because he was so kind to her, that she wanted to help him and his family. When we (my sister, mom and I) met her, we told her that this didn’t appear to be valid. We told her that we were Believers of the Word of God and that we didn’t want to be involved in any illegal mess.
She was very, very convincing. Ignorantly, we gave her the benefit of the doubt.
My brother found her a house and started the proceedings for the purchase. Her “attorneys” indicated they would wire the funds to the title company to pay for the home.
The realtor indicated she would contact them once the title company called and confirmed the wire had arrived. They called a few days later.
The wire was for 1.3 mil dollars, the house was $730k, so the title company gave the difference ($550k) to my brother in checks. He went to the bank the title company used and opened a bank account and deposited the money there.
They purchased furniture for the home, a SUV and put $100k down on other real estate properties, and also purchased her brother a car.
She sent for her kids, other family members and friends to stay in the home with her!!
About a month later the title company began calling my brother asking for a copy of the wire (which he was never given a copy).
Because her attorneys sent the wire not him, he told the title company Jocelyn’s attorney would have to furnish the copy to them.
On April 5th the title company served my brother with a letter indicating they had made a mistake (by putting another couple’s wire in his folder) and that they would give him 10 days to turn everything back in. They didn’t wait 10 days. On April 7th my brother was arrested for theft.
The amazing thing about this, no one tried to get her (she was with him when he was arrested). We explained to them (the DA and Investigator) that this was a SCAM! She of course ran… never to be found again.
He signed everything back over to the title company (the house, furniture, SUV and the remaining monies in the bank account). My brother was let out of jail on a $30K bond.
February 2007
During the trial, the lady (Whitney) at the title company admitted she made a mistake by putting the wire in the wrong folder. She said and I quote, “yes, I made a horrible mistake.” It was their fault. Had they never called him in for the closing, this would have never happened!!
The title company’s insurance company would not honor their claim because it was their mistake! The home builder, McVaugh Homes fired Pinnacle Title from ever doing business with McVaugh homes again.
My brother’s attorney made everyone involved admit their mistakes during the trial. He did not have a jury of his peers so of course they found him guilty of theft. The judge sentenced him to 20 years stating:
“I want you to understand that this has nothing to do with Pinnacle Title Company but everything to do with you. We are here because of you! I FEEL that you are a con-artist and I’m not giving you probation, I’m sentencing you to 20 years.”
My brother has NEVER been in trouble. He is a 52 year old educated professional (architect).
Somewhat naive to society and people and because of his decision to help this horrible woman, this is what he’s been handed.
I don’t understand how the judge came to this conclusion since she had nothing; no negative past information to conclude that he was a con-artist. On top of the fact, it had everything to do with the title company because they made the mistake.
Most important, his attorney at the time (Cornel Williams), did not use ANY witnesses (and there were SEVERAL available) on his behalf. Simply put, my brother was used as a scape goat.
We (his family and friends) refuse to accept this travesty of justice. Our challenge is to find someone who will listen and get this overturned!
My brother of course has accepted his responsibility in making the wrong choices, they had him in the city jail, time away from his job where he could have been actively working towards any restitution — but no, these people have decided to destroy his life at 50 years old, with no prior record, and he’s not a thief, he didn’t steal anything — the title company made and I quote, “a horrible mistake.”
Reginald is a 52 years old (he turned 50 in the county jail) professional architect with three children. Having never been in trouble before, it bewilders me how the Judge deemed him to be a “con-artist” and that this was “his entire fault.”
I strongly believe that Pinnacle Title & McVaugh Homes should be held in account for their errors with this situation as well.
Since this happened, I’ve had to leave my place of residence to stay with my Mother who has a hard time being alone. We talk to my brother daily to keep his spirits up (because I know for fact, he is not suited for where he is — he’s been sick and his blood pressure and diabetes is challenging).
November 2007
My brother’s original attorney, Cornel Williams is no longer representing him. We feel very strongly that “he gave my brother over to the prosecution.” His appeal attorney is Joel Androphy of Berg & Androphy. The appeal was filed but denied. Although the committee didn’t agree to the sentence handed down (they felt it was to harsh), my brother is still incarcerated.
In the meantime, I know that it’s crucial to bring public awareness to cases like this because due to our very faulty judicial system, thousands of innocent people have spent their lives in prison for crimes they never committed. This is totally unacceptable.
During my diligent research, I found something very interesting online a couple of years ago in reference to the son of this con-artist my brother was scammed by. I’ve turned the information over to the firm and they turned the information over to the original Investigator on the case (who by the way never did anything with the information we provided beforehand) and who supposedly if pursued properly will have a high percentage of chance to get Jocelyn Diad-Obengo (who really knows what her real name is). Fast forward to today — They NEVER did anything with this information.
Quite frankly Mrs. Carlson, I’m sick of deception. I’m sick and tired of deception ESPECIALLY with the people we’re taught to trust our entire lives (the court system). I believe that by airing this story, the viewers may recognize this person which will lead them even closer to getting her back to Texas under her warrant here IF it was really ever issued or still in effect.
November 2008 - The day after thanksgiving, we had to rush our Mom to emergency where she spent five days in the hospital due to clots in her lung. This came about because we drove approximately 500 plus miles EVERY weekend to see my brother when he was at the Garza facility in Beeville, Texas and the doctor said that was what had caused the clots.
Our mother is 74 years old. She is really trying hard to deal with this - had this been a situation where Reggie was guilty of such nonsense, she understands that it would be something we all would have to just deal with — however — due to the fact that he has been wrongfully convicted - it is triple times hard on her. VERY HARD. I know you’re no way near 74 years old, but I ask you to imagine what type of effect this would have on a person that age, not knowing if you will be around when your child is released from such a horrible situation.
As you can see, we don’t have years to waste trying to get Reggie exonerated through the Innocence Project or wait for someone to have enough heart to grab this case and do the right thing with it. It is our prayer that this horrible nightmare will be over as soon as possible.
November 2008 & December 2009 - times he has been denied parole. If you know anything about the Texas Parole System, you will understand that it is a ’shifting and shuffling of papers’, in other words, cases are rarely ever read and handled with a person’s life at stake. The reason for denial has been “criminal history and time served”. First of all he has no criminal history and the time served is because the Judge gave him such an exorbitant amount of years (again, even the Appeals Court stated it was too much time) so now they are saying he hasn’t served enough of his sentence.
Again, please understand that this is not a letter of pity, we want results! The bible says, “faith without works is dead,” therefore we are working to get justice in this matter.
Therefore I’m asking…
We would be ever so grateful to hear from you or on any information or resources you could provide to help get this resolved.
Thank you