A Real Ransom Note & Kidnapping

Discussion in 'Justice for JonBenet Discussion - Public Forum' started by RiverRat, Feb 26, 2007.

  1. RiverRat

    RiverRat FFJ Sr. Member Extraordinaire (Pictured at Lef

    CLAY MOORE ABDUCTION

    INTERNATIONAL MANHUNT ON
    Man is former farmworker and Mexican national who may have fled Florida and U.S.

    MANATEE COUNTY -- A child abduction case that shocked the nation because of the kidnapper's brazen scheme and the victim's ingenious escape is vexing authorities and leaving parents with a sense of dread.

    Authorities on Sunday identified a Mexican national and former farmworker as the target of an international manhunt, wanted in what investigators called a rare case of kidnapping for ransom.

    Law enforcement agencies across the country are looking for Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, 22, who police say plotted a kidnapping rooted in a desperate attempt to generate cash. But unlike most abductors, authorities say he selected his victim at random, snatching a boy at gunpoint Friday in Parrish, in front of other children at a school bus stop.

    The ransom plan collapsed because of the wits employed by his 13-year-old victim, Clay Moore, whom detectives affectionately compare with the TV character MacGyver. The resourceful teen saved a safety pin he found in his abductor's pickup truck and later used it to escape from his bonds.

    Police raided Beltran-Moreno's home in Samoset early Sunday, finding a ransom note in a garbage can as well as duct tape -- the material used to bind Clay on a farm in rural East Manatee County.

    Most child abductions, Sheriff Charlie Wells said, are sexually-motivated or part of family custody battles.

    The motive in the abduction of Clay shocked veteran investigators.

    "This was an absolute kidnapping for ransom," a rare crime in the United States, Wells said, adding that during 41 years in law enforcement he had never seen a ransom note before.

    An incriminating letter

    Authorities suspect that Beltran-Moreno left Florida, and perhaps the country.

    During the raid on Beltran-Moreno's home at 3719 17th St. Court E., deputies seized the maroon Ford Ranger XLT truck that he reportedly used to abduct Clay.

    Detectives found the handwritten ransom note in a garbage can outside the house. It was scribbled on several pages and demanded different amounts of money. The letter does not mention Clay's name.

    Detectives do not know whether Beltran-Moreno wrote the note. But the writer presented this threat: surrender money or the victim will be left to die.

    Police are working to determine whether anyone else participated in the ransom plot.

    "We don't have evidence that there was a lot of pre-planning," Wells said. "We do have evidence that it was planned."

    Putting a name on the face

    A student at Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto, Clay was abducted at gunpoint Friday at about 8:50 a.m. a block from his home in the Kingsfield Lakes neighborhood.

    His friends scrambled to a nearby house, where police were called. Authorities issued an Amber Alert and launched a statewide search for the boy and his captor.

    "I think it was a random act, that this kid provided an opportunity for him. It was easy to abduct him," Wells said Sunday. "He takes him out, ties him up. And obviously what threw everything into a spin is when the kid escaped."

    The abductor took Clay to a wooded area at Falkner Farm, off State Road 64 in rural East Manatee County.

    Clay, authorities said, used a safety pin and his teeth to escape the heavy-duty tape his abductor used to bind his arms and feet to a tree.

    The boy returned to the crop fields Saturday with detectives and provided valuable information about his ordeal, including a description of his captor that was used to make a sketch of the man.

    Detectives armed with fliers bearing that sketch questioned migrant farm workers at Falkner throughout the day Saturday.

    At first, workers were called in from the fields randomly. Some recognized the man's face, but not his name. One person would suggest another worker, who would offer up another.

    The language barrier hindered the question-and-answer sessions. A Sheriff's Office translator helped out, but interviews that would normally take 15 minutes took much longer.

    Authorities first got the man's nickname -- "Nacho" -- before a relative of the suspect who works at Falkner identified him as Beltran-Moreno.

    Elias Beltran, 56, was called into the farm's office on Saturday, and asked to identify the man in a photo that deputies handed him. The photo was of Beltran's nephew, Beltran-Moreno, who came to the United States about four years ago from Sinaloa, Mexico.

    Beltran said he told the deputies Beltran-Moreno's name.

    He said deputies also interviewed numerous other people who recalled Beltran-Moreno from the three years that he worked in the fields for Falkner.

    "He was a good worker," said Beltran, who said that the job at Falkner had been his nephew's first employment in the United States.

    Beltran-Moreno left Falkner about a year ago but continued working as a farmworker, but for another company, Beltran said. Sheriff's officials said Beltran-Moreno had been working for a company that installs pool screens.

    A predawn raid

    The investigation blossomed swiftly after police put a name to the face. Authorities got a bead on an address in Bradenton, and set up undercover surveillance around the house.

    Nobody showed up. Windows were covered with sheets and towels, including one bearing characters from the TV cartoon "Rugrats."

    At about 3 a.m., a judge put her name on arrest and search warrants; two hours later, the sheriff's SWAT team barged into the house.

    Neighbors heard the commotion and later learned about their neighbor, the target.

    "You know you can't get away with something like this," said next-door neighbor Tim McRee, 50, a friend of Clay Moore's family who helped in the search last week. "What was this guy thinking?"

    The suspect's history

    Authorities on Sunday were researching about 10 variations of Beltran-Moreno's name to determine whether he has a criminal history.

    Beltran-Moreno lived in a house owned by his girlfriend's father, Juventino Pureco, who has ties to Falkner-owned farms.

    Pureco said that he was not friendly with Beltran-Moreno because he fathered two children with his daughter without getting married or asking his permission, as is customary in Mexico.

    Authorities are working with the FBI and other federal agencies in the search for Beltran-Moreno.

    "I think when somebody injures a child, we have an obligation to join forces as much as we possibly can and bring that person to justice," Wells said. "And that's what happened here."
     

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  2. RiverRat

    RiverRat FFJ Sr. Member Extraordinaire (Pictured at Lef

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  3. heymom

    heymom Member

    I am pretty certain Beltran is headed for Mexico, may already be there. I hope not, I hope they catch him.
     
  4. Tricia

    Tricia Administrator Staff Member

    Glad you chose the title that you did for this thread RR. I thought the same thing when I heard about the ransom note. You just posted it 13 minutes before I did :)


    I am guessing it wasn't 3 pages and this pervert did not respect the victim's father's business. Just a guess. Wild, I know.
     
  5. tylin

    tylin Banned

    Too bad Boulder doesn't 'get' this concept.
     
  6. RiverRat

    RiverRat FFJ Sr. Member Extraordinaire (Pictured at Lef

    Having to remain somewhat mum for personal reasons unrelated to this current case.......however, Sherrif Charlie Wells is the Best we have in the State of Florida. No other man has gone above and beyond the call of duty as this Sheriff has. My State's safety has vastly improved due to his pro-active stance for victims, so this case could not have played out in a better county.

    Having said that - I will now refrain to just posting media up-dates if there is any interest.

    Ok - one last IMO - It was interesting to see that that the Herald Tribune ran a side panel that covered other high profile kidnappings.....guess which case was ommitted?!

    RR
     
  7. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    RR, has a copy of the ransom note been made available yet? Or at least the contents?
     
  8. RiverRat

    RiverRat FFJ Sr. Member Extraordinaire (Pictured at Lef

    Not that I am aware of, but it is one of those a thousane things to do day for me, but I did find this snippe!

    "Because, experts say, Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, his suspected abductor, “was a real amateur†who probably hatched the plan on a whim and carried it out with no forethought. In fact, authorities say a ransom note found this weekend was only a rough draft — and may have been written in the moments after the abduction.

    “It’s absolutely illogical,†said Chuck Chambers, a private eye and former police officer in Manatee County who has followed the ordeal. “The guy sounds like a real amateur. Normally, the target has some assets behind him for the ransom and the whole thing is well planned."

    "In America, ransom abductions are normally relegated to the rich and famous — including notorious cases such as newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, aviator Charles Lindbergh’s baby and singer Frank Sinatra’s son. So when detectives found a scribbled ransom note over the weekend, even Manatee Sheriff Charlie Wells was surprised.

    Wells said in his 41 years in law enforcement he had never even seen a ransom note — until deputies raided Beltran-Moreno’s home early Sunday morning.

    “You just don’t hear of that happening that often,†Wells said. “And so when you see it, it’s kind of breathtaking. ... I was shocked. I can’t even describe it.â€

    http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/NEWS/70226002
    "
     
  9. LurkerXIV

    LurkerXIV Moderator

    TG the boy escaped.

    That boy was absolutely ingenious in getting himself out of a seemingly desperate situation. I heard a deputy call him a young McIver.

    Thank God this one ended well.

    Now to arrest the creep....a Darwin's Award candidate for sure.
     
  10. heymom

    heymom Member

    Kidnappings for ransom are rather common in Mexico.
     
  11. Elle

    Elle Member

    Thank you RiverRat for updating us on this kidnapping, complete with photographs. This must have been frightening for all the school children who witnessed this. Good grief what is this world coming too?

    If they have seized his truck, he has no transport, and stealing a car would put him in jeopardy. I hope they catch him.
     
  12. Show Me

    Show Me FFJ Senior Member

    Wow a real foreign faction kidnapper! Wonder why the kidnapper didn't leave the victim, like the Ramsey kidnapper did?

    Detectives found the handwritten ransom note in a garbage can outside the house. It was scribbled on several pages and demanded different amounts of money. The letter does not mention Clay's name. Just like Ramseys! Except it was three pages and sprawled on the spiral staircase! Did the kidnapper want the money in an attractive attache' case?

    "This was an absolute kidnapping for ransom," a rare crime in the United States, Wells said, adding that during 41 years in law enforcement he had never seen a ransom note before. Obviously he didn't work in Boulder, home of the three page ransom note.

    Mary Lazy is probably preparing to arrest 'Nacho' and charge him in JonBenet's murder....after all field workers don't make a lot of money and she can win this case easily! Tracey is frantically searching through his emails to see if any are in Spanish...gotta get that book deal!
     
  13. RiverRat

    RiverRat FFJ Sr. Member Extraordinaire (Pictured at Lef

    Has jameson tagged this man as Sick Puppy yet?!
     
  14. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    That's true, Heymom, and a very good point. I'm sure that's where Beltran-Moreno got the idea.
     
  15. koldkase

    koldkase FFJ Senior Member

    In South America, kidnapping for money is an INDUSTRY. Literally. Rich businessmen who travel internationally have KIDNAPPING INSURANCE. I'm not making this up. We discussed this years ago in relation to the Ramsey case. European countries like Italy have kidnapped rich people for decades for ransom. They have NEIGHBORHOODS named after the KIDNAP VICTIMS' FAMILIES because they were built from the ransom.

    South American is WELL KNOWN for its rebel factions/kidnappers, because that's how they finance themselves. They actually have it down to a business: international companies KNOW that if they pay the ransom, the victim IS RETURNED. That's the way it goes, because if they DON'T return the victim, then the NEXT kidnap, the victim's family/company won't PAY, will they?

    I know you all know how many times we've discussed that John Ramsy, as the CEO of an international company, for which he traveled, and a major DEFENSE CONTRACTOR, would have known EXACTLY what the protocol was FOR KIDNAPPINGS. Yet...they called the BPD.

    Not long ago I wrote about one of those retired profilers on TV talking about FAKE RANSOM NOTES: he said that the person writing that note would be revealing HIS/HER FEARS, what he/she has worried about happening at some point in time.

    So it's not far-fetched to think of Patsy and/or John Ramsey, finding themselves in a situation where they needed a cover story, coming up with A FOREIGN FACTION OF KIDNAPPERS. Especially if they'd seen the movie Ransom. Or maybe someone they knew told them about the movie, even, and how that family in the movie reminded them of the Ramseys.

    It doesn't sound like this Flordia kidnapper had much of a plan. He's either very stupid or very desperate for some reason. Why kidnap a child at random when you don't even know if his parents have money?

    This is an example of a disorganized criminal. As opposed to the Ramsey criminal, who was very organized.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2007
  16. heymom

    heymom Member

    A stupid criminal. An impulsive criminal.

    Yes, you're right about the kidnappings in South America and many other places in the world, including the Middle East. It is now making its way into the US via our open southern border. Thank you, El Presidente Gringo!
     
  17. The Punisher

    The Punisher Member

    Now we'll see what a real rn looks like.
     
  18. RiverRat

    RiverRat FFJ Sr. Member Extraordinaire (Pictured at Lef

    LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLIE WELLS

    Here are some key dates in the life of retiring Manatee Sheriff Charlie Wells.

    Nov. 20, 1944: Born in the Panhandle town of Bonifay as the youngest of eight children.

    1957: Wells' family moves to Tampa.

    1960: Works as a meat cutter at a Publix in Tampa.

    1963: Graduates from Tampa's Chamberlain High, where he was taught civics by future Gov. Bob Martinez.

    1966: Starts his law enforcement career with the Florida Highway Patrol.

    1977: Transfers to the FHP in Bradenton.

    1981: Becomes an investigator for the State Attorney's Office.

    1982: Appointed Bradenton police chief.

    1984: Elected Manatee County sheriff with 70 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Thomas Burton. During the next two decades, Wells easily wins five more 4-year terms.

    1985: Wells' 19-year-old daughter, Lynn Michelle, dies in a traffic accident.

    1986: Gov. Bob Graham orders a special investigation into the taping of calls on Sheriff's Office phones. No one is charged with any wrongdoing.

    1990s: Launches an array of education and other initiatives intended to prevent crime by making sure teens stay in school.

    1991: Helps found Stop Turning Out Prisoners, a statewide movement that convinces the Legislature to require that convicts serve most of their prison sentences.

    1991: A photo of Wells nude from the waist down is widely circulated. Wells says the snapshot, taken by his wife as a prank, is used in a blackmail scheme against him.

    1998-2000: A two-year investigation by federal prosecutors and the FBI reveals corruption within the sheriff's Delta unit of undercover narcotics investigators.

    Feb. 2007: The abduction and escape of 13-year-old teen Clay Moore, and arrest of a suspect, puts Wells in the national media spotlight.

    March 13, 2007: Announces his retirement.

    -- Compiled by staff writer Dale White


    Charlie Wells ends 22 years as sheriff
    Kidnapping solved, top lawman leaves on high note

    MANATEE COUNTY -- In the end, Sheriff Charlie Wells took himself out.

    Long the untouchable sheriff in cowboy boots with a cigar at his mouth, praised for his dedication and criticized for seeming arrogance, Wells is set to retire the first week of April, ending a 41-year law enforcement career in Florida.

    He's going out on a high note.

    For two weeks, Wells' detectives and FBI agents aggressively worked a kidnapping case that received nationwide media attention and riveted TV audiences and newspaper readers.

    The abducted boy outwitted his captor and escaped. Within days, investigators had tracked down and negotiated the surrender of their suspect, who had fled to Mexico.

    Wells has been the sheriff of Manatee County since 1984, winning one political bout after the next. He said he vowed in 2004 he would not seek a seventh term in 2008, choosing instead to push his choice for sheriff, Col. W. Brad Steube, onto the front line.

    "There's no hidden agenda here -- period," Wells declared Tuesday. "It's time for me to go."

    In his resignation letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, Wells urged the governor to name Steube as interim Manatee sheriff, which could help Steube in the next election in November 2008. By law, Florida's governor appoints an interim sheriff to fill vacancies that occur mid-term; that could happen in the next few weeks.

    Wells, 62, announced his retirement Tuesday morning at a meeting of Sheriff's Office supervisors at the Manatee Convention Center in Palmetto. He got a few laughs during a 15-minute speech. He choked up toward the end.

    Wells spoke about his devotion to police work, and how he, like many law enforcement officers, has deprived his family. Long hours take their toll in a field where personal sacrifice, he said, is largely under-appreciated.

    "I believe in what I do, and I think you believe in what you do," Wells told his colleagues.

    Wells left the podium to a steady applause. Some employees shed tears.

    Later, Wells added: "In my opinion, I served in the top political job. There's no job in this state that's equal to being a Florida sheriff."

    Only a handful of administrators had been told of the sheriff's retirement announcement. Many employees said they were shocked; others knew the day would come and didn't want to dwell on when it would arrive.

    The sheriff said he plans to work as a private-sector consultant in the law enforcement arena, a role he expects will take him to Tallahassee and to police agencies in the Caribbean. He has a job or two already lined up.

    Wells didn't get into specifics, telling reporters that his life in the private sector will be private.

    "I can still carry a concealed weapon," he said, "and don't y'all forget that."

    Wells, who has twin teenage daughters and two adult sons, said he is leaving office of his own free will and vowed he will never look back. He plans to continue living in Manatee County, where his wife, Leslie, is a real estate agent.

    The agency he leaves behind has endured its share of scandal over the years. Violent crime these days has surged, marked in part by gang and drug-related shootings.

    At the Tuesday meeting in Palmetto, Wells didn't bring up controversy, but he alluded to it.

    "The few (officers) that don't do their job, the few that don't choose the proper course," Wells said, "we read about them more than others."

    No agency is perfect, Wells said later. Peaks and valleys are routine. But the sheriff refused to answer questions about scandals that marred the agency in the past decade.

    A handful of sheriff's deputies were indicted and sentenced to prison in the late 1990s for violating civil rights. Members of the former Delta Squad planted evidence and robbed motorists, among other crimes.

    More recently, another set of deputies were either arrested or resigned because of their association with Cleopatra's, the strip club north of Palmetto that is now called Pandora's Box.

    Wells has been called arrogant and manipulative, but such words bounce off a man some refer to as a walking bulletproof vest.

    "If somebody likes me, I like them," the sheriff said. "I don't let people drag me down. I know my flaws, I know my weaknesses, I know my strengths."

    Reflecting on his career, Wells recalled his effort to reform sentencing laws in the state as one of his proudest achievements.

    He helped enact the STOP Act, "Stop Turning Out Prisoners." Lawmakers adopted the measure, requiring inmates to serve at least 85 percent of a prison sentence.

    Wells said he wanted to leave the Sheriff's Office on a high note.

    He said he is tired.

    The March 7 arrest of kidnapping suspect Vicente Beltran-Moreno -- charged with kidnapping 13-year-old Clay Moore last month -- capped a two-week period of unrelenting detective work.

    Wells was a mainstay during the course of the exhaustive investigation.

    Sheriff's deputies and administrators uniformly praised Wells, a muscular man who takes pride in his workout regimen. He can bench-press 350 pounds.

    Maj. Connie Shingledecker, who heads the investigations bureau, said Wells is the kind of boss who doesn't discourage opinions and risks.

    He keeps doubts to himself, fostering a work environment that compels detectives to press forward.

    Wells called himself "Citizen Wells" on Tuesday, a resident among hundreds of thousands here who wants to be protected.

    His last day is April 2. He said he couldn't go out on April Fool's Day.

    http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS/703140374
     

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