west, jim | vol (investigation)

8/12/2019 West, Jim | Vol (Investigation)

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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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Jim West In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

Page 1

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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Page 2

APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]


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Page 3

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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Page 4

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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Page 5

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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Page 6

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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Page 41

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

west, jim | vol (investigation)

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