--THE REAL STORY-- Inside sources: Police not charging Walia, Crowe with filing false police reports because of Walia's political connections, particularly with Attorney General Bill McCollum

Herald-Trib was close, but no cigar

Despite an abundance of proof that city council candidate Harry Walia  (photo at right) knowingly gave police false information in sworn affidavits and interviews, there are no plans to charge Walia with filing false police reports. According to police sources who wish to remain anonymous, the police are giving Walia a pass due to his Republican Party political connections, both local and statewide.

In late July and early August of this year, police conducted an investigation into allegations that Garry Moore, of State of the Art Landscaping, had sabotaged and vandalized Walia's irrigation system and electrical wiring. Walia refused to pay Moore for fixing a water fountain pump. Walia was, at the time, fixing up his backyard for a July 24 fundraiser for the gubernatorial campaign of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. McCollum did attend the fundraiser at Walia's house.

Walia is alternatively known in numerous legal records, including the deed to his house, as Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia.

Walia, his girlfriend/attorney Diana Pankova(1), and two staffers, Heather Skeffington and Candia Lynch-Mausser(2), all gave sworn written statements to Venice Police Detective Ron Perisho, all implicating Moore as having criminally caused a series of electrical and plumbing failures that police later determined were due to shoddy repairs previously authorized by Walia. All but Pankova gave taped verbal interviews to Perisho as well.

According to a statement obtained by Venice Police from an electrician contracted by Walia, the system had been defective from long before Moore had ever laid eyes on it, and it was rapidly deteriorating. "It was a Mickey Mouse job," Ron Parish, of Best Electric, told police in his police interview.

Walia liberally name dropped the state's attorney general, Bill McCollum, in his interview with Detective Ron Perisho, this as heard in the audio recording of Walia's police interview as obtained by Venice Florida! dot com. At one point, Walia infers a strong chummy relationship with McCollum by stating that the pair of men were together until midnight on July 24. Walia name drops McCollum in his written sworn affidavit as well.

Moore, who did this repair as a one-off job and had never met Walia or been at the property prior to July of this year, stated to this writer that he tracked down prior workmen that Walia had used and that these workmen claim that they had warned Walia repeatedly about the shoddy electrical and plumbing work that
was on his property, but that Walia ignored their warnings.

Both Moore and Venice Florida! dot com have been inquiring as to why Walia remains not criminally charged with knowingly filing false criminal complaints.

The unofficial reason given to both Moore and to myself was that this whole mess was too political and that Walia is too highly connected.

Officially, the reason given to Venice Florida! dot com is that the complaints were dropped as "unfounded," therefore they don't exist as criminal complaints any more and thus cannot be false.

According to Moore, the official reason given to him was that, despite proof of Walia's prior knowledge that both the police and Moore unearthed, Walia is goofy enough that police couldn't prove that Walia understood that he was making a false statement. In other words, the police appear to be claiming that they will not charge Walia because Walia might claim an insanity plea. Remember, this is a man who is currently running for election for a seat on Venice City Council on a so-called "common sense" platform.

Moore has filed a contractor's lien against Walia's house for just over $900. Additionally, Moore has filed suit in small claims court. Walia has filed a countersuit.

The second criminal complaint involves Walia campaign staffer and supporter, Cyntia Crowe, who was caught on video physically attacking this writer at the Venice Library immediately after a League of Women Voiters debate.

Crowe had watched as Walia, outside of the room where the debate had been held, was asked about the criminal complaint that had been filed against Moore. Crowe then followed this writer back into the room where the debate had been held and issued threats of an impending lawsuit. When asked why, Crowe repeatedly refused to answer and proceeded to threaten and then follow through with a right-handed punch.

The video, and a verbal witness statement made to Venice Florida! dot com by Mayor Ed Martin, clearly show that Walia is not in the room at the time of the attack. In fact, Walia was some twenty to thirty feet outside of the room and around a corner.

Nevertheless, Walia and Crowe both filed criminal affidavits claiming that I physically attacked Crowe (PDF, 4 pages).

That complaint was dismissed as unfounded after detectives reviewed the video, which by that time had been published to YouTube.

Again, no charge of filing a false police report is being contemplated by the Venice Police Department, this because the complaint has been determined to be "unfounded," so it doesn't actually exist as such and therefore cannot possibly be a false complaint situation (or: since it was false, it cannot be valid and only a valid complaint can later be investigated for being false).

Meanwhile, Venice Florida! dot com has made inquiries to Attorney General Bill McCollum's office to inquire if it is the attorney general's policy to give a pass to offenses and crimes related to fundraisers for McCollum's election campaign.

I am still awaiting return calls from Captain Tom McNulty of the Venice Police Department and from the state's Attorney General's Office to see if either law enforcement agncy can come up with any clarifications as to why Walia is getting a pass from prosecution for what are prima facie cases of abuse of perceived authority in the filing of false police reports.

[FOOTNOTES:
(1) Walia identifies Pankova as his girlfriend in the audio recording of Detective Perisho's interview
(2)  Walia staffers and witnesses against Moore,  Skeffington and Mausser, both have problematic legal pasts. Skeffington is currently on probation with the Florida Department of Corrections for burglary. She still is facing charges of exploiting the elderly and multiple counts of using a stolen credit card. Mausser and an associate were accused of securities fraud by the SEC in 1994, a $30,000 administrative fine was imposed against the pair.]