Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - U.S. Marshal Fired After Exposing Corruption | Robert Ledogar

Episode Date: August 30, 2023

U.S. Marshal Fired After Exposing Corruption | Robert Ledogar

She was a female, and she was, she's an Army veteran. She's a U.S. Marshal, and these guys did not want to take orders or directions from her. Well, one of these task force officers, local cop, urinated in her cookies. That man at one point grabbed her in the office when she was trying to walk by and started almost groping her and just filling her up. Other people saw it, and they laughed. She felt embarrassed. She was crying. and she was humiliated. She left. So then she called me and it went from these accusations, these complaints, these, you know, charges to these guys controlling an investigation and investigating themselves. And keep in mind, well, all this is going on. I have some of the biggest cases of the world I'm working. I'm part of the investigation, arrest, extradition, and trial of El Chapo. I'm a drug dealer. I'm a drug addict, I sell drugs, I steal drugs from the evidence locker, I steal money from

the evidence locker, I sell social security numbers to her for fake ID. So while this is all going on, my wife's like, I want out of here. How many times you hear people, men, you know, you mess with my family, I'll kill you. Right. Really? Really? You're going to do that? You're not going to do it. Everybody talks a big game. I had to do something. Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I am here with Bobby Letiger. He is a former U.S. Marshal.

Yes. And he's got an interesting story, and we're going to go over it real quick. So check out the interview. I'm originally from Queens, New York, Rockway Beach, my whole life. I went to grammar school there and then high school. And after high school, I went in the Navy for about seven years. I was military police, but in the Navy that's called Master at Arms. I served in Desert Storm and I became a military police investigator

and then became a instructor for shipwashed security engagement tactics. So while I was in the Navy, the Marshal Service was recruiting. They created this program called Operation Shining Star and it was going after targeting military personnel to join. And I was one of them and was selected and went into the Marshal Service in 1995. So how long were you in the Navy? Almost seven years. I went in right out of high school in 1988.

And I got out of the Navy on a Saturday in June and 95. And on Sunday, June of 95, I was in the Marshal Service. I didn't even have a breaker service at all. Okay. And, you know, I went to training in Glenco, Georgia. And then after that, I went right to Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, and served almost all of my 25 years there in Brooklyn. In the beginning, I started out as a deputy in working court operations, prisoner transport,

serving some like civil process, administrative duties, and, you know, doing my little rotations in the Warrant Squad. So it took a little bit of little time and then I, you know, gravitated right to doing warrants and working the street and doing fugitive investigations. And after some special assignments of protection details and even some high-profile trials, I eventually was right into the Warrant Squad and did that. I bet your majority of my career is working warrants. And I was lucky enough to be part of the New York, New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, which started right after September 11th and funded by Congress. It's one of the biggest task forces in the nation and still is.

And is that what you like if you're like if you're a police officer, like, you know, a lot of them, you know, ultimately they want to work like homicide, you know. they want to like that's like is working the the the fugitive or the war and the warrant squad is that like what you like when you join is that like that's the goal that's it for the yeah when you're a deputy marshal with the u.s. marshals that that's the that's it that's the pedestal of being in the marshal service i mean there's so many different divisions and and sections but everybody wants to work fugitive investigation warrants you want to be on a task force i mean i worked with the greatest cops in the world. I worked in when I was in Brooklyn and the city, I worked with

NYPD and, you know, coming from New York and then dealing with everybody in the nation here with different states, there's nothing better than, you know, NYPD detectors. They're like the best. And we had dozens of them. We had NYPD sergeants, lieutenants, then we had state police officers, immigration customs officers there, DHS. We even had relationship with DEA and ATF. even FBI and Secret Service, and we just work together great. And it's, you know, when you join the Marshal Service, you know, you see it on TV and the movies, everybody wants to work fugitive investigations and track down the worst of the worst out there, you know?

And in New York, you know, there's no place better to work, the street, than there. So I did that for years and stayed in Brooklyn mainly. I was moving up, you know, with seniority and then I put in and I took the test and I became a supervisor back in like 2009, 2010. And my chief is a great man. He had a lot of trust and confidence in me, selected me to become the supervisor. I had to do a couple of months in the courthouse, you know, you know, working with everybody in there. And then eventually my chief put me back into the Warren Squad. And next to you know, I'm there supervising now the guys and girls I worked with for years. But it seemed like everybody wanted that. You know,

they wanted me back there because I knew what I was doing and I made things happen. And I did that for almost 10 years. Our Warren squad was. was part of the New York, New Jersey Regional Feudive Task Force, which was in Brooklyn, New York City, as well as out in Long Island, which was Nassau and Suffolk County. I was also responsible for that, along with other supervisors. So what happened is out in Long Island, it was a sub-office, and we had deputy marshals rotating through there. Well, we had one young lady who was really interested in doing it, and it was me and another

supervisor who selected her to go back there and work with the with the local officers from Nassau and Suffolk County in Long Island to be full-time on the Warren Squad and she was going to represent the Eastern District and she was a U.S. Marshal and this is now the U.S. Marshals, it's our task force. We run it. Okay. Well, she was doing good for a couple of years. Right.

And then some of the guys that she gravitated to, they were older and they retired, you know, and that was kind of like her go-to guys. Well, the other guys in the task force, they didn't really take too kindly to her. They would make fun of her, tease her, and then it just started escalating, and then it got into bullying, and then they would blackball her, they would ignore her. they would start messing with her desk and at one time she went you know you go to you know go to Costco or BJs and you get those big plastic tubs of cookies animal cook crackers right so she would put them on her desk and share it with everybody

well one of these task force officers local cop urinated in her cookies and left it there and she knew you could smell it yeah well what are the what's the issue like why did they Well, it came out and she was a female and she was, she's an army veteran, she's a U.S. Marshal and these guys did not want to take orders or directions from her. They just did not want to deal with her. They wanted to be, it was an all guys group out there. Right. And the icing on a cake is she was a lesbian.

And she was an open person. She spoke about, she was gay. And she had a girlfriend and they did not want that in their group. They didn't want to be part of that. But this girl, her name's out there at Dawn. She was well known, well liked. The courthouse, everybody in there loved her. She was athletic, played softball, soccer.

She participated with everything. She was, you know, a fun person that have around. How many guys are there here that are doing this? three or is it six I mean is there it was up there was um four to six guys that were messing with her and it got to a point where she brought it to my attention and then I confronted the supervisor that was out there running handling those guys and um he just ignored it he said you know suck it up you know he's not here to be a babysitter when in fact you are you're supervisor you have to babysit some of these people and everybody has to they need to get along they

need to work as a as a cohesive group all the time and you know you have to develop a relationship you have to be friends you have to be partners you have to get along with each other you have to build something there i mean these guys guys and girls are carrying guns wearing vest you know work in the street and you're doing a lot of hours um so she would do things and be like hey you're not checking in with me you're not telling me you're doing hits they were just go and do interviews and arrest people and not even tell her. And she's the team leader. She's the boss.

So after these guys found out, we spoke to the supervisor out there, they got more in range. So then they would, now they would bully her and argue with her, totally ignore her. And then start teasing her. They would, in any marshal's office you work in, you know, you transport prisoners. and they try to bring their legal work to the Excel block.

Right. And in their legal work is porn books. Right. You know, so we would seize that. They would be in a box. Next to you know, some of these magazines are heading up on her desk. And they're opening up pitches of girls on top of girls. They're playing porn in the office where you hear the morning.

And she's the only woman back there. So it's a couple of guys against her. We bring that forward to and nothing happens. but now it just escalates more and more. Well, there was one task force officer who was, had Spanish heritage, and he came out and he made her kiss him every morning to say hello. And this is on your team. These are your co-workers.

And she just did it all the time and just fell into that, you know, comfort of doing it. And when she told me about it, I was like, are you kidding? You got to be kidding me. like this we don't do this i don't you know i don't even do that with half my family members giving kisses hello so that man at one point grabbed her in the office when she was trying to walk by and started almost groping her and just feeling her up and calling her a sexy bitch right and other people saw it and they laughed she felt embarrassed she was crying she was humiliated she left. So then she called me and then that was it. I was like, just stay home. And then I

confronted the supervisor again. And he now then went and said something to the guys. And it went over the weekend and that guy was told not to come back. Well, two other guys didn't like that. So they showed up on one morning while they were preparing to do a hit and the rest. And people were like, why are you guys here? You're on a different team. And they were like, oh, we're just here to back you up. So when they went in the house, they get the perp, but Dawn was sitting on another person in the house, just watching. And one of those guys walked by and pushed her shove their hitter, like a shoulder to the back and made her stumble. And this gave her a look. And the look was after she told me was, we can get to you. Right. You know, what are you doing? Why are you

talking this stuff? So that moment I told, I took her off the task force, had to go report it to my chief, and she just reported so much more stuff that was happening. And it went up to chain to headquarters at the Marshal Service. And in the beginning, Internal Affairs was going to investigate this, but some other leadership personnel who were over the task force got involved and suggested that they have an investigator come and investigate what was going on there. And it went from these accusations, these complaints, these, you know, charges, to these guys controlling an investigation and investigating themselves. And this executive from the headquarters selected an investigator who was at a New Hampshire, who was part of the task force in New Hampshire, who knew the guys in the task force in New York in Long Island.

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stop praising the great work and personalities of these other guys right which we all knew was for we all knew you just know you know and too many other people were coming and making supporting dawn's allegations well well that was going on to one task force officer who hit Dawn, shoved her. He found out I was going to a New York Mets baseball game during this investigation and him and a couple other task force officers made it a point to go to that baseball game, which was in Queens, and it was on law enforcement appreciation night. And he confronted me at the game. And we got into a big argument, cursing, and nose to nose, we were going to fight. and it went on for a couple of seconds

and then it just stopped. I walked away and left and I reported it to my chief like this is what happened. This is going to be, you know, an off-thru-the-incident. You know, I'm going to get investigated. But so strange that it was law enforcement

appreciation night, there was a bunch of members from the New York City Task Force office there who witnessed this and one happened to be the chief of the whole task force. So the next day he made it a point, to remove that task force officer from the task force. And but he was still able to work with them,

but he couldn't be in the courthouse anymore. It couldn't be in the office space. So the results come out about the office culture investigation. Right. So now my chief is livid. He's like, this is insane. You know, first of all, I wasn't even there when these things were happened. So how can I be a bad supervisor?

and when I did hear about it, I reported it, got involved and confronted the supervisor. So my chief and the marshal then argue with the leadership from the marshal's headquarters. And he's, you know, they go through the whole list of complaints. They're like, you investigated all this and went through this stuff and found nothing, nothing at all. You're going to let this deputy marshal female tell you that somebody peed in her food. Right. And you're going to ignore it. Well, one of the people on that telephone call said he didn't know about that.

And now that we bring that to his attention, he's going to instruct internal affairs to investigate that specific incident, just that one, not these are the ones that she had listed. So you wait a month or two, internal affairs comes into the office, which they're terrible. They're absolutely horrible. They're the people that cannot get into the Warren squad. They're jealous, they're angry, you know, they're tools. Right. So they come in.

Now their first person they want to interview is the guy who tried to fight me at the baseball game who's no longer on the task force. So now we're a year after this all started from the office culture investigation. And he comes in and they sit him down in internal affairs out in Long Island. they come up and they ask them you know do you know why you hear and he says no and they're like well does there anything you would like to tell us and he goes yeah I would he goes bobby lediger is a racist he covers up crime he's the biggest problem in the task force this is a year later now this never came out during the office culture investigation I wasn't even mentioned is this guy black Oh, no, he's Greek.

He's Greek. Okay. From Long Island, white guy. Right. And we all hung out. Like, we were all worked together, went out to the bars together. Well, that's the worst thing you can say. That's it.

He's racist. Racist. So then him and his co-worker partner who was on the task force kind of agreed. And then he interviewed him. Yeah, he's a racist. He says to N-word all the time. And everybody knows about it. And we're only coming forth now because of how much damage Bobby Lederger caused to the task force by having him removed.

I'm like, okay. So this goes on. So now they try to create scenes or scenarios or incidents where I said specifically the N-word. And one was during an arrest. And they said that, and one of the other guys who were one of the bad actors in this, tased the perp when we were arrested him and it was a white guy and in the pat

they had stolen a car we got into a car chase it was an arrest in Long Island in the gas station and they were like yeah Bobby Lettaker went up to the white girl and there was a black guy passenger in the car

and there was supposedly a white girl in the back seat and said that's what you get for dating a black guy the end guy but so odd is that the white girl on scene was dawned, the marshal, who was in my car during this. But internal affairs didn't want to hear that, but they were using that scenario, that incident.

Right. But what's more strange is that one of the guys, the marshals, tased the perp, who was getting arrested. So if you would have pulled that taser incident report, you would know the full investigation of that, what it was. So you could see all the players there, but they didn't. Right. So then he came out and they were like, yeah, we hear that he says the N word at parties. You know, we're out at bars, one of them and it makes us feel uncomfortable now. And we have to tell you this now because it's so bad.

Because it took us a year to come up with this. Longer. Yeah, it's going on for years. But yeah. But then they started shooting themselves in the foot because then the supervisor goes, yeah, I think he does say the N word. Well, you're a supervisor. Why didn't you report me instantly? when you heard that.

Right. So you're a dereliction of duty. These other guys are not supervised because they're investigators. So they'll play that. So they investigate me and they're like, you're a racist. Then they said one of my sources of information,

an informant, was married to my wife. And that's why he's my informant. What? Yeah. One of your informants was married to your wife? This is what the bad actor said about me. that I was associated with a felon

and he and I owned a gym together and that same guy is my informant and prior to that he had been married when you said married no this was a story they made up okay that he was married to my wife so your current wife he so your current wife was his ex-wife correct okay yeah all lie

totally right and you would think that would be easily easily discounted you know oh no no they were questioned me about that everything and they were like you let your informant live at your house he was married to your wife they're having sex I'm like this internal affairs these are my own people asking me these questions so what are you trying to get at so it's all lies right and um you can easily find it the best is that they said I owned a gym with him I don't go to the gym right you know I'm like look it up do these reports there's no financial gains here nothing lies

that people were making about me other cops were lying about me but we're not going to go after them. Right. And that's really the culture now, isn't it? You could basically lie blatantly a lie and accuse people. And then when you find out that that's untrue, nothing happens to a person that lies. Nothing at all. And now, what if, what of a famous quote, we would say to people when we were investigating to a fugitive and you find and like, oh, we're going to charge you are harboring a fugitive, aiding and abetting, and lying to law enforcement. If you lie to me, I'm a federal agency. You go to jail for five years. Right. But what about these task force officers who were deputized that are lying to internal affairs so about another

government official nothing ever happens to it I mean these people should have been arrested right in charge but no and internal affairs would just turn around and be like well we're just we're going to investigate the accusation that's brought forth but it's a lie right and we've told you that so this goes on and I completely deny everything and there's no evidence to show I do to anything. But some people from the Marshal Service, the Internal Affairs investigates it and then they push it forward and they write up their report and they cherry pick the words. And it's all selective and opinionated. And then we have what's called a proposing official. This person turns around and says, I don't believe Bobby Lediger. I believe these four to five

other people that you are a racist and you use the N-word hundreds to thousands of times a day. even though the only people saying you do it are these four guys that i have four four bad actors that are originally named in the complaint of sexual harassment and even though you're you have outstanding evaluations you have awards and you you know you work with a most diversified group of people and there's no complaints at all about you nothing ever brought up you don't have any complaints from any people you're arrested anybody in the public nothing we believe them you're a liar and we're going to fire you and so this was in 2017 i was proposed removal i had to hire a lawyer because we have no union and we have some silly association

the federal law enforcement enforcement officers association it's a joke and uh i have a private attorney. Of course, you're a lot of money. Right. And I go before this deciding official now. We have like two months to prepare. I collected hundreds of letters of support. My background was perfect. And I go before this woman who's a chief and plead my case to her and present evidence of those people being racist and sexist and degrading and lying. about me. But what's so strange is that before I get to do that and sit down with her, the day before, she oddly gets a phone call from a civilian who wants to report to her that I steal cell phones from people I arrest and I gave her one and that I'm a bad person.

Okay. It's very confusing, right? So this woman was the ex-girlfriend of one of the guys I worked with in the task force who was friends with these bad actors in the task force, wrote a motorcycle with them. Well, somebody, one of those men gave her their name and phone number to the deciding official, which is all secret. This is all private. Which should tell you something's wrong right there. Right off the bat. And then that I stole a cell phone and gave it to her. So you're in possession of stolen property. Right.

Does she have a cell phone? Does she provide the cell phone? Well, this is even better. That deciding official tells us, and my lawyer is like, you have to start in it, you have to report that to internal affairs. Right. So now I have a new internal affairs investigation on me while I'm getting proposed to be fired.

Right. And now we move forward towards our hearing. talking to her for a few hours and the woman is just blown away like she can see it yeah she's like this is pure retaliation this is horrible so do are you allowed to present witnesses or you just no it's just me and her with my lawyer couldn't show up and say this is what's going on no but dawn wrote a letter in support of me that's the best you can do is that we have letters of support to refute that and she read everyone she listened to me um and she just asked for some additional supporting documents that my lawyers provided.

But keep in mind, I'm being proposed to be fired. Right, which is a big deal for a federal agent. Yeah, a federal agent to be fired. I lost my gun, my badge, everything, but I still had my title and I have to go to work every day in administrative roles while I'm being like waiting. Yeah. So this is in 2017, and now we leave and it was on Good Friday. And she, when we left, the lady was like, have a happy Easter.

I knew I was going to win. Yeah. And that she was, and it was like a week later, and she found, she cleared me of everything. It was unsubstantiated. But keep in mind, I don't get my attorney fee money back. Right. I don't get any personal money I spent nothing. You don't get nothing back, you know, it's just stress on you.

And now I have an open internal affairs investigation for supposedly given this. woman a cell phone so now i have i a looking at me again after i just got cleared cleared so that goes now that's april 2017 but are you start i'm sorry i hate to interrupt no please are you starting to feel like like this isn't going to work like they already know this might not work but we're going to keep throwing stuff until we get rid of this guy like at this point it's like okay so at this point these guys are just going to continue to hound me until they get rid of me. Well, are you feeling like that? Like, I mean, look, they've already lied this investigation.

You know what? Throw another one at him. Throw another one at him. Throw another one. Like, something will stick eventually. It got to that point a year or so later. And I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a scholar.

And maybe I'm too stupid to realize what was going on. And I'm very shocked. Like, how could you do this to me, knowing that I have my chief and my marshal and everybody supporting me? Even other people from the task force are like, this is crazy what's happening. And I'm still in my position of power of being a supervisor to the Warren Squad. And keep in mind, well, all this is going on, I have some of the biggest cases of the world I'm working. I'm part of the investigation, arrest, extradition, and trial of El Chapo.

Okay. So my name is right there on the paper as being a supervisor on this investigation. with other marshals I worked with, with the DEA out in Long Island, huge. And it's happening in Brooklyn. As I'm being investigated, this is going on. So I'm under investigation. It lingers for two years. Not until April 2019, do I get a notice from Internal Affairs that they want to talk to me?

It's like, you've got to be kidding me. This has been going on forever. Right. So I'm thinking nothing's going to happen that they would have just, dismissed it. Right. As that's happening, I also arrest a U.S. Marshals top 15. It's like an equivalent to a FBI top 10.

Right. This guy, Andre Nevesant, wanted in Brooklyn, on the Marshall's top 15 for a decade. It was on America's Most Wanted with that John Walsh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And he murdered his sister and his girlfriend. So so many people worked that case. They stepped all over it.

It was a disaster. I come in and we get a teletype that his FBI number is hitting in Connecticut. What does that mean? That he was fingerprinted and it comes back to his match. His fingerprints matched this FBI number, but the name and the date of birth aren't the same. So Bridgeford, Connecticut let him go. they let them go they don't follow up so we come in to work the next day and I got to teletype and I'm reading over it and I asked one of my analysts to call up there to find out

and uh we go back and forth but like can you share a picture with us so we're like holy shit this is the perp right this is the guy so now I have to make a couple phone calls people like nah there's no way he's in trinidad he's dead he's that it's his fingerprints it's him it's solid So now we're trying to do some due diligence because of the different A.K.A.s and that. So now my, it's not hard to get a DM. It's not. Yeah, it's not. So it wound up being like a traffic violation.

And so at Bridgeport, PD, we start working well with them and they're giving us information, sharing photos, information on the car. And I go in and my chief now is working with a couple of other supervisors. And they're planning the trial security of El Chapo. So I walk in and I'm like hey we're going to arrest a top 15 and he just laughed he's like yeah okay whatever meanwhile I just got done work in L chapel with the extradition and I'm under criminal investigation right so within an hour I had set it all up with guys up in Connecticut coordinated everything and they were sitting outside his house and they're calling me and they're sending me video and photos of our guy sitting on his porch but the marcher was like hey we're waiting

for some backup. You know, this guy's a major player. You know, he killed two people, his sister and a girlfriend. So yeah, and he knows he's gonna go to jail for the rest of his life. Yeah, he made very well put up a fight. But he's got away with it so many times. He's been on the run.

But he's, I'm like, he's wanted out of Brooklyn and he's in Bridgeport, this, so within an hour, they call me up, send me a photo like, we arrested him. And I got the deputy marshal up there. He's like, thank you, you just made my career. I arrested a top 15. I'm like, yeah, no problem. not looking for anything, I did my job.

So I going in, I tell my chief, and he's like, I can't believe this. That year, our district, East and New York, as District of the Year, for being one of the largest districts in the nation, eighth largest district in the nation for the work we did with El Chapo and the arrest of this top 15. Right. Because of me. Right.

But no crap. I'm like, yeah, and whatever, you did your job. And I'm under criminal investigation. So now I go after that, the same guy. from the marshal's headquarters who made the decision to investigate me to investigate themselves the task force this guy comes to Brooklyn a day or two after we arrest the top 15 because he wants to walk through the courthouse to see what's going to go on with the el chapel trial so he's an executive he's like the number two guy of the marshal service so he comes in

sees me he gives me the typical handshake and uh you know the street hug right you know like You know, like he's proud of me and all that. But never congratulates or thanks me for doing a job well done. Right. Because he's stabbing me right in the back as everything's going on. So there I have my opportunity to call him out. This is the number two guy at a martial service. Right.

So I'm not a coward, you know. I'll do whatever you want. We can talk. We can debate. We can fist fight. We can all. I'll do it all. Right.

So this guy is just a regular deputy just like me. He came up through the ranks, you know. It's just that he took all the test and he transferred from where he was. Now, backpedal, he was from New Hampshire. And the person who investigated the office culture case was from New Hampshire. Okay. So they all know each other. But this guy, the number two guy, he's now running the Marshal Service.

Totally forgot where he came from. Right. So I'm like, you know, you're a real, you really suck, man. I go, you know what they're doing to me. letting this happen. He's like, we're just going with what internal affairs is investigating, you know, whatever it comes, whatever accusations are made, we have to investigate. But you initiated the investigation. You created this and now it just snowballed out of control and because you want to protect your congressionally funded task force because if Congress hears about this

or the public hears about this, you're going to look like a real piece of garbage because you let sexual harassment take place right here and you didn't defend or protect one of your own you went against your own to say that we were wrong and look what we did when our own were wrong we got rid of them when the other people the outsiders were wrong but you didn't want to have that political battle with outside law enforcement right it's silly but it's true it happens so now I just do this big arrest, I'm under IA, now I get noticed that they want to talk to me. So finally, now I have to go to headquarters with my own private attorney. Again. Again. Right. So now I go there and I'm summoned to be there for two days, two days of investigative against me. And

it's stemmed and it's a whole list of things. And it's just because of a phone call from a woman that's how it started. That's how it started. That's how it started. And that was, in the middle of the interviews, in the very beginning, they asked me if I was a racist, if I used the N-word. So my lawyer's enjoying this, like, that was already investigated and closed. What are you doing? You know, you're harassing them, you're retaliating. So we put it on the record. It was there. Then they said, they asked me about the man who started all this. So we're like, this has already been asked and answered. It's already done. What are we doing here? so then they went in and said one of the deputies that worked for me years ago got pulled over in

New Jersey for speeding and he got a ticket I'm like okay they're like we have a text chain of you two talking and you tell them like all right well just go take care of it right did you you you called the New Jersey State police and fixed the ticket I'm like that's what you get north of this day so they said I've I misuse my power to get a ticket fix, which I didn't. And that deputy admitted it saying I didn't do anything. But still, they used my... And they just throw enough at you.

But that was one thing. That was abuse of power. Then they went in and said, I stole a cell phone that they have a photo of it, but they don't have the cell phone. Then that lady said, I gave... She had a shotgun and I gave her shotgun bullets, but they don't have any of that. and now she has a criminal history she's been arrested before so she shouldn't be in possession of a gun she said i stole a camcorder and gave it to her but they had a pitcher to camp quarter

that had the serial numbers on there but they didn't run it we don't know what that is right we don't know if that was stolen well it gets even better i was going to say first of all she's admitting that she's a felon in possession of a firearm that's three-year mandatory minimum in New York. In New York. I was going to say federally, that's... But that's New York. It's the worst state in the world to get charged with a gun crime. You know, you're going in. But they don't... They don't care. Yeah. Because it's against me, Bobby Lettinger. Right. Then she just adds more to it and it gets better. I'm a drug dealer. I'm a drug addict.

I sell drugs. I steal drugs from the evidence locker. I steal money from the evidence locker. I sell social security numbers to her for fake ID. So me and her are collusion with social security numbers to people. I filed for bankruptcy, which destroys your security clearance, if I ever did that. I am a bouncer at a bar. I'm 5'6, 160 pounds. Right. I'm bouncer at a bar.

I don't fight, you know. I cheat on my wife. My wife cheats on me. I misuse my government vehicle. I... You dislike? You don't like children or small animals. Nothing, all that stuff.

But yet I would hang out with this woman with her then boyfriend when we were working all together. We went out to dinners, restaurants, bars, but all of a sudden this. But can't provide any evidence on any of this stuff. So the Marshal Service takes it and runs with it and they're going more and more and asking me all these questions. They never give me a drug test, they never do an inventory of the evidence lockers. They don't want anything that doesn't support their version of the events.

But why not? Why wouldn't you want to know the truth? Why wouldn't you want to be like, wow, this guy is getting screwed here? And he's another marshal. We're going to investigate one of our own. That's what it really comes down. And we're going to destroy him. Right.

He's well known. He's got over 20 years in the Marshal Service. He's a supervisor. He's in the Warren Squad. I've been involved in four shootings. I've got a great reputation. The men and women I work with love. working with me or for me, I don't have any complaints against me, why wouldn't you want

me to be cleared? Why wouldn't you want to find a truth? So as I'm sitting there with internal affairs... I'm hoping you know that... Do you know the answer to that? No, I'm still looking for it, man. I'm trying to think of one. Well, I think it's funny as I have people ask me and they're like, who is Bobby Lediger? Like, who am I? That is, that you came at me so hard that you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate me. I mean, it got so bad. We lived in Long Island, New York. I had a beautiful house. I had a mother and daughter house on a half acre of land. Nice, big pool in the backyard. I would have parties at my house every year for all the guys and girls I worked with friends, family. And I had to work in Brooklyn. And I was a good hour or so

from home. And my wife was home alone. My mother-in-law lived next door. And the native would tell my wife and my mother-in-law that there's undercover cops sitting on the block. And then we were getting screws, putting our tires. They were coming on our property and putting stuff in our cars. We were getting pulled over. All of this started because you told a couple of fraternity guys stopped bullying this chick. 100%. And it's a fact.

That's why it started. It's a fact it all came out because those same men who were bullying her and hit. her and harassed her. They omit it in their own statements that I violated the blue wall. I went against them. I believed her over them. And they omit it. And the internal affair saw it and in my own people, my own leadership, read it and saw it. And they knew people were coming after me. So now these people put my family in life jeopardy. They put my wife in fear. So while this is all going on, my wife's like, I want out of here. We turn a round, snap at a finger, and we sell our house in Long Island.

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And I'm still working and she works. I have a couple years until I can retire. My family is good. We have a condo in Queens. So me and my wife are staying there. My mother and Laura had to go stay with another family member

and then we wound up buying a house in Florida while we're still working. So my wife's like, that's it. She talks to her boss. He finds out what's going on. People are like, this is insane. this can't be happening and it's like the movie copland you know it's the vestus alone where all the dirty cops are yeah live in one neighborhood so we're like no it's

happening you know and even my own chief just couldn't believe it and they were like what do you like I'm like how do you protect how do I protect my wife right what do I do you know you hear all these people you know and I not to diminish anybody or or anything but how many times you hear people men you know you mess with my family I'll kill you. Really? Really? You're going to do that? You're not going to do it. Everybody talks a big game. I had to do something. And the only way to protect my wife was to leave the state. And that's what we did. And I stayed in New York and I would take leave and go back and forth to visit with her in Florida. She worked from home now in Florida with her company out of New York, which was great.

They helped us out a lot. And now I'm... This was in 2019. I was going to say that I think the problem is that you you wouldn't like it's not a far leap because for you to do that because given the situation like you wouldn't think it would have gone as far as it has already gone. So the idea that it wouldn't go a step further, it would be stupid to think, oh no, they won't they won't do anything to my wife. They won't mess with my family. They won't do no, no, they've already continually pushed that bar. There doesn't seem to be a limit. So I can, so to say, hey, look, let's just, let's just sell. Let's get out of this. Let's, let's, I mean, I can totally see that because I was thinking, wow, that's, that's like, you know, you really, that's a huge step. But at this point, they don't seem to be stopping. So I don't see what other choice you have. Nobody seems to be looking out for you. No one is looking out for me. I granted I had the support of my own district to people like backed me and like you were a good guy, but that goes so far. Yeah.

You know, I need presence, I need protection, I need money, you know, and you, what do you do? Right. So that was the best thing we could do it. We didn't want to do it. You know, we changed our whole lives. And the agency, the Marshal Service, knew I was doing that. I told them in internal affairs that I had to leave because you people did nothing for me. You knew they were coming after me.

They told you they were coming after me. And you did nothing. Right. And they still, to this day, you never helped me. Nothing. And they have, they tell you when you're in internal affairs, you're sitting there like, well, you can call EAP, you know, the employee assistant program, you know, to vent to some lady in India that I'm feeling depressed or something.

Right. Come on. So, and I'm still working. So now we'll back up a little bit again. I'm still in internal affairs being interviewed. So they're asking me about being a drug dealer, stealing money. They're asking me then if I'm a bouncer. They're asking me if I fix tickets.

Now they want to see my cell phone. The government cell phone, here you go. They take it, they bring it in the back, it's gone for a couple hours, so they're downloading it. They come back, and they had a folder, and they open up their folder, they give me back my cell phone, government cell phone, and they're showing me pictures of a naked Playboy model. I'm like, okay, they're like, do you know who this is? I'm like, yeah, I know very well. and she was a fugitive that we arrested.

Right. So I'm like, okay. So internal affairs is blown away. They're like, she's a fugitive? I'm like, yeah. It was all over the news. It's a big thing. I go, it was a haig act.

She kidnapped her daughter from the husband who was in France. She was from Vietnam. And they issued a warrant for her. We arrested her the next day trying to flee the country with the daughter. and brought her in. I said, we photographed everything that she had. She was an international playboy model, a DJ. Right.

And I'm like, I took pictures of the Playboy book for identity and evidence. Here's all her clothes. Here's all her jewelry. Here's her five cell phones, a laptops. Here's everything. Everything we have. Here's all the emails from the U.S. Attorney saying thank you for all that information.

Right. So it's a case file. It's a case file. 100%. And it's all there. The emails are there. No, you should have deleted those pictures. I'm like, no, you can't. It was on a work phone. It's legit. It's evidence. I said it's saved in the cloud. You can't get rid of that anymore because you people and the government created this cloud to keep it. And plus, everybody knows about it. No, we think you kept those photos for self-gratification. That's a crime, you know, in the Marshal Service. Okay.

Yeah. It's self-gratification. So the lady who say that to me, I just assumed that she was jealous because she did not look like the Playboy model. So that was a personal hit toward me. I'm like, I'm married. I've been married for 25 years. My wife is absolutely gorgeous.

And this is the year of the internet. Right. I don't need to take pictures of a Playboy book when I can just go on the internet and find whatever you want. This is what we're dealing with. These are grown adults who are coming up with these disinformation. So that was thrown out against me too. Then I was at one point being looked at or so-called groomed to be appointed as the U.S.

Marshal in eastern New York, Brooklyn under President Trump. So like I had people above me saying, you should put in your application to become a presidential appointee. while I'm being criminally investigated while that's going on and then because my background is so well and then I have such a great relationship with other people that are endorsing me but I have my own agency

trying to put me in jail but I have powerful people saying you should be in charge this is a true tale of two cities this whole story it's yeah so I put in I'm like this is great so while they're investigating me criminally they're investigating me

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I've been interviewed by some people under the Trump administration for an appointment. Right. So just can't believe it. And at this point, my wife is totally disgusted with the government to no end. So what a waste of money so far? They just, it's just, it's a shame. Like, and let's, I, I, what is it, proudly can say that the American taxpayers got their money out of me. Right. I worked my ass off every day. So now we're in 2020.

This is the year I'm eligible to retire to have 25 years in the Marshal Service. I came on June 95. I can retire June 2020. So I think it was in February or March. I put in to retire. that I want to retire at the end of June 2020 because I just went out. Well, while I put in a B

to request that I can retire in June 2020, I am now hit with another proposed removal from everything in internal affairs did to me. And of course, it's abuse of power, failure to supervise, lack of candor, misuse of my government vehicle, my phone, anything you can throw on there. so I have my lawyer again we have to write up a rebuttal I collect more letters than the first case

all my awards again being part of the arrest with El Chapo and Neveson great things so we go now to headquarters to speak with the deciding official and this lady actually knows me personally knows me, she was my class advisor. We even had email to exchange that she knew what was going on at the task force in Long Island of how I was protecting Dawn and that it was all messed up. Right. But she forgot that. So we sit down and talk to her. She only talks me for about 15 minutes. So we knew she made up her mind. She was going to get me, fire me. And I sat there and I begged I go, listen, I'm just going to retire. I want to retire June. I can retire in June. It'll have 25 years, you know leave me alone so like I said it's the end of February 2020 you know it just kicked

off February 2020 worldwide pandemic oh yeah we're shut down man that's it the government is shut down everybody in headquarters is teleworking never think that would help you out we all thought it would help me out I'm like I got I can't win this fight anymore so April 17th, 2020, is a Friday. I get an email from Human Resources, martial service headquarters that I am awarded retirement June 30th, 2020. I can retire in June 30th, 2020.

Perfect. I'm in Florida. I'm using up my annual leave and sick leave because I only have a few months left. Right. I have more time in my hand to use up than time left on a job. Yes. So that was April 17, 2020 of Friday.

Monday, April 20th, 2020, 4 o'clock, my chief calls me, you're fired. They terminated you. Holy shit. Just like that, snap of the finger. And I just sat there and I was just, I couldn't believe it. And then I could believe it, and I'm like, all right, this is a joke, you know, worldwide pandemic, we're shut down. So I read what they write. And this lady who knew me, she's like, the Marshal Service leadership doesn't have the confidence in you to perform at a satisfactory level.

I respond back. I, too, don't have the confidence to respond at a satisfactory level, but I've always performed at an outstanding level for the last 20 years. and you all signed off on it, which are my record. You don't even know what my evaluations are. Right. I'm above what you want me to be. And the best one was that the naked pictures of the Playboy model, I find that you did keep these pictures for self-gratification.

How can you even prove? You can never prove that. I've never printed them. They weren't on the, there was nothing to get, like it was insane. But this is what they come up with. So we then file an appeal with what's called the Merit System Protection Board. It's a joke. It's a kangaroo court that's created by the government.

It's supposed to be more for the employee, but it's totally turned tides and it's more for the government. And what happens is a guy like me doesn't fight them. You don't go up against the government. You don't have the money to do it. You have to pay for lawyers. I now am fighting them, and I'm very fortunate. I have the National Police Defense Foundation backing me over the Marshal Service,

and they created a legal defense fund to help pay my legal fees. Nice. My case is sitting, and it's going to take a while. It takes years because it goes before a quorum, a three-panel quorum. Right. And they were all appointed by the president. So, Biden just last year appointed three of them. One already resigned, so now there's only two.

It's like, you just can't. Right. So that comes 2020 and what do you do? I got no job. I lost everything. Right. I lost my salary. I lost my pension.

I lost my medical benefits. Everything. Everything is gone. And so for about a week, you know, I sat in a corner crying, depressed, feeling shame and embarrassment. And my wife was like, what do we? That's it. Let's go. You know?

And I did some great things, man. I had to go. I went on unemployment at New York. And I did that for several months. And then she's like, we got to get a job. You got to get something. But it's the pandemic. I'm screwed.

What are you doing? Yeah, what job? What I put in for Home Depot? I couldn't even get that. Yeah. And next you know, down where I am, I put in and I became a supervisor at a pre-planned retirement center. And it was pretty, it's well off place, but it was horrible, you know, getting $25 an hour,

you know, but I had to do something. They gave me benefits, you know, so I had to have it. But I was really lucky to because. I'm a veteran and the VA here in Florida was great, you know, so I had medical protection there. My wife had medical protection from her company. They were helping. Then I started searched around a little bit more and I wound up finding a good job through LinkedIn, which pushing my story out there. Right. And I now currently work as a security consultant for a nonprofit organization international. I do a lot of traveling. It's great. The organization supports the hell

out of me for what I did and they can't believe it. But also what happened during all this time is I connected with some great people on LinkedIn. LinkedIn was great for me. For me. I didn't do Facebook or any of the other social media. And I met this one guy who's an FBI agent, lawyer, who got jammed up. They went after him. And he's fighting them as well. He put me in touch with another FBI agent who resigned before they could fire him. And he waited a few years until he reached a certain age. And he went back and got a government job. So I connected with that guy and he was telling me about it. And I'm like, I can't do that. He's like, you have over 20 years as federal law enforcement. Right. And he goes, you're over the age of 50 now.

Because you have seven years in the Navy. I was terminated with 24 years and 10 months. Right. Yeah. That's that's. If that's, if that's, not personal retaliation. You can't. And everybody knew it. So this guy educated me and gave me the policies and the programs to follow. And I like saying I used the government against the government. Right. And I got my retirement. Okay. So I beat them at their own game. And I got my full 32 years retirement law enforcement everything I have my my medical benefits and they give you a social security supplement till the age of 57 I mean what'd you do go get another job and work for two months yeah I don't want to go into great people okay okay I understand that's

fine it's fine because I'm writing a book and it's going to be in the book but yeah you know what yes yes but you don't know what I did for how long I did it but it's it's amazing and it's what you do to protect your family and yourself and, you know, you can't let them get to you. And that's like the whole thing of my story is, you know, don't give up. Don't ever give up. Don't, don't give in. Don't let the bad actors take you down, you know. And that's what I try to put out there. Even when they come at you with things, you know, and the lies that people say about you and the false accusations and it just it sucked but you know you fight through it and now you can you know I can look at these people right in the eye and know that they're you

know they're garbage you know and I'm not impressed by them you know the government lawyers are not anything they're still government lawyers if you were that good you'd be in a private sector right right I always say that like you don't get to the top of your field and end up working for the Bureau of Prison, like, you know, like the dot from the doctors all the way down. Like, that's just not how it works. No. So, yeah, it's, it's, I was going to say, there's a guy I interviewed who runs a YouTube channel.

I should put you in touch with him. He'd probably be interested in your story, too, because he, um, he actually, you know, Wade, remember the guy that, that it was a self-defense, well, self-defense, but it was staying your ground where he was attacked in his own home by a guy and shot him you know but he was attacked the guy was drunk they'd both been drinking the guy was drunk he attacked him multiple times he told other people he was going to kill him and then he attacked him and wade shot him and they arrested wade he got out he's like i was in my own house you know and this guy attacked me over and over again you can see that i've been hit you can see that like the whole thing and um it was really just one detective

that had she was brand new detective first case she worked decided she wanted to to get him and they fought it um he pulled a hundred thousand dollars out of his retirement to fight the case and it took like two years and the only reason it didn't go forward they didn't go forward with it is because a new district attorney came in and his lawyer went in and said I want to sit down with you and just show you the evidence and he said and he told Wade look it's a risk because we're laying out our whole case and they laid out the whole case and showed it to him and the guy was like oh yeah yeah i'm dropping this okay but yeah you know it's you know they the other you know they pad the file they they hire somebody to come up with to come up with a

forensic report that supports their version they and i've done a lot of i don't know if you know much about me but i've written a bunch of stories right and i have uh of true crime stories and You know, I have a guy who, like, literally they, the FBI continually investigated this one person and asked, they padded the file with all of these people that said he did it, he did it, he did it, he did it, he did it. So by the time it's done, you've got 30 people, 28 of which said he did it, you know, but out of almost all of those, they can't really tell you who told them that. And it all really stems from one guy telling this guy, who tells this guy who tells this guy. And so this guy talks to the FBI and says, yeah, yeah, this is what I've heard. But it all really comes from one guy. Of course.

You know, and then when you're completely done, it's like it does look overwhelming. And if you were to go to trial, it would seem overwhelming because all these people would get on the stand and say, yeah, this is what he did. You know, but really, if you look at it, it's like, okay, well, you padded the file. Like, you only investigated people that supported your version of the story. You're a narrative. Yeah, your narrative. so why didn't you matter of fact they actually gave people people um lie detector tests until they came up with their version and then when they came up with their version they stopped

giving it they just took the thing okay did you did you give them a lie detector test on that version well no because we knew we knew that was the version that we wanted to go with so why would we give them a lie detector test well that you know it's me you bring that up about the lie detector test and you look at something like the Marshal Service and you wonder like what makes it, what's happening today with law enforcement? And I'm sorry, I jump around a little bit, but the Marshal Service does not do polygraphs.

They don't lie detector, new employees, or even their staff. Why not? Right. Why wouldn't you raise the standards to have the best people out there? Instead, you lower the standards. You're doing away with some of the fit requirements, the education.

Right. Why wouldn't you want the best people, your weapons qualls? And it's amazing. And it all come down to like the way the culture is today, you know, current events. And it's a shame. I mean, I was watching something a few days ago on ESPN. And they were showing a story of Whitney Houston singing the national anthem in 1991. Right.

What happened? What happened today that now everybody's a racist, you know, and that's the thing to call out there. Well, you're white, you're a racist. everybody's white supremacy really and what happened because she came out beautiful woman she's wearing sweats she wasn't dolled up in a in a gown or anything and she's sang the national anthem the best anybody's ever heard it and when i went through what i went through and to see that they pulled the race card against me to come at me they just come out left field because you never saw that coming never saw it coming the best that they said to me they were like

I was such a racist. And I didn't have any, you know, I don't even know the proper language to use anymore because you don't know what to say, but they're like, you don't have black people at your house. Like, we had dozens to picture. I'm like, I have to prove that I had black people at my house. My own family members are married to someone of color or anything. Right. And I have to prove this.

And I had a guy who worked with big guy. And we're the same age, same exact age, and black guy from Queens, and we're great friends. And he lives in California now, retired. He wrote one of the best letters for me ever. And he goes off on the letter saying, you know, I'm proud of the Marshal Service for investigating racism and doing what you're doing. But you got the wrong guy. Right. Why don't you ask me, and I'll tell you who the racists are.

but this is how you're going to do it yeah they don't want to hear that no they don't and it's a shame and you want to hear the truth and then just the the girl dawn i defended she's defending me today so we still in the marshals no she retired and what's odd is though during her last year or two she um they were going after her and making accusations like the same bad actors that she complained about made complaints about her that she took her dog to work she she misused the government car like all the petty-ass things and the same lady that decided to fire me made a decision to suspend dawn so then she filed an e-e-o and they settled with her because they knew the deciding official was showing favoritism toward the task force so dawn settled

her EEO, they gave her back all her lost days, they promoted her and they gave her money. But you still came after me when the original thing was I defended Dawn for what it was and it was all pure retaliation. But they pile it on. It's just like you said, they pad the folder. They pad the case and they put so much in there and they weren't even complaints against you. Like, you're investing, you're finding stuff to investigate. Well, I don't understand, like they, like the racism thing, like they have your phone, right? Like, there's text messages. There's, like, if I was so blatant and I'm saying this hundreds of times a day, then I certainly

would have said it in a text. I certainly would have thrown it into an email. I certainly would have, like, nothing, right? Nothing at all. But here, well, here's the conversation you and I just had now for the last hour or so. It's the most you're going to speak almost in a week. it's as long as we spoke and it's been hundreds of thousands of words we said maybe right not once did we say the N word right but I say it all day long yeah and I you know I can hold I hold my head up

you know like this you got me you know and and my dad says it and I get what he's saying and it's a shame that he thinks like that there he goes even when you win you lose because all the money you I've lost over the years are going through this and somebody just called me the other day looking for help and he's like well how much did the did your lawyers cost I'm like more than your salary yeah but don't you can't ask those questions you know every everybody has a different amount but if that's what you're worried about to fight to yeah yeah to prove your yourself don't call me because you're going to spend a lot of money to fix this well you know like I told you about that guy weighed. You spent over 100,000. What if he didn't have it? You don't have it.

What if he didn't have 100? You don't have it. Nobody has it. That's your life investments or whatever. What's I going to do? Remortgage my house to pay for my attorneys. Right. That's why they got you. The government got you. You can't. It's impossible. You can't go take out a loan. Yeah, especially not if you were to go to the bank and say, oh, I need it for my legal fees. They'd be like, you're going through something. We're not interested in being a part of. Well, especially during a pandemic. Oh, yeah. There's no jobs out there to get a job to pay anything back. Right. So that's where they think that you can, they can win. And they do. And they intimidate you and you're, you're afraid of them. Of what? You know, when you sit down and

you start talking to these people, it's not impressive. Like we said, they're government lawyers. Listen, there's some U.S. attorneys out there that are unbelievable. And they're very comfortable just staying in the position that they're in because they have a family and it's a nine to five job right you know but you go to the private sector you're putting in 20 hours a day yeah you know to make 18 million a year so you're gonna you're gonna work hard yeah so you're waiting you're waiting for this you're waiting for your um it's not a trial it's it's an appeal it's an appeal you're waiting for the appeal to go through yeah and what I'm waiting for that is that my appeal is to get my marshal's retirement.

Right. And to get my back pay for the two plus years I've lost. And to get attorney fees. And then that's it. Okay. In the meantime, I work. I'm currently writing a book. Right.

Putting it all out there, you know, and living in Florida, man, you know. All right. Do you have anything else? No, you got anything? One thing that I would think would be interesting if you can't talk about it. Like the L. Chapo stuff or like catching the guy on like the top 15 lists in the marshals. Like the story about that. It could be like a 10-minute version, 5-minute version, whatever.

I can go into that too. And there's another thing, too, more to add to my case, which makes it insane, too, is that in August 2014, we were involved in a shooting, arrest of a shooting of a guy named Oswald Lewis in Queens. And it was a drug case out of Virginia and tracked the phone. And it was like 11 o'clock at night, a house chopped up into apartments. We knock on the front door to the owner of the house. It's like, no, he lives in the back.

So we're there and there about eight marshals there and about eight, 10 NYPD guys there. We surround the house, we knock on the door, nothing, you hear the TV, we take the door. This guy goes into the back of the makeshift apartment and barricades himself into his bedroom. And so we start making entry. And me and this one other woman I worked with, we didn't even get into the door, into the door yet. we were on the frame of the door and the perp puts his hand out and started shooting at us and now there's six marshals in this little place like and you know they start returning fire and um you can feel you know it's hard to say but you can feel the bullets going past your head

you can feel it you know the the fear and the stress and anxiety and um so some of the marshals wound up when he put his hand out they shot his hand and shot the gun and then the perp went and grabbed another gun and started shooting out the window where the NYPD cops were outside so during that you know he finally comes out he surrenders we arrest him and uh that's gonna be bad I was going to say like you I mean after shooting to the cops I think I'd rather just go ahead because you're about to spend the rest of your life in prison no this gets better this gets better. So we get them, we put them, we are, we have EMS there and everything on scene within seconds and it's New York, you know, everybody's coming. So, um, we take him to the hospital

and, um, now he's getting charged with, you know, attempted murder, federal agents and everything. Well, of course, in the courts, you know, it starts getting dwindled down. They're like, yeah, assault, you know, use of a firearm. We're like, it's felony for is that like what do you do so um he defends himself in trial so while he's but before the trial NYPD talks to them now he's going to start talking they hit him with a homicide in new york he's got a drug case out of Virginia and then he's got the shooting at us right so right now he's in jail for 40 something years right okay so while he's in there during now I'm under internal affairs investigations he's making all these accusation out it with police brutality

You didn't even get in the room before he started shooting. No, but we were handcuffed, we were beating him up, calling him the N-word. Right. Everything. There's hundreds of people there watching this, including EMS, neighbors. Other body cams. Everything. So this goes on, and the actual, the actual, one of the actual marshals who shot him is not a white guy.

Right. I'll leave it like that. He's not a white guy. he shot him the purp they they remove him from the complaint and then they remove the spanish female from the complaint then they remove one or two other people from the complaint so it's down to you it's down to five people on a complaint that are white on the complaint while i'm being investigated by internal affairs it's all coming down so now the u.s. attorney's office is representing us because it was in the line of duty that we did this it was a case so now the u.s. attorney's

office has to rehabilitate my reputation because I was fired by the Marshal Service, which works for the Department of Justice, just like the U.S. Attorney's Office works for the Department of Justice. Right. So they're like, how do we do this? Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney's Office, we know you're a great guy. So this is all going. I'm like, yeah, let's look what I did because they've already known.

It's like, they pull up and they're like, well, he's part of the whole investigation. extradition trial of El Chapo in eastern New York where we had the biggest criminal in our lifetime now. Right. And it's like we don't know what to do. And then I put on there too about the top 15 fugitive Andre Neverson. You know, it was one of the most high-profile cases for the Marshal service for years it was you know on america's most wanted several times and they've interviewed several marshals that were work in that case right and then here it is i bobby lediger working with an analyst who worked from with me we tracked down and locate this guy and evis and all these great people from the task force that worked on that case right didn't arrest them it was us so you know that

all went on but now to go to go backwards to add to it that person the perp oswald lewis who made the complaint against me and other marshals of police brutality and racism that was um finally dismissed that but it was going to go forward in eastern new york as a trial right against us that he was suing us while he's in jail and it's like you just you can't make this stuff up what was going on and this is all in my life this is my life for almost five years of complete hell and people like how did you and only a couple people said I would have killed myself right to go through what you're going through and you're like no I'm not going to kill myself you know it's almost like um it's like a badge of honor you know when I'm accused of all these things

from people and I almost try to simulate it to those people who made all these accusations against me are like stolen valor right you know they've done nothing you know and they have to come take me down to get something and you know these people that I worked with that did all these bad things you know they they wear the t-shirt of the job I did right you know and I give my dad my t-shirts because he's proud of me and not them so okay anything good but that or yeah that's good yeah we're good yeah all right I'll wrap it well one I appreciate you you coming out making the drive how far what was it um it's like an hour and a half it was almost I think it was like 99 miles but you don't think of it

because I'm just down south, you know, in Sarasota. So I'm like, oh, it tamper's an hour. Yeah. So, no. And it's all, it's, it's, it's I-75. But this is better anyway doing it. I like you. It's a better relationship.

Yeah. Talking like that, you know. And I'm all open. I mean, I'll, these are great. This is great for me, you know, for me. And then for you, you know, even if you had Q&A and talk about other thing. And look, I'm even open. I'm close by.

If you got talks you want to do to bounce things off as a, as from a cop point, To your point, be like, what do you think? You know, I'll debate with your own things or whatever, man. No problem. I was just thinking, it's funny, this. No, never mind. I was going to say this might be the public information officer for Okachobee Sheriff's Department because I'm actually supposed to interview the sheriff of Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office

on a story I'm writing. So I was going to say they were going to call me today. I'm never getting phone calls during the day. So when it was ringing, I was like, that's probably the – because he's calling me to schedule it. Yeah. But it's funny, too, how things turn out. Like I do talks in front of law enforcement. I, you know.

Well, I get that now, too, is I have some stuff on LinkedIn. Like, these people call me and are like, hey, will you talk this? Like, people – and I'm blown away by it. And maybe because maybe I'm cold-hearted in a way. but I'm like, I'm not going to kill myself, you know, I'm like, I didn't go to drugs, I didn't go to alcohol or medication, and I didn't go to religion. I'm not, you know, I am who I am and that's it. Maybe I say things and I shouldn't say them, but I say what I say and I own it, you know, and you said people call you from. People call me and they ask me to

talk to other people who are in a tough spot. Right. And it seems like a lot of veterans and it's really heartbreaking to hear it and for what they go through. And I feel, you feel horrible because you see the way it is today with law enforcement. And I can't believe in America is how much we discredit the military guys and girls. Right. And like military people, especially if they were in special programs like military police or any kind of rescue squad in the military, like special forces or anything, they should be given the top of the list to join the police departments back here or the fire departments.

You know, we should not be recruited just going to. to Harvard to get somebody to be a cop. These guys and girls earned it and they should be given a job right away. And they don't. And then you come back to America when they're overseas and these military guys and girls have the toughest time in the world to get their gun permits, to carry a gun in the country that they defended. Right. And why? And everybody wants to put these tags on them. Well, they got PTSD. Really? You know, Try to stand a post for eight or ten hours, you know, protecting other people. Right.

Just that in itself, protecting a front gate of an overseas base is glorious to what happens here in America. Yeah. And it's the president is to go backwards again to talk about Whitney Houston saying in a national anthem in 1991. Like, what happened? Why did our politicians do this to us? I don't know.

Listen, I went into prison 13 years later. I came out and it's just such a vastly different world. Like, imagine being removed for 13 years. When iPhones came out, there were no iPhones. Right. So I go to prison. I come out. Everybody's walking around staring at their phone.

Nobody talks to each other. Nobody wants to work. Kids don't want to work. Like, I couldn't wait to work. Kids don't want to get their driver's licenses. They don't want to. It's like it's insanity. And people don't know how to talk to each other.

They don't know. You know, there's so many, you know, the things that people argue, argue over. are you know initially when i hear the arguments i kind of scoffed it off and kind of laughed about it you know and and now they're so passionate about things that seem so irrelevant and it's like are you serious like like do you guys know that china's probably going to invade Taiwan right you know that there's that russia's invading you know it has invaded um um what do I want to say Chechnya? Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine. Like, you know, there's like other things that are going on. There are bigger problems, you know. You're, you know, we're in trouble.

We're in trouble as a country. Our military has been dismantled. Oh, man. It's, it's dismantled. And you need to spend so much money on things like that. And again, and where's the pride and like I went in the Navy when I was 17. I loved it. I had, I loved it. And let's revisit some, some other things like if you want to change the criminal justice system let's invite criminals join in the military instead of going to jail at certain things let's let's revisit that let's let's make things happen out there instead of focus it only on you know listen to the sports figures tell us how to live our lives right or entertainers you know it's silly it's It's very silly, you know?

I mean, they were, yeah, it's dumbest stuff. Thanks, but I didn't look at them. I mean, like, you're going to explain the whole thing anyway. And I have a brief understanding of what happened. But, honestly, I've been absolutely booked the last few days. Okay. So, on the last week or so. But, I mean, my basic understanding of the, of, of.

I don't know what it's not like I really typically just I typically do like true crime stuff I don't know if you looked at the channel or anything I yeah searched around a little bit you know my whole thing is trying to get my story out there and trying to get to bigger platforms you know like reaching up to you got to you and telling it because it's just insane like what people say right but I get what you're saying and I looked you up a little bit too to see your background right and be in my background um I It's an odd thing, too, is I arrested a Ponzi schemer years and years ago, and his name was from New York, Long Island, but his family, his parents lived in Spring Hill, Florida. Okay. And I had to send the marshals there with the U.S. Attorney's Office and to revoke the bond and seize the parents' house. Oh, man. It's a scumbag move.

Right. Well, I mean. But he's a scum, you know. Yeah, yeah, but I mean, it's, you know, the problem is, is that, like, if you're the, if you're the, um, victim, uh, silent mode on, if you're the victim of that, you know, then, you know, obviously you're trying to claw back as much money as possible. So if he bought his parents house with the money, well, I mean, look, I'm sorry, your son's a scumbag. But we're trying to get this retiree as much money back that he stole this money from a retiree or something like. Well, he did good. He was good for a while. He's, he scored like two, 50, 300 million, you know, and whatever he was doing. But it was him and his girlfriend, kind of wife, and, you know, to go, don't let people on bail, man. You can't, you can't do it if you're going to, he's on trial in Brooklyn, and then he, he fled.

He's gone to, yeah. Do you leave the country? Yeah, he went to, we went up to Canada. Oh. And, um, but we hit his cell phone and hit him, he was hanging out. He, he, he turned his phone on. and in a subway deli store you know like a fast food place right and boom we had his phone and then Montreal police went in there and just dragged them up there and then you know

it takes extradition as a pain in the ass and it took us a few months to go up there and get him and came back but what was really sad about the whole story is that his father was a loyal father and then his father died after they seized his house like he just he destroyed his his oh yeah so his last few six months or a year it's your house is being your son thrown in jail your yeah yeah i understand i've been that disappointment so um but that was like the most intense criminal investigation case i ever did otherwise i just worked warrants and worked the street up in New York and part of the task force and then just went off the you know street savages right you know savages completely i've been in shootings fights everything you know but you

know you can tell that you know clean clean business crime yeah well i it always it always killed me when you know like you talk to these guys these white collar guys that where the marshals show up And they pull their guns and they scream and hollering. And they're just like, what the fuck is going on? Like, whoa, like I filled out some paperwork. Like, I don't have a weapon. Like, I get it if you've got a history of violence and stuff. But, you know, it's the whole overwhelming force or it's funny.

There's a guy, Rashi, I forget his name. And it was in New York. And like, he was a Wall Street guy. It was like half a billion dollars or something outrageous. And for him, they came and they like knocked on the door. were like, listen, you got to come with us. You know, they were real nice and they, he's, and he was upset because, like, they parked in front of my building.

I was like, parked in front of your building. Like, you used to laugh at them. Or you, you, you were accused of, Marshall doesn't know, whether it's valid or not, you know, they don't know. Like, I was giving it to what I got to get this guy. They said he's a bad guy. He's got to come to. Yeah.

So, yeah, he was, he was upset because like, oh, they had, they had, uh, their, their lights on. They embarrassed me. I'm like, they, they didn't pull their gun, your guns. They didn't kick in your door. they didn't grab you when you were you know what I'm saying like he he was complaining that he had been treated unfairly and it was probably the most fair arrest that I'd ever seen you know like when they what who came from me show secret service they didn't even call the marshals for me those secret service just staked out the house for like three days and then they pulled up and

jumped out of these agencies they don't want to turn over the cases to the marshals because if they work it's so long they want to have you know they say success of making the arrest, but unfortunately, some of them can't, and that's where they turn it over to the marshals. Like, we had a great, we have a great work in relationship with, like, DEA and ATF, you know, but there's, you know, they're out in the street every day. They're, they're building cases all day long and they actually don't have the time to do surveillance and go get the perp. Right. You know, they have so much other stuff to do. Yeah, and, and, uh, I was just in my case, like, they knew exactly, like, they were giving an address. Yeah, you were there.

I was there, like, they're going to watch it. They actually watched. I actually had was staying in a hotel with we'd had a robbery. And so, you know, we weren't staying there anymore. And we were staying in a hotel. But and the local sheriff's department or police department just, they knew we'd had a robbery. So they called and said, hey, can you meet us there? So we can get the surveillance tapes.

And I said, sure, no problem. And I pulled up because they'd watched it for three days. They were like, this guy. Where's this guy? He's not here. And so I showed up and they pulled up. But it was funny too because they, the secret. The FBI wasn't, the FBI had an indictment out of Florida.

Secret Service had one out of Georgia. And like they weren't cooperating. Yeah. And so, you know, with each other. And so I don't know if they didn't want to call the marshals. I'm not sure when they finally grabbed me. I know that it was so funny. I had called the FBI agent when I was on the run at one point just to see if I could

turn myself in. Like, maybe I could get to deal or something. And I was talking to her. And at one point, I said, okay, she was going to call you as attorney and see what he could work out. And she said, I said, well, okay, and she says, well, here, just, you know, give me your phone number, which I'm sure she already had, you know, like I called on a cell phone. She was, give me your phone and I'll call you back. And I said, you're probably tracking this call. I said, I'm going to shut the phone.

I'll call you back. She says, oh, get over yourself. She's not that important. And I was like, yeah, like, who do I think I am? You know, and I was like, stop watching TV. Yeah. And I was thinking, no, you know what? I'm going to, I just feel like, no, I'm going to.

So I said, no, you know what? I'll call you back in an hour. She was, okay, I hung up the phone, turned it off. Later when I got to prison, I ordered my Freedom of Information Act. And I found out that she immediately called the Marshals. The Marshalls called like Verizon. Verizon said that phone number was just issued to a phone that was purchased at, it was like a 7-Eleven that was connected to like a, a subway.

sub sandwiched place and I was sitting in the subway this whole time I waited the whole time and they immediately issued two marshals to drive to that location and I just happened to leave before they got there how long ago was your case was your case that would have been 2000 that would have been that specific thing happened in 2005 yeah those days are over that's not happening anymore and the government does it to themselves they just screwed themselves with reporting so much to the courts and everything because now you can't do that now you have to have a full-blown search warrant to go after a phone really oh my god oh it's it's funny too because back in a day where you could do you could do a lot more and that you had actions and circumstances

to pull up you know to work with it's funny how you mentioned Verizon and different companies that we had a good work in relationship with but now because of politics get involved and you know the way the current events are right is um can't do that anymore and it's funny because you know what hurt law enforcement was tv and the media and even things like this these conversations it's like they use it to to sell and you know watch law and order and you hear all the language that's that's law enforcement language so they're they have law enforcement representatives there yeah who are retired and giving them the good street lingo you know and now you see the movies you know it's all So you can't do that anymore.

You have to, you know, make a report. The agent would have to go to the U.S. attorney. They have to draw up a complaint issue for a search warrant. By that point, the guy is way, long gone, long gone. And now the big, they still miss me. They put two guys in the car immediately. And they still miss me. But, but I mean, who knows, if I had stuck around five more minutes, they might have grabbed me.

Of course. And it's funny, too, because I didn't know I was writing my memoir when I had ordered all this documents. right so i kept saying it was a track phone track phone i forget what i what i was referring to and when i actually got the documents i saw documents in i actually saw like they had the phone number they had like it was whoever was like virgin or verizon whoever it was i was like oh wow like it was so you can only go back so far now because you're not allowed to look at so much information and it's the same thing like trying to do your IP address on your your computer the computer that is

they won't they won't you have to have a warrant you have to have a search warrant to get any of that stuff now it's hard it's hard it's real hard I appreciate you coming by and uh yeah thanks for making the drive and let me know how things work out and when your book comes out you know we'll do another we can do another thing another um podcast if you're interested and I'll try and put you in touch with Wade he you know he I'm sure he'd be interested in doing a podcast too and uh Yeah, so let me so if you like the video do me a favor hit the subscribe button hit the bell so you get notified of videos just like this Leave me a comment in the comment section. I'll try and respond to as many as possible I really appreciate you guys watching and thank you very much

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