PLEASE FORWARD ALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
JOHN FRANCES
300 BAYOU BOULEVARD #217
PENSACOLA, FL 32503
email: legalfundfrances@bellsouth.net
The Johnny Frances Legal Defense Trust Fund
I want to
personally thank each of you who have taken the time and shown interest in
reading the story regarding the circumstances behind the “Johnny Frances Legal
Defense Trust Fund.” This story is
somewhat complicated, bizarre and perhaps not believable. Nevertheless, it is absolutely true and
everything written in this letter is verifiable. Johnny Frances
has been a member of the Pensacola, Florida community since 1989. He has also been a member of the Pensacola,
Florida business community since 1990, and now he is reaching out to his community
and to the entire nation for help. Citizens of the
Pensacola community know John Frances as a person who has brought millions of
investment dollars and economic growth to the local home improvement industry. His social conscience also is deeply
responsible for the revitalization and continued improvement of the Lincoln
Park and Wedge Wood communities. These
communities were regarded as areas typically neglected by the financial
community and thus property values remained depressed. From the early 1990s Mr. Frances has quietly educated the
members of these and other communities in the value of home ownership and how to
increase the value of their homes. Until
now Mr. Frances has kept a low profile and has never sought
public applause or recognition for his accomplishments. The gratitude Mr. Frances received
throughout the years from his customers was felt in the warm feeling in his
heart after seeing the smiling faces of his customers. This feeling was all the thanks Mr. Frances
needed. But now he needs your help and
support. On November 15,
2007 Johnny Frances was put on trial and convicted of two counts of burglary
and two counts of criminal mischief. The story
of his conviction involves Charles Cross and a detective with the Pensacola
Police Department by the name of Erik Goss.
Many of you may not realize this, but Mr. Frances has been arrested
three times while a member of the Pensacola Community. These arrests reach back to 2001. Each time Mr. Frances was arrested the
complaint originated from Charles Cross.
Each time the case was investigated, it was by the same detective, Erik
Goss. Mr. Frances has
lived in Pensacola Florida at the same address for 18 years and has operated a
business for 18 years. He has come in
contact with thousands of people, and he lives in a condominium complex with 67
other residents. Yet no other person
other than Charles Cross has ever filed a criminal complaint against Mr.
Frances. Mr. Frances does not even have a speeding ticket in the past 18
years. So what is going on? Well, this
story is really about a man named Charles Cross and a police officer named Erik William Goss. Back in October
of 2001 Mr. Frances was carrying a television set through a doorway at the clubhouse in the condominium
complex where Mr. Frances lives. Without
provocation Charles Cross intentionally blocked Mr. Frances’ path and punched Mr.
Frances in the face. Initially, the
police investigated a complaint Mr. Frances filed for being punched in the face. But the police closed the case and cleared
it as unfounded. Approximately three
months later in December 2001 Mr. Frances was arrested for striking Charles
Cross with the television set. Charles Cross
bypassed the police process and went directly to a judge by the name of Parnham
and Charles Cross signed an affidavit and then Judge Parnham issued a warrant
for Mr. Frances’ arrest. This was all
done after the police had investigated the case and found John Frances had not
committed a crime. Mr. Frances
represented himself at the trial and he filed what is known as a “motion to
dismiss.” The motion alleged that
Charles Cross knowingly filed a false affidavit to have Mr. Frances arrested. The Honorable Judge David Ackerman dismissed
the charges precisely on those grounds.
Here is the relevant testimony from that hearing. During the
hearing in front of the Honorable Judge David Ackerman, Charles Cross admitted
intentionally striking Mr. Frances in the face. The testimony was also witnessed by the detective who had
initially investigated the case, detective Erik Goss. The judge asked Charles Cross, “What legal authority did you have
to block Mr. Frances’ path and punch him in the face?” Charles Cross’ reply: “I am the president of the condominium
association.” This case was dismissed
on the grounds Charles Cross knowingly filed a false affidavit to have Mr.
Frances arrested. So you would think
Charles Cross would then be arrested for filing a false police report and
committing a battery on Mr. Frances. Well, when Mr.
Frances attempted to file a complaint against Charles Cross, the reply from Detective
Erik Goss to Mr. Frances was, “You need to be a little more careful and not put
yourself in these types of situations.”
Mr. Frances was so frustrated with this response he decided to write a
letter to the chief of the Pensacola Florida Police Department, John Mathis. The chief was kind enough to respond in
writing to Mr. Frances. The chief wrote
in his letter that Mr. Frances’ complaint was more of a civil complaint and not
criminal. Can you believe this! It was criminal when Mr. Frances was merely innocently
carrying a television set and being punched in the face intentionally by
Charles Cross. But it was a civil
complaint when Charles Cross punched John Frances and filed a false police
report. Mr. Frances still has the
letter written on the chief of police’s letterhead. I personally think the chief of police should not be serving in
the position of chief of police, if he does not understand how to interpret the
law Then in August 2003
Mr. Frances was viciously attacked at the Bayou Breeze Condominium complex by
the maintenance employee Jeff Simpson. Here
is the story behind this incident. Mr.
Frances recently had sold one of his rental properties to Lillie Robertson. Lillie
Robertson had been a tenant of Mr. Frances in one of his other properties, but
she was seeking home ownership. During
the time Lillie Robertson was a tenant she was experiencing a lot of harassment
from Charles Cross. Charles Cross was going up on the roof above her unit and
disconnecting her air conditioning unit in the middle of the night. The police were called, but they said they
could not do anything about it because Charles Cross claimed he was the manager. The truth of the
matter was that John Frances owned and managed Lillie Robertson’s unit. Shortly after that incident Claudia Abrams,
the condominium association manager, made a comment to Mr. Frances that the
“Association” was going to do whatever it took to get rid of that “Nigger” in Mr.
Frances’ unit. (This was a racial
comment directed at Lillie Robertson.) Mr.
Frances was then kind enough to sell one of his properties located in the same
complex to Lillie Robertson, making Lillie Robertson an owner in the
condominium association. Shortly after
Lillie Robertson purchased her new home, she began to experience problems with
the roof leaking. She asked Mr. Frances
for assistance in taking pictures so she could bring them to the insurance
company. Mr. Frances
witnessed Charles Cross and Jeff Simpson, a maintenance employee for the
condominium, on the roof above Lillie Robertson’s unit at approximately 1:00 PM
on the afternoon of August 5, 2003. Mr. Frances was then involved with the
condominium association in a pending civil lawsuit regarding the numerous leaks
from the roof above his rental units in this condominium building. So he decided to videotape from inside his
home and unbeknownst to Cross and Simpson, what they were doing above Lillie Robertson’s unit. Later that same day
Mr. Frances was exiting his home that is located in the same complex as Lillie
Robertson’s and he noticed that her door was open. So Mr. Frances went upstairs to her unit, but she was not home. But Jeff Simpson was inside cleaning up
water that was pouring through the ceiling from a rainstorm that had occurred
after Cross and Simpson were on the roof earlier that day. Simpson told Mr. Frances that Lillie
Robertson was not home. Now keep in
mind that Simpson was well aware that Mr. Frances is one of the owners at this
condominium. Mr. Frances was no
stranger to Simpson. Mr. Frances then
walked back to his unit and retrieved his video camera, thinking it would be a
great opportunity to preserve on video what is going on with the roof above
Lillie Robertson’s home. Mr. Frances
then walked back up to her apartment, opened the door and raised his video
camera toward the ceiling. At this
point Jeff Simpson charged at Mr. Frances yelling, “No! NO! NO.! You can’t be
in here!” The video is quite clear as
to what happened. Despite having the
video of the attack, Mr. Frances was arrested for videotaping the roof leaking,
while he was being attacked and assaulted by Jeff Simpson. So you would think the State Attorney’s
Office would have enough sense to dismiss the case and charge Jeff Simpson with
filing a false police report and assaulting Mr. Frances. No that is not how it works here in
Pensacola, Florida. This is how it
works in Pensacola, Florida. Mr. Frances
was put on trial. During the trial Jeff
Simpson testified that Charles Cross told him to go down to the police
department. Mr. Frances also learned
during the trial that the first call to the police was made from the home of
Charles Cross. Now, how did Charles
Cross know what had occurred? Charles
Cross was not present when Simpson was attacking Mr. Frances. In fact Charles Cross was in his home four
miles away. Charles Cross had Claudia
Abrams (the same condominium manager who was trying to get rid of, as she put
it, The “Nigger,” Lillie Robertson) make the 911 phone call to the police. Mr. Frances was
lucky he had a videotape that showed exactly what happened. Despite
all this evidence, Mr. Frances was put on trial not once but twice for the same
alleged crime. I did not think you
could do that in America. But then
again this is Pensacola, Florida. Mr.
Frances was eventually acquitted by a jury.
Then Mr. Frances
went to the City of Pensacola City Council to try and resolve this problem of
being falsely arrested. The City Manager
arranged a face-to-face meeting with the Chief of Police John Mathis. Prior to the meeting the chief sent
Detective Goss over to Mr. Frances’ home.
Detective Goss watched the video of Simpson attacking Mr. Frances and
told Mr. Frances, “Tough luck.” That Mr.
Frances cannot go around videotaping water destroying property he has a
mortgage on while he is being assaulted.
Detective Goss told Mr. Frances he needs to be a little more careful of
the situations he gets into. Mr.
Frances was trying to help Lillie Robertson, he is attacked, and he was the one
arrested. Unbelievable! Now once again
it is a crime for John Frances to be holding a video camera while Jeff Simpson
attacks Mr. Frances. But it is not a
crime to attack John Frances and then file a false police report, unless you
live in Pensacola, Florida. Mr. Frances
was told by the city manager, “I know Charles Cross and I know he has a temper
but we are not going to arrest him.” When
Mr. Frances asked the chief what he intended to do, the chief replied, “Nothing. I don’t see where any crimes have been
committed against you, it sounds civil to me.”
Now during the
time from 1999 through 2003 Mr. Frances had purchased a number of units at the
same Bayou Breeze Condominium complex, and Charles Cross did not like that. So Charles Cross started levying fines against Mr. Frances’
units. Charles Cross then conducted
illegal association meetings to give the fines a false credibility. Several other owners became suspicious about
Charles Cross’ conduct and they filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Charles
Cross. Charles Cross
and the Bayou Breeze Condominium Association were also being investigated and
were being sued by the State Attorney General’s Office and then Attorney
General Charlie Crist. This lawsuit was
for discriminating against a family with children. According to court records, Charles Cross was harassing the small
children and trying to prohibit the children from accessing the common elements
of the condominium. During a condominium
homeowners’ meeting Charles Cross made some damaging remarks to his legal
position concerning the lawsuit with the Attorney General’s Office. This meeting was recorded on audiotape. A duplicate of this audiotape was forwarded
to the Attorney General’s Office by another owner, Ida Nissen. Shortly
after this occurred, Charles Cross reported a burglary to the Pensacola Police Department. Charles Cross claimed in the report that the
condominium association clubhouse was broken into and the audiotape was stolen. Well, Charles Cross was accusing owner Ida
Nissen of breaking into the condominium office and stealing the audiotape and
then giving the tape to the State Attorney General Charlie Crist. Now Mr. Frances has known Ida Nissen for
quite some time and let’s just say Ida is an elderly lady who previously served
on the board of directors for the same condominium. Ida Nissen does not appear to possess the characteristics necessary
to carryout a burglary. Unless you are Detective Erik Goss. Yes, Detective Erik Goss was the
investigator and Ida Nissen was arrested.
Mr. Frances was kind enough to assist Ida Nissen in preparing and filing
a motion to dismiss the case. Shortly
after the motion was filed, the local State Attorney’s Office realized that if
they were going to prosecute this case, they were also going to need to file
charges against then Attorney General Charlie Crist for being in possession of
stolen property. Needless to say, but I
will say it anyway, the case was dismissed very quickly. Back to the
illegal liens signed and recorded by Charles Cross against Mr. Frances’
condominium units. Charles Cross did
not like the fact that Mr. Frances was purchasing units that had been
participating in a rental program operated by Charles Cross and the condominium
association. In 1994 John Frances
caught Charles Cross for misappropriation of condominium funds. A county judge by the name of G. J. Roarke had
previously rendered a judgment in the favor of Mr. Frances against this same
condominium association for illegally using Mr. Frances’ condominium dues to
operate a rental program. So Charles Cross
began to use the power and the umbrella of the association to carry out a
personal and vindictive retribution attack against Mr. Frances. Charles Cross started this retribution by
threatening to knock Mr. Frances out. He
assaulted Mr. Frances at Mr. Frances’ front door. But the police would not arrest CharlesCross. Then Charles Cross began levying $1,000
fines on all of John Frances’ units. Charles
Cross also claimed the condominium association did not receive payment from
John Frances for condominium dues. The
condominium account record was clear that the association management received
the payments via certified mail and Charles Cross’ own attorney Lisa Minshew
acknowledged that she was in possession of the checks a year after the payments
had been received by the association. So what was the
attorney Lisa Minshew doing with John Frances’ condominium dues when the dues
were supposed to have been deposited into the condominium associations’ account? Well, Lisa Minshew could not pursue a
lawsuit and charge legal fees if Mr. Frances was current on his payment of the
condominium dues. So Lisa Minshew and
Charles Cross attempted to conceal this fact from the court. Luckily for Mr. Frances, there is a wise
judge in Escambia County by the name of Kim Skievaski. Judge Skievaski has since been promoted to tchief
judge in Escambia County, Florida. Charles Cross’
attorney Lisa Minshew was trying to foreclose on Mr. Frances’ property with
illegal liens signed and recorded by Charles Cross. Mr. Frances proved to Judge Skievaski that Charles Cross could
not sign the liens, and after several months of lengthy review by the judge, the
judge concluded that Charles Cross was not an owner of any of the property at
the Bayou Breeze Condominiums. Therefore,
Charles Cross did not have the legal right to be the president of the
condominium, and therefore, could not legally execute and sign the liens
against Mr. Frances’ units. Charles
Cross and his attorney Lisa Minshew had perpetrated a fraud against the court
and the other owners of the Bayou Breeze Condominium Association. But the State Attorney’s Office refused to
investigate this crime, as is true with other condominium frauds in Florida. This fact can be verified through Jan Bergemann,
President of Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc., a Florida Corporation at
condo@ccfj.net. A criminal
complaint was then filed against Lisa Minshew for her failure and refusal to
record a satisfaction of one of the liens recorded against Mr. Frances’
property. This is a crime in the State
of Florida. So Mr. Frances contacted
the State Attorney’s Office. Mr.
Frances spoke with an assistant state attorney by the name of Greg Marcille. Mr. Marcille
told Mr. Frances it was a crime and that he should file a complaint with the
City of Pensacola Police Department. Mr. Frances
filed the complaint and guess who was assigned the case. Yes! Detective Erik Goss. Detective
Goss contacted Lisa Minshew. Lisa Minshew admitted committing the crime. She then corrected the crime by recording
the satisfaction. She was not arrested
for the crime, that the assistant state attorney Greg Marcille told Mr. Frances
to report. In other words, if you rob a
bank in Pensacola, Florida and you get caught but you return the money and Detective
Goss is investigating, you will not be arrested. Lisa Minshew’s conduct was also reported to the Florida Bar. But the Bar Association viewed it as a first-time
offense, and no action against her law license was taken. Meanwhile,
Charles Cross was still trying to steal Mr. Frances’ eight rental properties. Now you are probably wondering how someone
could steal a condominium unit. Well,
this is not an ordinary theft, as if someone came up to you and picked your
pocket. This crime is a white-collar
sophisticated crime. Here is how it
worked. Charles Cross
recorded in the public records of Escambia County, Florida illegal liens
against the property owned by Mr. Frances.
Then Mr. Frances tried to sell his property. Charles Cross and the condominium management interfered with each
sale. In other words, the association
and the association’s attorney Lisa Minshew deliberately delayed and then
provided the title companies hired to close Mr. Frances’ property sales with
false account information. Charles
Cross and the condominium management also told the potential buyers that they
were not approved by Charles Cross to buy the units. Additional false information was provided to the title company
from Charlene Busbee, the manager’s assistant for the condominium association. Charlene Busbee
had created dual account logs to keep track of Mr. Frances condominium payments. One log was a legitimate log and the other
log was used to provide false information on the status of the accounts. Therefore, the closings on the property
never occurred. This was also reported
to the Pensacola Police Department and Mr. Frances was told by the responding
Police Officer that it was not a crime to make false entries into the corporate
books. A quick review of Florida
Statutes clearly states that making false entries into corporate books is a crime. Then Charles
Cross went to Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby and asked him to levy against
John Frances’ property. The sheriff of
Escambia County conducted what is known as a Sheriff’s Sale. Guess who was the only bidder at the auction? Out of about six billion people in the world
Charles Cross was the only bidder. He
purchased four of Mr. Frances’ properties worth an estimated $350,000 for $1,000. Now what is interesting about this
transaction is that the buyer, no matter who it may be, would be required to pay all outstanding
property taxes, mortgages, and yes the outstanding judgments Charles Cross
received from Judge Frank Bell. Oh! I forgot to
mention! After Judge Skievaski made his
finding of fact that Charles Cross was not an owner, and therefore, could not
have signed those illegal liens recorded against Mr. Frances’ property, this is
what happened. Judge Skievaski
ruled and denied the summary judgment case Charles Cross was seeking against Mr.
Frances. Then Charles Cross and his
attorney Lisa Minshew went to a different judge by the name of Frank Bell. Without getting into a lengthy detail of the
trial Judge Bell did not allow Mr. Frances to have a jury. He denied Mr. Frances from showing any of
his videotape evidence he had collected for his defense. Then the judge awarded the Bayou Breeze
Condominium Association a judgment for condominium dues that were eventually
paid by Mr. Frances and a separate $75,000 personal judgment for absolutely
nothing. Then Charles
Cross and the association claimed Mr. Frances violated the judge’s judgment
order of $75,000. The judge subsequently awarded the condominium association an
additional judgment in the amount of
$25,000. The reason was because Mr.
Frances asked one of the condominium board members why the association was
interfering with the sale of his properties.
Imagine you want to sell your home and you talk to someone and a judge
says that will cost you $25,000. This
is exactly what happened to Mr. Frances.
So now we have
one Judge Kim Skievaski ruling that Charles Cross is essentially a fraud and another Judge Frank
Bell rewards Charles Cross and the condominium association with a $100,000 judgment
that has absolutely no merit. Now after
Charles Cross made a personal purchase of the four condominium units for
$1,000, he was required to pay all outstanding property taxes, mortgages and
yes any outstanding judgments. Except in this case, Charles Cross used the
association funds to employ the attorney Lisa Minshew to dispute the mortgage
balances. Charles Cross claimed the
mortgage balances owed by Mr. Frances to his mortgage company were not accurate. Charles Cross then threatened the mortgage
company with a protracted lawsuit using the association’s money. This is ILLEGAL and prohibited by Florida
Condominium Law. Charles Cross used
condominium funds for his own personal property litigation. The mortgage company was so frustrated with
the shenanigans of Charles Cross and the lengthy and costly court procedures
that it was cost effective to reduce the mortgage balances to settle the case. But whatever happened to the judgment in the
amount of $100,000 owed to the association? Well if anyone
else in the world had purchased these four properties, that person would have
been required to pay the association over $100,000. But Charles Cross simply released this judgment against the four
properties he had just purchased, thus stealing the units and defrauding the
other owners of the association. Because
whether the judgment was legitimate or not, it was still owed to the
condominium association, and it was not paid.
But this story
is just beginning. After the Sheriff’s
Sale was conducted at 10:00 AM on the morning of December 6, 2006, Charles
Cross filed a police report on December 7, 2006 alleging that Mr. Frances had
burglarized two of the four properties after the Sheriff’s Sale. This is the testimony from the trial. Charles Cross
testified that he received a call from Charlene Busbee, the condominium office
manager, on the day of December 6, 2006.
According to Mr. Cross, Charlene Busbee told Charles Cross he should go
over to Unit 120 which is in the same building as the other units, and Charles
Cross should talk with Jeffrey Panella.
According to Charles Cross, Jeffrey Panella was remodeling Charlene
Busbee’s unit and according to Charlene Busbee, Charles Cross might want to
hire Jeffrey Panella to remodel Charles Cross’ units. Now Jeffrey
Panella had recently rented a unit from John Frances and had been evicted from
the unit for nonpayment of rent. According
to the testimony of Charles Cross, he arrived at the doorway of Jeffrey Panella’s
Unit 120 some time between 7:00 and 8:00 PM on the evening of December 6, 2006. Charles Cross knocked on the door of Unit
120. As Charles Cross was waiting for
Jeffrey Panella to come to the door, Charles Cross testified he glanced over
his shoulder (this would have been 180 degrees from the direction facing the
door of Unit 120) and he claims he saw John Frances enter Unit 310. When asked if he called the police upon
witnessing this, Charles Cross responded that his attorney Lisa Minshew advised
him not to confront John Frances. But
Charles Cross could have called the police and let the police confront John
Frances. The real reason why the police
were not called is because Charles Cross was not at the door and thus the
incident did not occur. Otherwise, Charles Cross simply could have called
the police and the police would have caught Mr. Frances in the act of
burglarizing the property. However, there
was a second “witness,” Nicholas Petkovic.
Nicholas Petkovic is the son of Kathie Petkovic, the registered agent
for this condominium association and a business associate of Charles Cross. Nicholas Petkovic testified that he was
standing approximately 60 feet away from Charles Cross and he saw Charles Cross
at the door of Unit 120. Nicholas
Petkovic testified that at the same time he saw Charles Cross at the door of Unit
120 he also saw John Frances entering Unit 319. Well, Well, Well. If you could see this property, Unit 310 and
Unit 319 are on the opposite sides of the building and each witness testified
that he didn’t see John Frances walking toward the units. Cross and Petkovic both only conveniently
glanced up at the doors just at the opportune time as Mr. Frances supposedly
entered the units. Now Mr. Frances does
not have a twin, and he is not a magician.
So it is physically impossible to be in two places at the same time. So the police were not called that night and
the witnesses did not confront John Frances.
There is a
simple explanation. Mr. Frances had an
alibi. In fact, it was a very well-documented
alibi provided to the Assistant State Attorney Kelly Simon. But I will get back to the alibi in a minute.
According to Charles Cross, Jeffrey Panella
went to Units 310 and 319 the next day on the morning of December 7, 2006. Mr. Panella testified he discovered the units had been damaged. This is when the police were called at
approximately 10:00 AM on December 7, 2006.
Charles Cross’ statement to the
police officer and it is written in the police report: Charles Cross stated he witnessed John
Frances entering Unit 310 at approximately 17:32 hours or 5:32 PM on the evening of December 6, 2006. Charles Cross also stated that two other
witnesses saw John Frances enter the units.
But these witnesses were not named in the police report. Nicholas
Petkovic testified he was present when Jeffrey Panella was in the condominium
office reporting the damage to the condominium manager at approximately 10:00
AM on the morning of December 7, 2006. This
would have been a perfect time to report to the police officer what Nicholas
Petkovic allegedly had seen the night before.
The problem was Nicholas Petkovic did not see John Frances the night
before because John Frances was seven miles away from these properties. After Mr.
Frances was initially arrested he decided to represent himself as he had done
in the prior cases against Charles Cross.
Mr. Frances obtained sworn affidavits from his alibi witnesses and
provided these affidavits along with his telephone records and a number of
receipts from stores where he had been a patron that day. It was quite clear that at 5:32 PM when
Charles Cross first claimed John Frances entered Unit 310, Mr. Frances was on
his home telephone at exactly the same time.
So at trial Charles Cross then changed his time to some time between 7:00
and 8:00 PM. But how would
Charles Cross and his partner in crime Nicholas Petkovic know when and what
times to change their stories to? Well,
during the past year Mr. Frances filed with the court what is known as a Notice
of Alibi. This notice specifically
outlined each and every witness Mr. Frances intended to call at trial and
exactly where each witness would testify concerning the whereabouts of Mr. Frances
for the entire day of December 6, 2006. Well, Mr.
Frances’ alibi ended after 7:00 PM, and Charles Cross’ testimony changed from
5:32 PM in the initial police report to some time between 7:00 and 8:00 PM during
the trial. So either Charles Cross lied
to the first police officer the morning of December 7, 2006 or Charles Cross
lied during the trial. So you are
probably wondering how a jury could have found Mr. Frances guilty after all of Mr.
Frances’ alibi witnesses testified he was somewhere else other than where Charles
Cross initially claimed Mr. Frances was.
Detective Erik Goss. Yes, Detective Goss. See the investigation was turned over to Detective
Erik Goss with the City of Pensacola Police Department. Detective Goss testified that he spoke via
telephone with Mr. Frances four days after the alleged incident. According to Detective Goss, Mr. Frances
first denied knowing anything about the burglary, but that during a second
phone call, according to Detective Goss, Mr. Frances admitted burglarizing the
property. See how convenient that was? Charles Cross makes a false report, but learns
that the times don’t match up with Mr. Frances’ alibi. Charles Cross changes his story during the
trial and Mr. Frances gets convicted. On November 15,
2007 John Frances was put on trial and convicted of two counts of burglary and
two counts of criminal mischief. Mr.
Frances is facing 7½ years in a Florida State Prison because of allegations
made by Detective Erik Goss and Charles Cross. Now this story
has what will probably not be the final chapter. Here is what happened after the verdict. The judge
immediately put Mr. Frances in jail pending a sentencing hearing on January 2,
2008. Mr. Frances then employed me to
look after his business and personal obligations while he was in jail pending
sentencing for a crime he did not commit.
Mr. Frances contacted me from jail one day and I told him I thought
someone had broken into his home. He
told me that the wind had probably opened his door and that he had lived here
for 18 years and no one had ever broken in before. Then I started to open his mail.
Mr. Frances had received a notice from his bank notifying him a check in
the amount of $420 was paid but he was being charged a $30 fee. Mr. Frances asked me to look in the
checkbook to see to whom the check had been written. This is when I discovered that three checks and the check stubs
were missing from the checkbook. Mr.
Frances had pre-signed these and several other checks so it would be easier for
me to conduct his business. I then
realized that a spare set of car keys and his wallet with 15 $100 bills were
also missing. Mr. Frances was in the
process of getting out of jail pending his sentencing hearing. So we waited to file a police report. Mr. Frances
went to his bank on December 3, 2007 to look at the front and back of the check. Shockingly, the check was written to Jeffrey
Panella in the amount of $420. Jeffrey
Panella signed the back of the check along with his driver’s license number. Within six
days of Mr. Frances being incarcerated Jeffrey Panella, a
State Witness who falsely testified against Mr. Frances, broke into Mr. Frances’
home, stole his wallet, his car keys, and wrote a check to himself. Burglary and Grand Theft and now Jeffrey
Panella is on the run. Mr. Frances
needs your help to clear his name. This
is a true story about crimes that need to be exposed. Because this terrible injustice has occurred, Mr. Frances needs
the help of the community, the State of Florida and the nation. Charles Cross
and Charles Cross’ employees have stolen most of Mr. Frances’ property and most
of his money. Please! John Frances desperately needs your help. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE WHATEVER AMOUNT YOU ARE ABLE TO AFFORD. MR. FRANCES THANKS YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY,
AND MAY GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERY ONE FOR THEIR KINDNESS. Sincerely, Angelina Berzett Trust Fund Manager
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE WHATEVER AMOUNT YOU ARE ABLE TO AFFORD.
MR. FRANCES THANKS YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY, AND MAY GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERYONE
FOR THEIR KINDNESS.
Sincerely,
Angelina Berzett
Trust Fund Manager