Wednesday - January 17, 2007

Connect The Dots

What we have here is a mystery and I need a little help connecting the dots. You see, I ran across this New Jersey “cops/prostitutes story” (Story #1) this morning and thought it was quite amusing. However, while I was editing it for this post something kept nagging at the back of my mind. There was something about this attorney in New Jersey who was a retired Army major that rang a bell in the deep recesses of my brain’s creaky storage area.

Naturally I had to do a little sleuthing with Google to satisfy my curiosity. Sure enough, I came across Story #2 from 2005 about a soldier from New Jersey convicted in the Abu Ghraib case and as you can see the two stories share one thing in common ... I think. That’s where I need your help. I’m curious to find out if this is the same Paul Bergrin in both stories. I have a feeling it is. If any of youse guys out there in Joisey can help me I sure would appreciate it. My curiosity is killing me. Help me connect the dots ... if there is a connection.

JERSEY COPS GOT GIFT OF HOOKERS
_{(NEW YORK POST) - January 17, 2007}

They weren’t crossing the river for our doughnuts. Unnamed “members of law enforcement” from New Jersey were allegedly getting free sex from the $1,000-an-hour hookers of NY Confidential, the notorious courthouse-district escort service, Manhattan prosecutors claimed yesterday.

The lawmen enjoyed their freebies courtesy of their buddy, accused brothel lawyer-turned-pimp Paul Bergrin, prosecutors said at Bergrin’s state Supreme Court arraignment.

But that wasn’t the only fresh dirt flung by prosecutors as Bergrin, 51, of Matawan, N.J., pleaded not guilty to felony money laundering and prostitution promoting. Bergrin was also grooming his own son, Eric, 23, for pimpdom - teaching him the tricks of the trade, Assistant District Attorney Linda Ford told a judge.

Bergrin was being held last night in lieu of a $1 million bail bond. Prosecutors say he laundered at least $800,000 in proceeds for NY Confidential’s self-proclaimed “King of All Pimps” Jason Itzler. Itzler paid Bergrin $5,000 in cash a week, plus all the free sex he and his friends wanted, prosecutors charge.

Then, once Itzler was busted in 2005, Bergrin brazenly ran the business himself for two months - even reincorporating it under his own name, the DA says..

But the charges - and the accusations of father-son pimp training - were hotly denied by Bergrin’s lawyer, Jeff Lichtman, who insisted Bergrin’s son is a Fashion Institute of Technology-trained “clothing designer for Broadway shows.”

Bergrin is a highly decorated retired Army major, a respected former Newark-based federal and local prosecutor, and “an esteemed member of the New Jersey bar,” Lichtman said, in fighting the Manhattan DA’s request Bergrin be held without bail.

Soldier Gets Six Months In Abu Ghraib Case
_{(CHINA DAILY) - 2005-02-05 15:25}

Sgt. Javal Davis (pictured at right with his attorney Paul Bergrin), who admitted abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003, was sentenced Friday to six months in a military prison and given a bad-conduct discharge from the Army.

A nine-man military jury deliberated for about 5 1/2 hours before sentencing Davis, a former Abu Ghraib guard who earlier this week confessed to stepping on the hands and feet of a group of handcuffed detainees and falling with his full weight on top of them.

After the verdict was read, Davis’ mother sobbed uncontrollably in the courtroom. Davis gave his father a long hug while a tear rolled down Davis’ face. “All of you who aren’t my family can leave now,” Davis snapped at spectators after judge Col. James Pohl and the jury left the courtroom.

Davis will also be reduced in rank to private while serving his sentence, which could be as short as 4 1/2 months for good conduct in prison and credit for time served. The 27-year-old reservist from Roselle, N.J., faced up to 6 1/2 years in prison for battery, dereliction of duty and lying to Army investigators. A deal with prosecutors, however, reportedly capped his sentence at 18 months.

Davis said he saw detainees being physically mistreated and sexually humiliated by other guards, but that he failed to help them or report the abuse, as required under military law. He also admitted lying to an Army investigator by denying his misdeeds at the Baghdad prison.

Maj. Michael Holley, one of the prosecutors, had asked the nine jurors to sentence Davis to 12 to 24 months in prison. Holley said Davis’s misdeeds have tarnished the image of American soldiers in the world’s eyes and endangered forces serving in Iraq.

Holley issued a brief written statement calling the jury’s sentence “appropriate.” Defense lawyer Paul Bergrin implored the jury of four Army officers and five senior enlisted men to go lightly on Davis, saying he has already been punished enough for a brief lapse in judgment.

Bergrin blamed the judge for refusing to let him pursue a defense that the Army jury pool had been tainted by comments condemning the Abu Ghraib defendants by President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top military leaders.

The judge ruled that such comments were not prejudicial because they didn’t mention any of the accused by name. Bergrin also said military intelligence officers at Abu Ghraib should also face charges for their role in allegedly directing the abuse by prisons guards as a way to soften up detainees for interrogation.

“They all had their hand in this pie and should have been sitting in the same seat that Javal Davis was sitting in,” Bergrin said. “But I don’t believe we’ll ever see them. They’ve been too insulated.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/17/2007 at 06:59 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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