The Long Arm of the Law

So Joey Arriola has been apprehended, at last.

This is good news, if you want to see all responsible parties face the music for the missing money from the Kaipat estate. I'm not sure whether it was Luis or Joey or Luis & Joey together who took the money, but they were both fiduciaries with a responsibility to protect the funds for all of the heirs. And they obviously didn't do that, as more than half a million dollars is reportedly missing.

I understand from the last trial, which ended in a hung jury, that Luis' defense is that he is a poor, stupid guy who relied on his lawyer and it is all the lawyer's fault. I think, as a fiduciary with a repsonsibility, this "defense" is insufficient as to the general duty to protect the fund. When he signed on to be administrator, he said he was capable of doing the job, so it's too late to claim ignorance and incompetence now. But I don't know enough about criminal law and the charges against him, or the evidence against him, to know whether he would be criminally guilty. However, I'm certainly glad he's being prosecuted so that the jury can figure that out.

And I'm glad that Joey will now have to face the same tune.

There were a lot of people who were going to share in that pot of money; it's really inexcusable that it went missing and they were robbed of their inheritance.

As for Joey's "capture"--can you imagine! What was he thinking when he went to the US embassy so he could get married in the Philippines?!! How polite of him to invite federal officials into his home when they came knocking, purportedly about his fiance's status.

He must have known that there was a federal criminal indictment out against him. He must have known that his passport had been revoked. He must have known it wasn't a good thing that law enforcement officials were at his door. Perhaps he wanted to be caught?