The Innocent Project

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Juan Garcia

Juan Garcia was 23 years old and a lifelong resident of Canyon County and was born at the local Hospital in nearby Moses Lake.

His mother had raised Juan, an older brother and two younger sisters, and worked long and hard hours at a potato warehouse, leaving Juan to take care of his younger siblings during the day at the low income apartment complex where they lived.

His father was just a faded memory and had died in an industrial accident when the tractor his father was driving had rolled over on him.

Juan was bitter towards his older brother Chris who had let his anger get away and he had beat a neighbor with a golf club.

The attack was particularly vicious and the victim was robbed by Chris to support his drug addiction.

When medical response from the local fire department arrived, it was just a few minutes before there was a pounding on the apartment door and Chris was taken away in cuffs by the cops and later sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Chris’s girlfriend Susan Mattern was loyal to him while he was in prison and would often come to his mother’s apartment and spend the night on the living room couch.

She would make frequent trips to Coyote Ridge Prison in Connell, Washington to visit him.

Juan would often hook up with Ryan Bates from the time they were teenagers.

They would scope out homes for burglaries when there was opportunity and were also prolific car prowlers, often hitting as many as 20 cars in one night.

Whenever Ryan and Juan were observed walking through a neighborhood by the police, the officers would be on high alert, knowing there was a good chance that either burglary or car prowling reports would be reported the next day.

The officers assigned to Crime Analysis would monitor and record Property type crime locations and actually kept a connected map of known burglars that had been contacted or observed in the area of the related crimes.

Ryan and Juan usually were at the top of the list as suspects.

On a late evening in December Juan had settled into bed with Tiffanie Weeks after smoking m*******a and putting away a couple of longneck beers.

His brother’s girlfriend Susan Mattern was sleeping on the couch in the living room that evening.

Juan was lying on his back and had Tiffanie snuggled onto his left side with her warm breath gently blowing on his neck.

Juan gave a start as he felt the silenced buzz of his cell phone lying beneath his pillow.

Tiffanie stirred and turned away from him with her backside pressing into his side.

“Who is this?” whispered Juan into the phone and was irritated from being disturbed from a comfortable dream like feeling.

“Hey man, it’s me Ryan, let’s go out and boost some cars, I’m tapped out and have to get some money to pay my dealer for the debt I owe. I know of some places in town where the owners leave their cars parked on the street at night and there are not many streetlights. There has been good stuff in their cars in the past,” Ryan spoke quietly over the phone.

“A neighbor that lives on 3rd down the street from my Mom’s leaves guns in his pick-up truck,” said Ryan.

“Should be pretty easy to get in his truck and grab any guns he has in there. We can sell the guns or use them to boost the Norteno Gang pukes from their meth,” he said.

“I know their trap house in Othello gets a large shipment every Thursday from Yakima, Washington. Their source is supposed to be the main man for the area so if we hit them during an early evening there should be a stash of cash and meth. We will have to leave no trace of who we are because the Nortenos source is the Sinaloa Mexican Drug Cartel,” he continued.

“A gun pointed at the Nortenos will open the doors for us,” said Juan, relishing the excitement of a takedown Robbery.

“I’m with you, let me slip out of here and not disturb Tiffanie and I’ll meet you at the church on Division on the hill in about 10 minutes,” Juan said before hanging up.

Juan quietly got dressed and placed a pair of gloves into his coat pocket.

He had forgotten Susan Mattern was sleeping on the couch in the living room and was startled when he saw her still form lying on the couch with her back to him.

“Oh hell, I hope she doesn’t hear me,” he thought to himself.

He slowly and quietly made his way across the living room to a slider door that was always unlocked.

The door made a low scraping sound as it slid open and he watched Susan’s form and listened to her breathing.

There was no indication the sound of the door slider had disturbed her.

He carefully slid the slider door closed and then walked across the back lawn of the apartment complex and headed towards the park behind the church parking lot to meet Ryan.

The night was just below freezing and a light snow was falling.

The ambient light of the snow on the ground lit up even the shadows of the houses and cars parked on the street.

The sounds of the night were muffled from the snowfall which would lull people to sleep soundly.

As Juan approached the church Ryan stepped out from the porch entrance to the church.

“This is a damn cold night Bro,” quipped Ryan as they met.

“Did you bring the Slim Jim and gloves?” asked Juan.

“I’ve got them right here,” Ryan said as he opened up the small backpack he was carrying.

They had used the slim Jim tool numerous times to insert down beside a car window to the interior door mechanism and unlock the vehicle.

Cars and trucks were starting to be produced more frequently with installed security systems or aftermarket systems, which was a problem they had to consider.

The aftermarket alarm systems would often have a small blue light or red light mounted at the bottom of the interior dashboard which was designed to warn and deter car prowlers that an anti-theft device was installed and active in the vehicle.

“Let’s do our prowls on the S/E side of town, the streetlights are far between and we haven’t hit that section for a long time,” said Ryan.

“Last time we got some good stuff out of the cars, including purses, mostly in plain sight,” Ryan said.

“We can pick up enough stuff and cash to go to Jacob’s Trap house and score some meth and get high while we continue to do our thing tonight.”

“Great idea, let’s get to it, I got a woman waiting back at my apartment in a warm bed,” murmured Juan as he shivered from the damp cold.

They started walking along the east rim of town where more affluent homes were located.

There were great views overlooking the town and the brown treeless mountains in the distance.

The night was quiet and they would have ample warning should a cop leave his warm police station and coffee and drive aimlessly around town with the Police cruiser’s studded tires making a loud scratchy sound on the pavement.

As they quietly walked down the street, the first vehicle they spotted was a newer Chevy pick-up that had recently been parked, and the light snow was melting as it struck the metal surface of the warm hood.

“This guy probably came home from a bar since it’s later than 2:00 A.M., so he should be in a dead sleep,” Ryan whispered to Juan.

They approached on the driver’s side and, using a small penlight, looked into the interior of the pick-up truck.

“Don’t see anything other than an open 1/2 case of beer with only a couple cans remaining,” said Ryan.

Juan excitedly whispered, “No, look under the edge of the center console cover, it looks like part of a wallet sticking out.”

Ryan bent down and peered into the interior and when using his small penlight he could also see the object that looked like a man’s wallet.

Pulling the Slim Jim out of the backpack Ryan went around to the side of the pick-up door farthest from the residence.

His practiced hands expertly guided the tool to hook on the bar that controlled the door handle lock.

He pulled on the bar which released the latch of the driver’s door with the sound of a low click of the door release.

He gently pulled the driver’s door open.

The ceiling interior light came on, lighting a small area which afforded a better view of the contents.

He quickly reached up and turned off the interior roof light by pushing the small switch on the side.

Ryan quickly pocketed the wallet in his coat pocket and quickly checked the glove box and interior of the center console.

A small glass jar was located inside the console containing loose change and jewelry.

As quickly as they had entered the pick-up truck, the door of the truck was carefully closed until there was a click of the latch.

They withdrew a short distance from the pick-up and Ryan opened the wallet to examine the contents.

“It’s not very thick so probably not much money,” said Ryan as he pulled the bills out of the wallet and shined the flashlight on the bills.

Juan almost shouted, “Holy s**t, those are Benjamins you got there.”

Ryan quickly counted 24 one hundred dollar bills and passed $1,200.00 to Juan as his share.

Ryan threw the wallet down onto the street as they continued quietly walking.

“Let’s stop over by this alley and see what’s in the jar,” said Juan as he looked around at the nearby houses for any activity or lights that were on.

The area was devoid of any activity except for a cat quickly crossing further down the street.

Ryan unscrewed the jar and dumped the contents into Juan’s stocking cap that he had carried in his coat pocket and tossed the empty glass jar onto a lawn.

They both examined the contents from the glass jar which contained what appeared to be loose change, and inexpensive jewelry at first glance.

A small white plastic type ring box from the jar was picked up from Juan’s stocking cap and Ryan opened the box which contained two diamond mounted gold rings.

Juan picked up the rings and turned them around at different angles. “Hmm, that looks like a wedding and engagement ring set so there might be some value there.”

The rest of the contents of the jar contained loose change and Ryan placed the coins into a side pocket of his backpack.

“Doing good so far but let’s go along this street a little further,” said Juan and they quietly started back down the street.

They checked various vehicles further down the street until they came upon a tricked out late model bright red Jeep wrangler 4 door.

Significant expense had been spent on a lift kit with oversized tires and Black Diamond brand wheels.

Ryan started to insert the Slim Jim into the rear passenger window when Juan hissed at him and pointed to the interior where a small blue light was glowing dim on the lower section of the dashboard below the stereo controls.

Juan hissed, “That Jeep is alarmed, let’s get the hell away from it.”

They traveled further down the street and about a block away an older 90’s Buick sedan was parked on the street in front of a house with numerous kid toys partially covered with snow in the front yard.

“Geez, this car looks like a poor baby mama would drive this car,” quipped Ryan as he looked in the window of the unlocked car.

“There’s a cell phone on the passenger seat that might be worth some money,” Ryan said.

They quietly opened the unlocked side doors of the car and shined pen lights under the seats and never found anything except a couple of empty drug bindles and used syringes.

“Careful man,” said Juan, “those syringes could really f**k you up if you get stuck from one of them.”

“Don’t be reaching around in the seat cracks where you can’t see,” said Juan.

“Let’s go, we got enough s**t for the night,” said Ryan as he reached over and grabbed the cell phone, then decided to leave it.

Juan responded, “We have money to score some serious meth from Jacob and maybe sell or trade him for a little extra smack.”

They closed the car doors until there was a click and started down the street, keeping away from the streetlights, talking in low tones.

Ryan said to Juan, “Let’s get our meth at Jacob’s now.”

“Then we can go down the street to the Dude’s where he keeps his guns in his pick-up truck parked out on the street,” he finished.

John Adams was 26 years old and rented a small one bedroom house in the Northeast blue collar section of Wheatland.

He owned a cabinet and tile business and did installations of his product.

The business was starting to take off.

There were new business buildings and residential structures under construction in Wheatland and surrounding communities.

The larger construction and contractor companies were a distance away in Yakima, Wenatchee or Spokane, so John captured most of the local tile and counter top contracts on construction or remodel projects.

He made a good financial living.

John had hired a full time assistant worker named Greg Walker and his wife Cheyenne to manage his books and finances for his business.

John had suffered through a recent divorce and his ex had married Cam Gentry, a Deputy from Canyon County Sheriff’s Office.

John knew there were rumors around that his wife had started an affair with the cop a year before their divorce.

The sudden overnight business trips by his wife confirmed in John’s mind, there was no way their marriage could be repaired.

John read texts on his wife’s I-phone when she would carelessly leave it lying around when she was in the bathroom.

The steamy texts and photos between the Canyon County Deputy and John’s wife convinced him there was no way he wanted to be married to such a cheater.

It wasn’t but a few months after the final divorce decree that John realized there were women interested in him.

He had a relationship with a married woman named Carmin Martinez that wanted nothing more from him than frequent trysts.

They would meet at hotels in Ellensburg or Wenatchee where she picked up the tab and all expenses.

Her husband Ted was tied up managing his trucking transport contracts in the Bakken Oil fields, hauling crude oil or fracking water from the well sites in far away Williston, North Dakota and the nearby Little Shell Indian Reservation.

John had an on again off again relationship with his girlfriend Nancy, who outwardly seemed ok with the knowledge that John was seeing a young woman named Marianne Shutt.

Marianne had recently moved from Oregon with her mother who worked at local hospitals as a traveling nurse.

On several occasions Marianne had left her cell phone on John’s kitchen table while she was distracted outside the house with her son Zachary.

John was always a little suspicious because of his ex-wife’s propensity of sending steamy messages and photos on her cell phone to her lover.

John would read Marianne’s text messages and found Marianne was still in a relationship with her alleged ex boyfriend Dustin Silver.

He had read her romantic text messages she had been sending to Dustin, some with attached nude photos.

“Here we go again,” John said to himself.

John suspected when Marianne would travel to The Dalles, Oregon to visit relatives, she would spend most of her nights with Dustin.

Marianne would sometimes borrow John’s Jeep telling John she was going to visit friends in Yakima but would instead meet with Dustin.

When she really got the urge for an intimate meeting, she would meet with Dustin at Motels in the Ellensburg, Washington area.

When John first became suspicious of the extra mileage on his Jeep, he placed a small GPS unit behind the third center tail light of his jeep and would download the device on his laptop to map the location and number of stops the Jeep had made when Marianne returned from her carnal trips.

John actually drove the GPS routes displayed in the GPS unit and on three different occasions was able to follow the trail right to Motel parking lots, where the GPS would be stationary for 3-4 hours before starting back to Wheatland.

John had thought about his relationship with her and knew he could not trust Marianne enough to ever consider marriage.

In late December, Marianne had spent a couple of nights at John’s place and left early in the morning.

John’s close friend Nancy came by that evening and shared some wine and talked to John about his relationship with Marianne.

“She’s a lying b***h and there’s no way I’d marry her,” he growled.

“Fact is, as far as I’m concerned I’m going to break up with Marianne and give her a call tomorrow morning.”

‘Not even going to respect her enough to do it face to face?” asked Nancy.

“Hell no, I’ll do it over the phone,” he replied.

“At least I won’t have to worry about loaning my vehicle to her so she can go and be with her lover,” he sighed.

John lay in bed naked next to Nancy with a beer in his hand while Nancy sipped on a glass of wine while John Lamented over the situation.

“Nancy, let’s spend more fun time together,” he said.

She replied, “You know this is why I like to hang out with you.”

She sat her glass of wine down and rolled over towards him on the bed.

“You are such a great friend with benefits,” she murmured and placed her head on John’s bare chest.

About 11:00 P.M. Nancy reluctantly got out of John’s bed, got dressed and left after one last sensual kiss.

John jumped in the shower and languished from the force of the stream of hot water on his back.

When he got settled back in bed, he phoned Nancy who picked up the phone on the second ring, “Hey babe, I’ve got an early morning workout at The Club and some construction bids to deliver, but can we meet for lunch. Then we can go out target shooting after lunch tomorrow if the weather clears?”

“Sounds like a plan, we’ll have a great time,” Nancy said with an excited tone to her voice.

“Good night, I’ll call you first thing in the morning,” John said.