Press Release Of The Week: Total Fucking Moron Tries To Extort Phila. Parking Authority Over Bootleg DVDs
From the department of Shit You Couldn’t Make Up If You Tried: A tale of a criminal so goddamned dumb he will actually force you to take the side of the Philadelphia Parking Authority:
INSPECTOR GENERAL, FBI INVESTIGATION LEADS TO ARREST OF INDIVIDUAL ATTEMPTING TO EXTORT PPA
Philadelphia, March 1, 2012 – A joint investigation conducted by the Philadelphia Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has led to the arrest of a 29-year-old South Philadelphia man on charges of extorting the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) during a sting operation, announced Inspector General Amy Kurland and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge George Venizelos.
According to an FBI arrest warrant affidavit, Rocco Martinez allegedly contacted PPA Executive Director Vincent Fenerty on September 13, 2011, and said he had a video showing a Parking Authority officer offering to dismiss parking tickets in exchange for two bootleg DVDs.
Fenerty requested a copy of the video so he could investigate the matter himself, but Martinez allegedly suggested that Fenerty should compensate him for the video. Fenerty repeatedly told Martinez that he would not break the law to obtain the video.
Following his conversation with Martinez, Fenerty asked the OIG to investigate. The OIG teamed up with the FBI, and Fenerty pledged to help the agencies gather evidence against Martinez.
In a follow-up message left on Fenerty’s voicemail, Martinez requested a face-to-face meeting with Fenerty to discuss what he should do with the video, according to the affidavit. Martinez allegedly said that several Philadelphia media outlets wanted to buy the video, but he was “leaning more toward PPA,” so long as he would get “something out of it.”
On September 14, 2011, during a phone call recorded by the FBI, Fenerty agreed to meet with Martinez in person at the Parking Authority. That evening, Martinez arrived with a laptop computer and played the video for Fenerty, who reminded Martinez that it would be illegal for the PPA to pay him for the video, according to the affidavit. Martinez allegedly threatened to sell the video to a TV station or post it on YouTube if Fenerty didn’t pay him.
According to the affidavit. Fenerty paid Martinez $500 after some negotiation.
Kurland said. “Our city officials aren’t for sale – they are honest and we won’t tolerate their reputations being tarnished.”
Well hold up, Inspector General: 1) The PPA aren’t city officials, they are an occupying mercenary army who’ve completely turned the tables on city government and 2) they’re absolutely corruptible — just not with a pair of janky-ass bootleg Tyler Perry DVDs. Still, today, the PPA has earned their Liberty Balls.
