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Prosecutor Swartz shot Shakeeda an evil stare as she walked back to her seat in the courtroom. She’d interviewed Shakeeda before subpoenaing her to testify for the state, but Shakeeda hadn’t revealed any of the information that Kyle got out of her. She didn’t know if she could trust questioning any more employees from the welfare department. Now she would have to do some rearranging of her witnesses.
THIRTY-TWO
Prosecutor Swartz prepared to question her next witness.
Peter sat down next to her. He had just come from out in the hall, where he returned a phone call from his contact down at the police station. “I found our witness,” he said, referring to the witness the police had been looking for.
Prosecutor Swartz looked at him with enthusiasm, until she saw the look in his eyes. “What?” she whispered.
“They found him dead,” Peter whispered back.
“Shit!” Prosecutor Swartz said under her breath and hung her head. She was really counting on the special witness. She took a deep breath to try to get herself together.
Tyquan was their star witness along with Tammy, and they were both now dead. Tyquan rolled over on Diamond and her crew because he was still pissed off at the way she embarrassed him that day in front of her building. He knew he would never be able to get next to her again as long as she had Trey and the crew surrounding her at all times, so he decided to get back in good with her and infiltrate from the inside. He’d made good money with the crew in the process, but it was a big pill he had to swallow, to stay in good with everybody until he was ready to put them on blast.
But when he told the police about the whole operation, he had no idea he would have to testify in court against them, which he didn’t want to do. Not to mention, if he did testify, he would’ve had to turn his own sister in for getting the social security cards for the welfare fraud cases. So Tyquan went on the run, staying off the streets during the day, and selling drugs by night, until he got into a confrontation with a drug rival and was shot and killed.
“Prosecutor, your next witness,” the judge said, interrupting Prosecutor Swartz’s thoughts.
“Yes, Your Honor, I’d like t
o call Chief Inspector Robert Lippe, Special Services of the Welfare Fraud and Investigative Unit of New Jersey,” Prosecutor Swartz said, looking through her papers.
Robert Lippe had been with the Special Services for seventeen years. He was transferred to the Newark, New Jersey division three years earlier. Since then, he had solved dozens of fraud cases, but the number of welfare fraud cases was still climbing.
Robert Lippe wasn’t liked by many, but he did his job well. He was a dweeb with a cocky and arrogant demeanor. He stepped up into the witness stand and stood at attention with his hand held up, waiting to be sworn in.
Some people in the courtroom snickered. Most who knew him disliked him because he looked down on people. When it came to doing his job, he would sometimes treat the employees for the state as if they were the criminals, creating tension within the department.
“Please state your full name for the court,” the bailiff told Robert after he was sworn in.
“Robert Daniel Lippe,” he said in his signature nasal voice.
“You may be seated,” Judge Fritz said.
“Mr. Lippe, where do you work?” Prosecutor Swartz asked from her seat behind the table.
“I work for the Special Services of the Welfare Fraud and Investigative Unit,” he said with confidence.
“What is your title?”
“I am chief inspector,” he said as if he were the president of the United States.
“Mr. Lippe, do you take your job seriously?”
“You damn right, I do! I have a perfect record.”
Prosecutor Swartz smiled. “Mr. Lippe, can you please tell the court your findings on the defendant Diamond Reed’s case?”
“Why, of course. On October nineteenth two thousand two, I made a call to Shakaya, the caseworker,” he said, pronouncing her name wrong. “I proceeded to tell her of my suspicions. I advised her to send me all the information and the case file on the defendant Diamond Reed. My findings were simple. Diamond Reed had one false claim open from what I could tell.”
“Mr. Lippe, how did you know this claim was fraudulent?”
“Well, when investigating, it is a delicate matter,” he said, adjusting his suit jacket and crossing his legs. “I dug deep into this case. I found out that the social security number used for the claim was fake. I also discovered that the people on the claim didn’t live at the address where money was being sent. I also discovered that Diamond Reed had connections to the address where the welfare check was being sent each month.” He sat back as if waiting for applause for his efforts.
“OK, Mr. Lippe, is that all?”
“Jeez, no. Not only did she have the false claim, she had tons of doctor bills coming in for Medicaid.”
