While fake Senate candidate Annette Bosworth dispatches her lawyer Joel Arends to wage a campaign of legal intimidation and character assassination against innocent citizens, former Bosworth employee Dave Baumeister helps chip away at Bosworth's last desperate gambit.
Bosworth and Arends allege that two employees of non-profit Preventive Health Strategies stole documents related to what now appears to be a fraudulent raffle. Bosworth and Arends contend that the removal of these documents made it impossible for Bosworth and her husband Chad Haber to keep track of raffle funds, execute the raffle drawing, or refund ticket buyers.
Following up on my analysis of the shaky timeframe in Bosworth's excuses, Mr. Baumeister knows those records weren't stolen. He saw those records in the Preventive Health Strategies months after the accused employees left:
The lists of people who bought raffle tickets for the Harley, snow mobile and land raffle existed in January of 2013, as I received them by email from either Peggy Craig (Annette's sister) or Rachelle Daniels or both. Both women were in control of PHS money (Rachelle mainly recorded what came in and went out and Peggy handles the checks). But I do know that I asked both of them about so few people having bought land raffle tickets (only about 33), to which they both said that was correct. All the names and addresses were on those lists. As to what happened to the money, I cannot say, as I never handled any of that. But the list of names existed. So what I read from Joel Arends in the Argus today was a lie. Not that he was lying, as his statement may have been truthful as far as what they told him. For awhile, I was believing what they told me, too [Dave Baumeister, comment, Madville Times, 2014.02.24].
Key points here:
- Peggy Craig and/or Rachelle Daniels were PHS employes.
- Craig and/or Daniels were able to e-mail those records to Baumeister in January 2013, five months after the departure of the employees Bosworth and Arends accuse of stealing those same records.
- Having sent these documents by e-mail, Craig and/or Daniels created at least one additional copy of these records that went to Baumeister's computer, in addition to whatever source documents remained on their computers.
- Craig and Daniels told Baumeister the records he received were complete and correct.
- PHS was able to send out a letter and flyer to raffle ticket holders explaining the evolving status of the raffle.
- Joel Arends contends in his letter to the press (and apparently in legal pleadings attached to that letter, not published yet by that Sioux Falls paper, but submitted, one would assume, to a court of law, where lying has serious consequences) that the "raffle was dealt a death blow because two people absconded with all of the raffle materials." All.
- Conclusion: Raffle records remained in the PHS office five months after the alleged theft of all raffle records.
Lying and blaming others only works when the people you blame and lie about stay quiet. If all the people Bosworth and Haber have blamed and lied about will speak up the way Dave Baumeister is doing, the Bosworth-Haber web of deceit will collapse under the simple weight of fact.
p.s.: While we're at it, may it please the court: Bosworth has changed her story on why the raffle failed. Back in November, Bosworth claimed that her second round of raffles had failed "because my personal life was being attacked and I was the face of this organization. When my personal life was crumbling the second raffle didn't get my attention to carry it through as successfully as the first one." Bosworth has gone from almost kinda-sorta accepting a little personal blame to now concocting an unlikely tale of criminal mischief by disgruntled employees who, if they had really wanted to hurt their boss, could have nabbed a lot more valuable stuff than a folder full of papers.
pp.s.: Don't forget that on July 18, 2013, PHS staffer Rachelle Daniels appears to have told ticketholder Nate Fluit that PHS had sold about half of the tickers for the Moody County land raffle and was continuing to try to sell tickets... eleven months after counsel contends the raffle was dealt a "death blow."
This entire business must be causing agony for the Sanford Medical School. In my field, such evidence of mendacity and misrepresentations has caused investigations which have caused graduate schools to revoke doctorate degrees. It is unusual, but it has happened. Given Bosworth's previous encounters with professional oversight agencies (http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-968415), it makes one wonder about how her professional regards the kind of attention she is bringing to it.
As is often said, South Dakota is a very hard place to commit a crime...every damn citizen wants to be Elliot Ness and turn someone in with no reward necessary.
This is becoming insaner by the day. Let us hope it continues in such an entertaining manner.
Dr. Bosworth and Mr. Haber will insure that.