I've been to Haiti three times. All three were to investigate life insurance claims submitted by beneficiaries that live in the United States. My
first two trips were uneventful and turned out to fraudulent, which wasn't a big surprise. Blank death certificates are sold for about $5 directly
across the street from the civil registry.
Port Au Prince is a totally different place from any other capitol city I have been to. Poverty at it's finest and a sense of mistrust with every
person you make eye contact with.
I stayed at the Hotel Montana the first two trips and this "hotel" was the best place to stay for foreigners from what I was told. The rooms were
average size with a small color television with cable that received English speaking stations which was great because it was just to dangerous to go
out at night. Where are you going to go anyway after the sun goes down? They also placed pets in my room. I had the most enjoyable c-ckroaches that
scurried around the room racing each other. They even got into bed with me. I hate to stay alone so that was a nice unexpected plus.
I received an investigation in April 2010 where a mother and son died in the earthquake while they were staying at the hotel Montana. The Montana was
totally destroyed in the earthquake that took so many lives on January 12, 2010. The two insured's who allegedly died were not Haitian. They were both
born in India and lived outside of Detroit. According to the beneficiary, they traveled to Port au Prince to visit with family members that had a
business there. Both had life policies of 1.5 million each.
After a review of all the claim documents and Haitian documents submitted by the beneficiary I flew to Detroit and met with the beneficiary for a
interview that lasted for 9 hours. This guy was a piece of work. I could tell that he was lying about everything he told me. He tried to be convincing
but I could not buy his story. He said his mother and brother were identified by a doctor from Florida who was there with a group of doctors to attend
to the victims of the earthquake and he found the mother, amongst the debris, holding a note that said in English to call her son in Detroit if there
was an emergency. The mother was in Haiti where they speak French and the mother did not speak English or French. It was just a miracle that an
English speaking doctor found the note and called the beneficiary. Amazing!
After the doctor called the beneficiary and told him the fate of his mother and brother this guy flew to Haiti, met with the doctor who drove him all
over Port au Prince to get the death certificate's and fly home. I asked him for the doctors phone number and contact information but he could not
find it. he was there for three weeks.
When I arrived back from Detroit I called the insurance company and explained the meeting with the beneficiary. I then checked my phone messages since
I had been gone for three days and two other insurance companies had called me with three more claims submitted by the same beneficiary for his mother
and brother. These three other claims totaled 2.5 million dollars. No wonder the beneficiary was in Haiti for three weeks. He had to get all of his
ducks in a row but the interesting thing was when I interviewed him initially I asked if there were more policies and he said no. Just another lie.
I was asked to travel back to Haiti and get this investigation completed. All of the documents submitted by the beneficiary had to be physically
presented to the authorities in Haiti to determine authenticity.
Whenever there is a country that has suffered a disaster I can figure I will go there within a few months as I did in Sri Lanka a few months after the
tsunami in 2004. That was an interesting case. The son, of Indian decent and lived in Fullerton California, said his mother was there and was swept
away according to witnesses who knew and saw her. After arriving in Colombo, the capitol, the next morning I hired a cab to drive me to the southern
end of the island where the tsunami hit a few months before. I found the hospital where the dead were taken to and showed the administration office
the death certificate. I was asked to take a seat and waited for about an hour. A policeman approached me and asked why I was there. After I showed
him my credentials he told me that the doctor who signed the death certificate died from a fatal heart attack nine months before the tsunami. That was
an easy one except that the insurance company wanted a complete list of all the dead as a result of the tsunami. I went to every Sri Lanka government
office, the red cross and many other agencies and no one had a list. The reason no government office had a list is that these countries that
experience a great loss of life, the more dead, the more money and aid coming in. Plain and simple. Officials there said that 25,000 people died but
according to many I talked to only 5000 actually passed away.
Prior to going on this trip to Haiti in July of 2010 I searched the internet for a hotel and also checked in with the American Embassy. When I arrived
at the airport just outside Port Au Prince I went through customs and went to get my bag. I saw my bag and went to grab it but some guy took it and
was walking away very fast. I stopped him and took it away from him and he started screaming. A cop came over and took me by the arm and I told him
this was my bag and showed him my stub. As he was looking at it the other guy took off fast! Welcome to wonderful Haiti!
I was to be picked up by a driver from the hotel but after waiting in the 100 degree sun for an hour I found a driver that took me. There had to be
over two hundred people outside the chain link fence staring at people coming off planes most with their hands out asking for money.
My hotel was terrible. A single bed with only a sheet. No A/C no window and only a fan and the floor was so dirty I kept my shoes on. There was
security with AK47's on patrol. I was in Hell!
The next morning I was picked by the same driver that took me to the hotel from the airport. I guess because I wasn't jacked by him the day before I
felt somewhat safe. First stop was the U.S. Embassy. The embassy building is probably the nicest in the entire country. I met with the American
Services Director and checked in and showed him a few documents submitted by the beneficiary which were proven false of course. The American there
told me to be extremely careful when I am in Port Au Prince. There had been several murders of Americans recently. Now I am experiencing a real head
ache coming on. Starting to sweat a little bit also.
We left the embassy and started to drive towards the center city. Nothing but UN vehicles everywhere with armed soldiers. The closer I got to the city
the worse it got. Large areas of people living in tents. Small children 2 and 3 years old running around and playing next to the highways with cars
doing 50 driving by. I saw many people living in tents in the center median of the highway which was only four feet across with cars driving by fast.
Then I got to the city. The buildings that came down from the earthquake were still there. A lot of them. It was easy to see why the buildings
collapsed. No structural integrity. Three and four story buildings came down like a house of cards. Trash everywhere. As we drove around I did not see
another white person the entire day. Didn't expect to.
We finally found a federal police station which was really an old house converted into offices in bedrooms and the jail in the back of the house. I
walked right by the jail and saw these poor bastards on the floor of this dirty cell completely full of men and women. I was ushered to the back of
the building where the big cheese was and after he saw me he stopped what he was doing and my driver asked him where the civil registry was.
Apparently after the quake the government opened up several registry offices to handle the load. After getting directions we walked out followed by a
federal officer who said he would accompany us and show us where the office we wanted was located. When we got to the civil registry which was in a
very small house I was again taken towards the back of the house and met with the civil registrar. I showed him the document and he took one look at
it and then wrote, in red ink on the document, FAUX. Fraud in French. He signed his name, I shook his hand and then he got back to his business.
The federal officer that came with us was talking to my driver and off we went. My driver did not speak English and only a little Spanish so I could
not understand where we were going but it was at the request of the officer I assumed.
We arrived at another large house with a large tent outside in the driveway. This was the main headquarters for the federal police. When the car
stopped I did not get out. The officer opened my door and took me by the arm and pulled me hard towards a table under the tent with a woman sitting
there across from me. I don't know what the hell was going on but I knew something was up and it was not going to be nice. The officer and this woman
talked in French for about 20 minutes and then this woman looked at me and started speaking French very fast holding up the death certificate with
Faux written all over it. She would raise her voice often and get so close to my face I though she was going to slip me some tongue. After 10 minutes
of her talking she stopped abruptly and just looked at me. That was when I told her I only spoke English and Spanish and I didn't understand a word
she said. Her face had the look of utter disbelief that she talked for so long and I didn't understand a word. She called another employee that spoke
some Spanish and this person told me that I was to give her my passport and not to leave Haiti and to stay in the hotel until someone came to get me.
I told this woman that I would not give her my passport and that I will not stay in my hotel. This person then said that I was the one that was trying
to get the life insurance money by submitting false documents. I explained every way I could what I was doing but they wouldn't listen. The girl
started yelling at me in front of at least 40 people, some in suits and were obviously officials of some sort, saying PASSPORT-PASSPORT holding her
hand out. I still would not give it to her. I was then grabbed from behind and in a choke hold I was taken inside the building and into a cell.
Someone took my passport, camera and about $100 from my pockets.
I was in this 20' by 20' cell with a large bench. I sat at one end of the bench and when I did all of the other criminals moved away to the other end.
I was in Hell!
After about two hours in this wonderful cell some guy in a suit came to the barsl and told me in Spanish that he was an attorney and I was in big
trouble. He said he would take care of everything for $6000.00 and I could then leave. I explained in my best Spanish to pee OFF. Five minutes later a
cop came and let me out. They gave me back my passport, my camera and $50.00. I was peeed about the 50 they took and started to let them all know they
were buttcracks. I went before another guy in a suit that told me I was under house arrest and not to leave my hotel under any circumstances. I waked
out and there was my driver waiting for me. I knew he would be there in that he never got paid.
My driver took me to the US Embassy and I spoke with the same guy I met that morning. He asked for my flight information and told me to come back at
8:00 a.m. the next morning with my bag.
I called my wife that night but didn't tell her what had happened. She wouldn't sleep until I got home if I had. She was always upset when I had a
case in Colombia during the Escobar years.
The next morning I arrived at the embassy with my bag ready to get the hell out of hell. I was taken to the airport escorted by a U.S. Marine and the
guy in charge of the American Services Department. They had a black suburban with the American flag on the front. When I got to the airport some guy
grabbed my bag and everyone there was checking me out like I was some kind of celeb. I was wisked through immigration and we all went to the gate
waiting to board. The marine was cool. He was a really big guy and his name plate spelled out SHULTZ.
While we were waiting for the plane to board I saw that same Haitian federal officer who told me the day before that I was under house arrest also at
the gate walking towards me. He grabbed me by the arm very hard and tried to drag me away. SHULTZ in full Marine uniform grabbed this guy by the neck
and was choking him with one hand. The officer fell to his knees. After he caught his breath he walked away with out saying a word. I couldn't help
but smile.... The boarding area was full of passengers and all of them were checking this out. When boarding time came I shook both of these guys
hands and told them I would never come back to see them. They both said good.
The embassy upgraded me to first class to Miami and then onto Los Angeles.
It was good to be home!
By the way. The beneficiary was found guilty of insurance fraud and is currently a guest at a state facility.
The only thing I ate in Haiti was a few bags of peanuts and some of those health bars that the wife put in my bag without me knowing it.
Haiti will be a country that will never change. I guess you really can't blame the Haitian officials there for the way they treat people. This place
has always been hit with corruption from the president on down. They don't know any different.
My heart goes out to all of those people living in those tents and having to fight for a meal. This is one place to stay away from. I won't go back no
matter how much I get paid!BajaBlanca - 3-31-2011 at 08:21 PM
wow ..what a nightmare story. a friend of mine works for an american airline that flies to port au prince and they are not allowed to leave the
airport while they are in transit ...
after your story, I can guarantee that I will never ever EVER go there.vandenberg - 3-31-2011 at 08:28 PM
Little Africa.Stickers - 3-31-2011 at 08:40 PM
An amazing story and a country with no future.
A place where birth control is not allowed and its people will simmer into oblivion.
.krafty - 3-31-2011 at 08:44 PM
Don't think it has ever had a chance-used to fly there 30 plus yrs. ago when I flew for Capitol Airways and could not wait for the layovers to endDavid K - 4-1-2011 at 08:27 AM
Thank you Dan... the plot for a movie, for sure!
Glad you are safe!! DENNIS - 4-1-2011 at 08:32 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by vandenberg
Little Africa.
With a bit of Montreal added just to give the slums some style.goldhuntress - 4-1-2011 at 08:55 AM
Thanks for the hot vacation tip Your a great storyteller.wilderone - 4-1-2011 at 09:29 AM
Wow - thanks for the stories. You sure don't see that stuff in the news. Schultz is quite a hero!Cypress - 4-1-2011 at 09:35 AM
How many million $$$ has the US pumped into Haiti since the quake?durrelllrobert - 4-1-2011 at 09:49 AM
so, what happend to all the relief funds donated by the USA? $655M as of last August: Mexitron - 4-1-2011 at 10:21 AM
Amazing experience---glad you made it back okay!Cypress - 4-1-2011 at 11:06 AM
About the money~ $655,698,000. How much does that factor out to for every man, women and child in Haiti? lizard lips - 4-1-2011 at 04:21 PM
That's a lot of cash and I didn't see any of it at work but who knows? I really don't care how much was given the people of Haiti won't see much of
it.
While at my hotel I struck up a conversation with a couple of young German guys who said after the earthquake they came and the Haitian government
leased them about 100 acres about 15 miles away from Port Au Prince. They had been working for four months attempting to start a factory park where
companies could come in and open their business and employee the people to work instead of just living on hand outs. They had roads paved, power,
phone lines installed and it was ready to go. They even had a few German companies start building their factories when------The government came in and
told them they didn't have the correct permits and the legal owner of this property had the local police stationed at the front gate and was not
allowing anyone in. Boy, does this sound familiar?
The Germans met with some politician who told them the owner of the property wanted 5 million dollars and the politician wanted $500,000 to make it
all go away.
The last email I got from the Germans said that contact was made with the Haitians through the German government and everything is back on tract.
Both of these guys used their own money to start this project and have it where it is today and they wanted to help. When I say that this country will
never change, I meant it. Not in my lifetime.David K - 4-1-2011 at 05:08 PM
A fool and his money is easily parted...msteve1014 - 4-1-2011 at 06:17 PM
That is a great story, so sad to think that it is true. I have a friend that was a marine that worked as security at some US embassies. He has a lot
of stories like this one.monoloco - 4-1-2011 at 06:45 PM
Haiti has a sad history, Haitians upon gaining their freedom were forced, under the threat of French gunboats, to agree to pay reparations to their
former slave masters. The payments lasted until well into the 20th century and consumed up to 80% of Haitian GDP. France recently refused to return
any of the money they received.Marc - 4-2-2011 at 05:59 PM
What a great story teller you are. Hope you don't mind, I printed it.Bob H - 4-2-2011 at 06:35 PM
Wow, what a story! Damn!!grizzlyfsh95 - 4-10-2011 at 08:21 AM
Why visit Haiti when Detroit is so close? Sean Penn will save Haiti. Hugo says he will be right there to supervise.
Your a great storyteller.
