Entrapment is such an ugly word.
An Interesting link was passed on to me today. The ‘Eyewitness’ Team over at WFTV Channel 9 got an exclusive document; hand delivered by the Orlando Metro Bureau of Investigation. It must have been a real action news throw down when the Explicit Content - Too Hot For TV!!! - of a conversation between Agent ************* and Orlando Weekly Executive.
What’s most interesting to me is how they put this disclaimer at the top of each page:
VERBATIM AS PROVIDED BY MBI
Now you can go both ways with this - Either WFTV 9 was trying to distance themselves from the fact that a transcript of a recorded sales call, provided by the Organization under question
OR
Both the Dopey Officer at the MBI that concocted this document AND the Office Drone at WFTV that accepted it and thinks that this is some how adding credibility to Orlando MBI’s atrocious behavior at the Orlando Weekly Job Fair. I guess we can give that corpse Bob Opsahl and his team of intern fact checkers the benefit of the doubt and say what we’re all thinking:
This transcript is pure propaganda and amounts to nothing more than a cop posing as an escort service and tripping up an un-named sales associate. A since when did a censored document, Agent *************, if that is indeed your real name? But then again, when did the truth ever get in the way of justice?
Read the “truth” at: 9’s website.
I called their news room, but only got their Voice Mail. I just wanted to talk to the person that posted it on the web and ask them who edited the document before it went up, or was it delivered that way?
OK, this transcript is completely absurd, and for any indictment to come from it is wholly laughable to anyone except the poor citizen who finds himself in jail, being prosecuted by the RICO Act (which makes it easy to convict anyone, so be vewy vewy qwuiet). If any potential immigrant has the opportunity to read this, allow me to qualify one brief item about our justice system: you are guilty until proven rich. Period.
This conversation could be and probably was taken out of context, and at no point does the salesperson come directly out and say that OW was offering advertising for anything other than legitimate businesses. This conversation does not even look like it is linear… all of the pretty allusions to any sort of wrongdoing, much less any overt references to sex or prostitution came from the mysterious agent whom I thus dub “Secret Squirrel”. Secret Squirrel says sex, anal sex, blowjobs, etc and the sales rep says things that clearly are neutral and may not even belong at the appropriate place in the conversation. Anyone who has ever seen the animated talk show “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” has seen this sort of thing before: we interview someone, then rearrange the questions and responses to make it look like the person answering the questions is a (fill in the blank…). Secret Squirrel says all sorts of stuff that is immoral and leading, if this conversation ever took place, and the sales rep says things like ‘Are you a cop?’ to which Secret Squirrel says ‘No, God, no.’ Right off the bat I am more inclined to believe the sales rep rather than some squirrely bastard who LIES OUTRIGHT IN THE TRANSCRIPT GIVEN AS EVIDENCE. Clearly this person is full of honesty. And of course, if questioned about it, he would say: I have to lie. It’s my job. Sorry, Secret Squirrel, your job is to serve and protect not harass and entrap.
I want to know how much of my hard-earned tax money went to this absurd investigation, and where I can apply to get a refund.
I love how the source material is so weak, even the daily show, nigh the late late show wouldn’t even publish this dreck. and all they do is fake interviews.
But the biggest take away is this:
Cops are allowed to lie. You aren’t. It sucks, but it is true. So remember to always say very little and ask for a lawyer to be present when telling your side of the story.
the sales rep caught on to the cop fairly quickly. no one in their right mind would offer direct information about their intended illegal activities to a stranger on a fucking phone, so the sales rep was smart to recognize the absurdity of the conversation.
of course, one’s eyebrows invariably raise when the sales rep made these comments:
Orlando Weekly Executive: I mean if, you know if guys are looking for h*** j***, or stuff like that, they’re typically going to go to our Massage Section, licensed massage. There’s some of that going on; some of them in they are totally legit, there all licensed by the State of Florida.
this is probably considered the most damning testimony in the conversation. fortunately for the sales rep, the words are way too vague. the phrasing is clearly speculatory. the ‘happy ending’ is a ubiquitous myth in our culture–the product of a penthouse forum letter from long ago, i’d guess. it’s one of those things we assume happens sometimes. it’s like when you’re in a hotel lobby. you know somebody’s fucking somewhere above you. you don’t have direct knowledge. you just figure it’s reasonable to assume it’s the case, so you might state it as a fact: “i know somebody’s fucking up there.” we sometimes make statements about stereotypes and assumptions that sound like we know they’re facts. the rep’s statements are of a comparable vein, like “oh yeah, happy endings are easy to come by.” it’s not direct knowledge, it’s speculation. ultimately, in order for the quote to be truly damning, the rep would have had to explicitly state that he/she has personal, direct knowledge of massage places that do happy endings. e.g. “i know of a place…” as we know, this didn’t happen. nice try, chumps.
the rest of the conversation, the rep retreats into salesperson mode–”there’s nowhere else to advertise,” etc. at that point the rep seems convinced that the caller isn’t on the level.
for shame, MBI. what a disgraceful show of entrapment. you didn’t even get what you wanted, really. have fun trying to make this stick.