- Thread starter CFA123
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U.S. Citizen Kidnapped?
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I wasn't aware of a crime spree in this area.
Have there been other kidnappings, or other major crimes in Las Galeras, recently?
I was aware of some fairly major problems in the Las Terrenas area for awhile, although I haven't heard anything in the last few months.
As I live in Sosua, I'm not always up to date with crime info in other parts of the country, but I do keep an eye out on DR1, and really can't remember hearing about a crime wave in Las Galeras, that would warrant your remarks,
Quite the contrary as this end of the peninsula has VERY LITTLE crime as compared to the rest of the DR and other parts of the peninsula. Believe me, the whole town has been buzzing all weekend because of this. And it's not just the expats that are concerned. Many of the locals are JUST as concerned about threats like this to our calm and peaceful way of life. Before you make a statement like that you should get your facts straight.
As soon as I get an accurate accounting of the events, I will post them.
I'm glad you responded to this, Andy.
I was pretty sure that Las Galeras wasn't in the middle of a crime wave, but the way Kyle said that, I thought he might know something I didn't.
Please do.
Are you quite sure of the info that she has been recovered?
Just a quick word to tell you that things have gotten much better in Las Terrenas. Crime is down, the police force has been cleaned up... It's safe once again...
Again as I reported yesterday evening shortly after she was rescued, she is OK and as soon as I get the full story and VERIFY it I will share the details with everybody. I'm as anxious as you are to get the full story.
As long as she's been rescued, I'm a happy camper.
If you manage to get us details, then that would be a bonus, but I can live without it.
The only important thing is her being rescued.
I'm well aware that these may not be accurate reports but Diario Libre is naming suspects as known delinquents:
Noticias - Policía rescata turista secuetrada, 12 detenidos
http://www.elcaribecdn.com/articulo_multimedios.aspx?id=137876&guid=795E86A41F794F6B9FB65C999BDFCA08&Seccion=63
Noticias - Policía rescata turista secuetrada, 12 detenidos
http://www.elcaribecdn.com/articulo_multimedios.aspx?id=137876&guid=795E86A41F794F6B9FB65C999BDFCA08&Seccion=63
My wife was in Miches. There was a lot of police and military looking in all the houses for the woman.
It is confidence inspiring that the police were able to find the women and alleged kidnappers so quickly. I'm sure part of the reason they can be so effective is most normal Dominicans penchant to be involved in everybody else's business. For example, I mentioned to my wife in passing that we ought to think about moving back to the States because I was having some problems getting enough work and to my chgrin, when I returned to Santiago I had everyone in the family, including some people from the barrio that I hadn't talked to in months, ask me when I was moving back to the States. Secrets don't stay secret long here in the DR, and in the case of this kidnapping and such, this is a good thing.
I'm sure when the police were doing there house to house searches as mentioned in the news reports, someone who had some second or third hand info "squealed" for fear of being arrested as an accomplice. Also, no doubt the search area was easily identified given that the no brain numnuts used a cell phone to call in demanding the ransom. They are probably still trying to figure out what happened!
I'm sure when the police were doing there house to house searches as mentioned in the news reports, someone who had some second or third hand info "squealed" for fear of being arrested as an accomplice. Also, no doubt the search area was easily identified given that the no brain numnuts used a cell phone to call in demanding the ransom. They are probably still trying to figure out what happened!
Kyle, I LIVE in Las Galeras and have for over 11 years now. My Canadian wife has been here 21 years since she first built our hotel. And being in the tourist business, we keep a very close watch on the crime situation as we do not want to see any of OUR guests safety jeopardised or any other visitors or residents for that matter. We do have some problems but they are far less serious than the rest of the island is facing. We're still very small and peaceful, most everybody knows everybody and all of us, Dominicans and foreigners alike, want to keep it that way.
"I'm sure part of the reason they can be so effective is most normal Dominicans penchant to be involved in everybody else's business." That's especially true in a small community such as ours. But actually the usual way to extract information is to arrest everybody and then start beating them until someone talks. Sometimes they don't even bother to arrest them first as happened to a taxi driver out near Rincon the other day. It's barbaric, but as most of the populace is so afraid of the police because of this, it doesn't take much threatening before someone starts singing. Maybe the police in our home countries should take a lesson from these guys. LOL!
Update on Susan Rash
Yes, the good new is out since last evening. Susan has been found in a secluded area known as Cueva del Agua near the old Marble Mine on the road that leads to Boca Del Diablo. I saw and spoke to her this morning before she was flown out by chopper to LAIA to catch her flight to her hometown Ft Worth TX. Her husband David is in TX. A local foreigner (German), Peiter found her after doing some snooping around. The facts are not quite out, but it appears that they are local Tigres that are involved. Samana has its fare share of evil people. We should wait for the final report.
What is amazing to me is the lack of news coverage this sad event has had. Dominican Today had 3 short articles on the matter, in which most the information was incorrect. It appears to me that there is an intentional attempt for this to be HUSHED, not to bring a black eye to the area. Crime is a very relative term. Violent crime is a specific term. With that in mind, A major crime wave in Las Galeras is not happening. There are specific violent crimes that have happened in the are in the past month to Americans (US Citizens), Gringos, if you will, that concern me. Susan?s is the most recent. Less than a month ago, Joe Cooper was almost assinated by two masked hitmen with shotguns armed with slug ammo. Missed Joe?s face by 4 inches. Pictures are available. What concerns me is that these two incidences happened within 100 yards of each other. Joe?s matter was not publicized, but was taken to the higest authorities in the Capital, both Dominican and American. Nothing was done or it appears that way. Joe has since left the country and back in the USA. Perhaps if authorities would have acted in Joe?s case and rounded up all the truely bad actors that live in the Las Galeras-El Frances-Samana corridor, maybe last Friday evenings event that involved Susan, may have been circumvented. But please be advised, until Dominican authorities make the area safer for GRINGOS, be very careful in Samana. I know. I live here!
Yes, the good new is out since last evening. Susan has been found in a secluded area known as Cueva del Agua near the old Marble Mine on the road that leads to Boca Del Diablo. I saw and spoke to her this morning before she was flown out by chopper to LAIA to catch her flight to her hometown Ft Worth TX. Her husband David is in TX. A local foreigner (German), Peiter found her after doing some snooping around. The facts are not quite out, but it appears that they are local Tigres that are involved. Samana has its fare share of evil people. We should wait for the final report.
What is amazing to me is the lack of news coverage this sad event has had. Dominican Today had 3 short articles on the matter, in which most the information was incorrect. It appears to me that there is an intentional attempt for this to be HUSHED, not to bring a black eye to the area. Crime is a very relative term. Violent crime is a specific term. With that in mind, A major crime wave in Las Galeras is not happening. There are specific violent crimes that have happened in the are in the past month to Americans (US Citizens), Gringos, if you will, that concern me. Susan?s is the most recent. Less than a month ago, Joe Cooper was almost assinated by two masked hitmen with shotguns armed with slug ammo. Missed Joe?s face by 4 inches. Pictures are available. What concerns me is that these two incidences happened within 100 yards of each other. Joe?s matter was not publicized, but was taken to the higest authorities in the Capital, both Dominican and American. Nothing was done or it appears that way. Joe has since left the country and back in the USA. Perhaps if authorities would have acted in Joe?s case and rounded up all the truely bad actors that live in the Las Galeras-El Frances-Samana corridor, maybe last Friday evenings event that involved Susan, may have been circumvented. But please be advised, until Dominican authorities make the area safer for GRINGOS, be very careful in Samana. I know. I live here!
Both Jon and I advise caution but these two incidents do NOT reflect an overall increase in criminal activity in this area. And both he and I KNOW the real story behind Joe Cooper and the attempt on his life. This involves NO ONE ELSE. Yes there are Tigres in the area, but then they have always been here and are involved in mostly petty stuff within the Dominican community. The violent crimes that have happened here in the last 10 years have pretty much been isolated incidents involving local residents, both Dominican and expat, and are in no way indicative of a crime wave sweeping this end of the peninsula. This latest incident involving known criminals is the first of it's kind here and in view of its swift resolution, is sending a strong message to other area Tigres. As I stated here earlier, we do have a certain amount of criminal activity at this end of the peninsula but when compared to many other areas of the DR, it is but a proverbial drop in the bucket.
News coverage was squelched by investigating authorities as they simply did not want the criminals involved to know what was going on. This is entirely normal especially in the early stages of a kidnapping case and was not an attempt to keep the area from recieving "a black eye" to it's reputation. I know that as fact. Both Jon and I were involved from the beginning in this situation from different perspectives and were privy to much of the information flow. However, I am in complete agreement with Jon in that it could have been better handled by both US and Dominican authorities. But, you can't argue with the results: she's safe and the bad guys are in jail.
News coverage was squelched by investigating authorities as they simply did not want the criminals involved to know what was going on. This is entirely normal especially in the early stages of a kidnapping case and was not an attempt to keep the area from recieving "a black eye" to it's reputation. I know that as fact. Both Jon and I were involved from the beginning in this situation from different perspectives and were privy to much of the information flow. However, I am in complete agreement with Jon in that it could have been better handled by both US and Dominican authorities. But, you can't argue with the results: she's safe and the bad guys are in jail.
They found this lady in like three days - man, no apologies necessary from any authorities as far as I'm concerned. Heck, they need to write a book and start to train teams to send to the US, Mexico, Colombia, Iraq, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Phillipines, etc. to show them how it's done.
Absolutely. I'd say it's hats off to all involved. And it was reported in a number of the nationals, El Nacional, El Caribe, Listin etc albeit very minimal detail. The recovery has also been reported in a number of the papers but no kudos given to 'Peiter' who apparently found Mrs. Rash. So......... kudos to that man!
Found by a Civilian
It's a miracle that the Dominican super cops didn't arrest him...aranoid:
Janin
It's a miracle that the Dominican super cops didn't arrest him...
aranoid:Janin
Peter was working with the police. He's worked with them on other cases in the past. He's lived in Las Galeras for over 15 years.
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