← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · madrussian
Thread ID: 20664 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2005-10-16
2005-10-16 00:58 | User Profile
Jamar, Jamaine, Jamal... wtf is with the niggers' names? Append various endings to Jam and voila.
[url]http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/12910499.htm?source=yahoodist&content=sjm_news[/url]
MISTAKEN IDENTITY: BROTHER PLEADS GUILTY TO BURGLARY, THEFT CHARGES
By Sean Webby
Mercury News
The Barnes boys looked so much alike as kids growing up in East Palo Alto that Jamar would often get busted for things Jamaine had done, their mother said Friday.
This week it may have happened again. But the stakes in this case are much higher than an elementary school pencil-and-candy heist and a whipping by their mother.
The 23-year-old identical twins' physical similarity may have accounted for a bizarre case of mistaken identity in which somebody used Jamar's name to scam the Palo Alto Red Cross out of $1,265 and a hotel room by posing as a Hurricane Katrina evacuee.
Jamaine Barnes pleaded guilty Friday to burglary and grand theft charges in Santa Clara County Superior Court and has agreed to serve 16 months in prison for bilking the Red Cross out of $965 and a hotel room, court officials said. Jamar Barnes, meanwhile, is trying to clear his name after police mistakenly put out a warrant that accused him of a similar scam.
Police, who are still investigating a half dozen similar cases, put a hold on the warrant Friday and told Jamar Barnes he was exonerated.
The department absolutely regrets that his name was mentioned in this incident at all,'' Palo Alto police Agent Dan Ryan said.And we are making all efforts to have the warrant recalled and clear his name.''
But Jamar, who said Alameda sheriff's deputies were searching for him early that morning, was not much mollified.
``It's beyond embarrassing,'' said Jamar, who is one minute younger than Jamaine and said he does not have a rap sheet of drug convictions like his brother.
It's not back to normal for me,'' said Jamar, who sports a golden Playboy bunny on his front tooth; Jamaine's gold teeth spell out the wordTwin.''
I'm glad I'm clear,'' Jamar told the Mercury News.But they hurt my character and they embarrassed the hell out of me. I don't want to go back to work to face how people look at me. They ruined me. They just killed my whole life.''
He said several people had come up to him in the last two days, asking him about the scam. One called him `Katrina Frauder.' ''
Jamar, who said he donated money for a Katrina victim who was a fellow parishioner at his church, said he wouldn't even know where the Red Cross was in Palo Alto.
``I thought the Red Cross was for insurance or something,'' Barnes said.
Palo Alto police said they used three pieces of evidence to finger Jamar.
His name was given on an application for assistance to the Red Cross.
Someone identified Jamar's photo as one of the bogus applicants, although the two Barnes brothers are the same height, within 10 pounds of each other and are virtually identical-looking.
And a fingerprint expert reportedly told the police that Jamar Barnes' fingerprints were on a Red Cross application.
But Ryan said that the fingerprint confirmation was wrong due to a ``miscommunication between a detective and a fingerprint expert.''
Ryan declined to say if police were now investigating whether Jamaine used his brother's identity to pull the same scam twice. If that were the case, Jamaine could face more charges, Ryan said.
Sitting at her home in Fremont, the Barneses' mother said that she, too, was furious with the police at the apparent mix-up.
``They got one of my sons, they will not get both of them,'' said Charlotte Sylva, who works at a commissary at Moffett Field in Mountain View.
Sylva said her two sons may look alike but they've lived very different lives.
Jamaine was the tough one, the one who wanted money the fast and easy way, his mother said. He had been convicted of selling drugs, according to his sentencing document, and was enrolled in a San Mateo drug diversion program when Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
Jamar, close to his mother, was the sensitive one, the responsible one, she said.
He works as an assistant division manager for Encore Management in Pleasanton. His brother worked for him as an account executive.
They were friends, Jamar said. And he wasn't too interested in helping police find out if Jamaine used his identity to double-dip into Red Cross Katrina funds.
It is still a mystery to Jamar and his family if Jamaine used his brother's name.
``Regardless of what my brother did, I will never, ever turn my back on him,'' Jamar said.
Jamaine's girlfriend, Jael Horton, 21, said Friday he had good intentions: helping her and their 2-year-old son who were real Katrina evacuees.
Horton said that she moved to New Orleans in January. Jamaine had planned to go to New Orleans with them, but was arrested and sent to the San Mateo drug program instead, she said.
Horton said she had legitimately received aid money from the Red Cross in Palo Alto. When asked why Jamaine went there she said: ``He wanted to help me and his child.''
2005-10-16 04:44 | User Profile
there was a black comedian awhile back with a funny as hell skit about how "original" black names always sounded like headache meds... darvon, tylenol...
2005-10-16 04:58 | User Profile
You didn't post for 2 years, what's up?
2005-10-16 05:05 | User Profile
been busy. there's a war, ya know.
i work with the military...
decided i had time to say things, and things to say.
seen yer handle a few places, i might add.