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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Can a US Senator help Rebecca Roth?

The following letter has been sent to Oregon State's US Senator Jeff Merkley today. It will be interesting to see if I receive the same standard, cookie cutter reply as a concerned Oregonian, Deb Baller, did recently.

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This is a personal letter for Senator Jeff Merkley. Any Constituent Service Representative that receives this is instructed to ensure that he personally receives it.

Sen. Merkley,

I would like to address some issues contained in a response from your Constituent Service Representative Whitney Walter to Debbie Baller regarding Oregon citizen Rebecca Roth, locked up in a Mexican prison. Ms. Walter was gracious enough to reply to Ms. Baller's recent request for information regarding your actions on behalf of Ms Roth.

I will not go into great details about the case in this letter as it has already been brought to your attention and you have been represented as having been made aware of the facts. If this is not the case, I would be happy to provide details.

As the ex-husband of Rebecca Roth (still a close friend) and the father of her two sons, I would like to see you take a proactive interest in this issue, because the response to Ms Baller contained inaccuracies, as well as some smoke and mirrors from the State Department/Consulate.

I know you have important things on your plate in your new position as Senator, but what is more important than looking out for the best interests of one of your constituents?

The State Department, through the Consulate, has not done a very good job of staying in contact with Rebecca Roth and an even worse job of looking out for her welfare.

Most recently, she was taken to the infirmary with blue fingernails, gasping for breath, as there are far too many people in the same cell that she is assigned. The room was literally filled with carbon dioxide.

From the onset of this debacle, the Consulate has been infrequent in their visits, unreliable in providing basic services and meeting commitments that they have made. Quite frankly, they have proven more part of the problem than being part of the solution. It has been very frustrating and has been detrimental to the efforts of Rebecca Roth's case. Consulate officials are moved around on a regular basis and so there is not consistency in providing services or following up on commitments.

A standard line from the consulate has been that they cannot discuss the case or their actions due to privacy issues. There exists a form for Rebecca to sign that will allow communication with others, but the consulate has yet to produce the form at every turn. It is not right. They are failing to provide the services that they are paid to do and it is at the expense of a US citizen.

If you knew all of the details of the case (or lack of a case), I am certain you would be appalled. In the past, we have seen Senators do extraordinary things to help US citizens and I am hoping you will make this an occasion to rise above and help Rebecca Roth. The evidence against her is non existent, the case has been tagged as difficult and judges have followed the lead of prosecutors, etc. Our own FBI, in their investigation of the criminal mastermind of the TriWest Investment scam, had no interest in even interviewing Rebecca Roth, yet the Mexicans have railroaded her and tagged her as one of the key individuals.

In her appeal, the eleventh hour denial came moments prior to the deadline and appeared to be a review of the sentencing document rather than any review of the case itself. The judge acknowledged putting it to the bottom of the pile because he had been told of its complexity. A tragic miscarriage of justice that would not be tolerated in the US.

While you can not do anything about her case, Senator Merkley, you can bring this to the attention of Sec of State Clinton or someone close to that level in State. This is vital. I can not believe that if someone capable of making a difference knew what was going on, the US would remain so ineffective in protecting one of our own.

Canada did much more to help a fellow employee of TriWest that was convicted in the same miscarriage of justice.

Please take the time to look into this. The privacy form for you to discuss this with me can be signed by Rebecca and the family has an avenue to expedite it quickly.

Should you have any questions, I can be reached at 206-354-8347. Should you choose, you can catch up on the case at my blog for Rebecca at
http://rebeccarothprisonerinparadise.blogspot.com/

Respectfully,

David Dickinson
Seattle, WA