Penelope McClurg
#21528-018
Pembroke Station
Danbury, CT 06811
Dear Concerned Citizen,
I am writing this letter to ask for your help.
I am a young woman of twenty-six with two adorable children who, up until now, was living a very productive and responsible life. I was working hard to support my children single handed.
The reason I am not leading a productive life at the moment is because I was recently ordered to surrender myself to the Danbury Federal Correctional Institute on 26 December 1997 for a prison term of fifteen months.
Of course there is a story behind this which I will briefly explain if you care to read on and help me with my plight.
I was nineteen years old when I met a man named Joseph Balarezo.
I did not know when I met him, and he concealed the fact, that he had a very serious drug problem. I had become pregnant when I learned that this man had a very serious problem. Now that I had a child on the way, I thought that I would be able to help him get over his problem if he wanted, so that we would be able to be a proper family.
As it turned out he pretended to want help and I traveled over the United States with him to get him into good drug programs. He always managed to get himself thrown out about two weeks into the program. I should have, at this point, realized that this was over my head, but I was young, naive and scared to raise a child on my own.
Joseph Balarezo managed to break me down mentally piece by piece and I suffered tremendous mental abuse. I, by now , had a second child on the way and the abuse continued. I had no self confidence left. He was very paranoid and threatened to kill any member of the opposite sex if I so much as breathed a word. He also continually threatened physical harm to my parents.
Joseph Balarezo is also a very good con-artist. In fact, I have seen no better, not even in the movies.
He had an expensive drug habit to support. He also had many different aliases he went by so it was not unusual to me to hear him now calling himself Phillip Spears, which is the reason I am in jail today.
I was living in Ft Meyers, Florida when I packed up myself and my children and left Joseph Balarezo and moved to Clearwater, Florida with my parents.
Joseph was working for a car dealership in Ft Meyers, when he met a man named Phillip Spears. He spent the day with this man who wanted to buy a car. The man told him that his wife had recently caused a tragic accident, in which she and two of his children were killed.
Joseph worked for this car dealership for about two months, and when he left he took this man Phillip Spears' credit information.
He then moved to Clearwater Florida and appeared on my parents doorstep, begging me to take him back, what a fool he had been and how he would change and do anything to fix things and that he wanted to be a real father to his children. I very stupidly took him back and we found an apartment and shortly after, a house to rent.
It was during this time that he told me he was changing his name to Phillip Spears. This did not strike me as too unusual, as he frequently had used other names.
However he started to obtain credit cards, money, jet skis and even a sports car.
He was also engaging in affairs with two other women that I knew of. I wanted to leave again and this time he threatened to kill me.
One night he was pulled over by the police for disturbing the peace with his friends, where it was discovered upon a search that he had several ID's, lots of credit cards and also drugs.
The case was turned over to the US Postal Inspector and the Federal Government.
As this case unfolded, it turned out that I was seen with him at some of the places he had used these credit cards. I was seen with him because I was his only means of transportation before he got himself a car.
The US Postal Inspector and Federal prosecutor contacted me and told me that if I co-operated with them and testified in front of a Grand Jury, so that they could obtain an indictment on Joseph Balarezo, they would not charge me with conspiracy to commit credit card fraud.
I did testify for them, and they got their indictment. Then the Marshall could not find him to arrest him and I again assisted the Government in locating him and he was duly arrested.
Now, after all the help I had given the Government, they did not keep their agreement with me and charged me with conspiracy to commit credit card fraud.
Joseph had successfully convinced the federal prosecutor that I had made him do it and that I was the mastermind behind the whole scheme.
I pleaded not guilty and went to trial. The prosecutor's star witness was Joseph Balarezo. His perjured testimony convinced the Jury to find me guilty of conspiracy.
I received a fifteen month sentence and had to make restitution of $58,000.00.
The really ironic part is that Joseph was in prison for six months with a restitution of 40,000.00
I feel that justice was not rendered in this case. It is just heartbreaking, I have been separated from my children and my life. Two years prior to now I had completely severed the ties with Joseph Balarezo. From being an emotional wreck I had rebuilt my life. I had landed a very good job as an accountant and bought a nice house for my children to grow up in.
Fifteen months is a life time for a four and a five year old child.
Please help me. Demand that real justice be served in my case.
Maybe I deserve to be punished for my relationship with Joseph Balarezo as I failed to see what type of person he was. That was ultimately my responsibility.
However, my children do not deserve to be punished, so please help me for their sake. I am not a threat to the community and certainly, if I must be punished there is no reason why I should not be under house arrest.
There are some really hard core criminals running around out there getting away with rape, murder, assault and drug dealing. I do not feel that I should be locked up when the only people who suffer are my children.
I have appealed the court's decision, but this is a lengthy process which usually takes more than a year.
I am asking if you would write to the court at the address listed below and ask the judge in my case to reconsider his sentence of 15 months to something other than jail time as I am not a threat to the community, so that I may be able to return to my home in Florida so that I can support my family.
Every response that the court receives on this case will put more attention on the injustice that has occurred.
Thank you in advance for your attention and response to my plight.
Please write to:
FLORIDA MIDDLE DISTRICT COURT
Attn.: JUDGE HENRY LEE ADAMS, Jr.
Case #97-127-CRT-2SC
105 US COURT HOUSE
TAMPA, FL 33602
Credits:
My daughter's story
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 00:32:40 -0500
From: Terry McClurg <mcclurgt@gte.net>
Attached is my daughter's story. This is also recorded at:
http://www.mcclurg.com/~mcclurg/letter.htm
Terry McClurg
Clearwater, FL