Corruption at Cameron Park~A Pictorial Essay of the 2012 Election, Now the Subject of Indictments

The van pictured above,  allegedly rented by Carlos Masso was observed delivering loads of the elderly to the Cameron Park polling place during the 2012 primary runoff.  Nena and I were poised to document the incidents through pictures, but we'd been seen. While we were there, just outside the gates of the Cameron Park Community Center, the van would simply be driven past, without stopping.  After we left, we got a call from Zeke Silva stating that, as soon as we left the area, deliveries of the elderly started up again.  

So, we drove back to Cameron Park, preparing to take pictures.  Within 5 minutes or so, a Cameron County Sheriff's deputy, followed by Election Administrator Roger Ortiz were on the scene.  The deputy went inside the polling place.  Ortiz approached us.

"Pictures are not allowed within the designated polling place," Ortiz explained.  

I told Ortiz that Nena's camera was in the truck, that, we were taking pictures outside the polling area, not inside.   Ortiz said he could have us arrested for loitering.(Later, the F.B.I. asked if we wanted to file a civil rights violation against Ortiz, stating that he had no right to threaten us with a loitering charge.)

Three political camps were obviously working together with tents just beyond the fence of the community center:  Abelardo Gomez, Carlos Masso and Erin H. Garcia.

In the picture above, Election Judge Arcellia Villolon steps outside the polling place during polling hours to confer with Candidate for Constable Abelardo Gomez and Junior Andrade.  Was she talking about coordinating the busloads of elderly?  Was she talking about our presence?  As soon as she noticed Nena snapping a picture from across the street with a zoom lens, she ran back inside.

Later, we received this message:

"The guy next to Abelardo(Gomez) talking to the lady(Election Judge) is Junior Andrade his compadre. The Andrades are scum that brag about having poiticians in their pockets. They run several arcade estsablishments and bankrolled Gomez for protection of their arcade businesses. Luis Saenz should close all the arcades,...the Andrades gave alot of money to Carlos Masso also. They are people that do not know what an honest living is."

I walked around to the snap this picture of longtime politiqueras Margarita Ozuna and Herminia Becerra at the Abelardo Gomez tent.  While they posed for this picture, Ozuna tried to pick a quarrel with Nena later. Herminia, though, was very open about her role:  "No one get elected unless I say so," she told us.

The grainy picture on the left was taken by someone with their cell phone.  They allege that it shows Carlos Masso paying the drivers of the vans of elderly taken to Cameron Park.