Odd defense worries fraud case suspect
The Tampa Tribune, August 16, 1998
By Michael Fechter
TAMPA - A man accused of bilking elderly investors is afraid his co-defendant's unusual defense may hurt him.
While one defendant is free on bail and preparing his defense against charges he bilked 11 elderly investors in a scam, the other remains in jail two months after his arrest.
Patrick Henry Talbert refuses to recognize the court's jurisdiction because of its gold-fringed flag. And even if he acknowledged the court's authority, Talbert claims he enjoys diplomatic immunity.
A minister with Greater Ministries International, Talbert has filed court papers claiming to be an ambassador from the Kingdom of Heaven.
``Let my people go, sayeth the Lord thy God,'' he writes in oversize bold type at the bottom of his court filings.
The attorney for co-defendant Norman Lower has asked that the two be tried separately.
Splitting the case is necessary for Lower to get a fair trial, attorney Marcelino Huerta III wrote in a motion dated Wednesday.
Talbert and Lower are accused of cheating 11 investors out of $280,000. One victim is 98, several are in their 80s. All of them are older than 60 years, and some are in poor health.
Investors were promised substantial returns on investments to DTA Trust, known alternately as Down Town Auto and Diversified Telecommunications Agency. Investigators claim the money collected was spent by the defendants and their families.
The case is not related to any activities with Greater Ministries International. That group, based in Sulphur Springs, is under federal investigation for a gift program investigators believe is a Ponzi scheme.
People who give the ministries ``gifts'' in $250 increments expect to receive double the money back within 18 months. Talbert is among ministries leaders who tout the program in meetings throughout the country.
In addition to his claim of diplomatic immunity, Talbert has written that the case against him is ``unintelligible and frivolous'' because of grammatical errors and because it does not refer to his true name, Patrick-Henry: Talbert, Junior.
``Respondent is sorry that the officers of the court are poor in English. There are over 5,000 mistakes in the indictments,'' Talbert wrote.
Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe denied Talbert's motions to be released without bond last month. Talbert also claims the state owes him $1 million for his incarceration.
