Love, Lies, and Murder (14 page)

During the early part of July 2000, fearing that he would lose his children for good, Perry March announced that he had left his business, Chavez and March, Ltd., “by mutual agreement,” so that he could dedicate more time and energy to finding a solution that would bring his children back to him.

“Sam and I have numerous projects, and things are cool between us,” Perry said of his departure from the partnership. “I have to devote my full time and attention to getting my children back.”

Chavez wished Perry March well, and told him that he hoped he was successful in regaining custody of his children. Chavez released a written statement to the
Guadalajara Reporter
in which he stated that he and Perry still had a few real estate projects that they were working on together.

In addition to finding a solution to get his children returned to him, Perry had other problems, among them a community that was quickly turning against him and labeling him as a swindler and a con artist. It was little wonder.

One of the more outspoken local residents, Esther Solano, a political activist and Mexican citizen, had come out strongly several months earlier against Perry March and C&M Development and the other enterprises he was running with Chavez. Solano, along with U.S. citizen and ex-pat Joel Rasmussen, had taken it upon themselves to expose marauders, like Perry March, who had made it their business to prey on the expatriate community of Ajijic and the Lake Chapala area. Perry March and C&M Development weren’t the only businesses that they had identified to focus on, but C&M and Perry March appeared to be getting the lion’s share of the complaints. Some said that it was not only because he needed additional time to deal with the issue of his children, but also because things had gotten too hot to handle, that Perry had opted to leave most of his business ventures, which he had helped to create.

There were others in the community who assisted Solano and Rasmussen in their efforts, and together they collected documentation and built files, often sending copies of their information and testimonials to both Mexican and U.S. agencies with letters demanding that the various officials take action against the offenders that were ripping off the community. Solano went so far as to write letters to two successive Mexican presidents, demanding that they take action to protect the citizens from con artists and schemers, like Perry March. Some of the citizens began referring to Perry as a sociopath, and they advocated that Mexican officials should deport him.

Perry’s father, Arthur, remained unflappable and lived in denial that any of the allegations being made against his son could be true. Instead, Arthur began telling his friends and anyone who would listen to him that Perry’s problems were all being caused by his in-laws, the Levines. But word of mouth against Perry in Ajijic was strong, and so were the posts that citizens were putting on the Internet. At one point posters of Perry March began appearing all over the community, and were tacked on telephone poles.

The posters in question had been made up like a typical “Wanted Poster,” but the ones being distributed were called “Un-Wanted” posters and depicted a grainy photo of Perry March at the top. In the photo that was being used, Perry sported a goatee and a mustache, and still had plenty of hair on top of his head. The verbiage that was used in the anonymous poster was brutal:

“How to Sexually Harass on the Jobsite, Steal from the Company You Work For, Defraud Your Clients, Kill Your Spouse and Hide the Body, Escape to Another Country, Pay Off Officials to Protect You, Marry Another Man’s Wife and Take His Children (uses them as his shields), Open Several Scam Businesses, Rob the Elderly, Accuse and Threaten Those Who Attempt to Expose You, Live in a Large House with Swimming Pool without Paying Rent, Run Up Large Phone Bills and Don’t Pay Them Either, Enjoy the Services of Maids and Gardeners, Gain Fame and Notoriety, Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More and. . . . Get Away With It All.

“Read the true story of this confirmed sociopath and his vile exploits. It’s all there on the Internet and more. Check out these U.S. News services:
www.tennesseean.com
&
www.nashvillescene.com
. Soon to be a book. Perry “El Perrito” March and his team of con men are trying to transform this Mexican resort town, he’s threatened to kill people, pays off the local authorities, perpetrates investment and land fraud, takes money from retirees, and has been disbarred as a lawyer in the U.S. His pistol packing windbag cohort father and he call themselves doctors (doctors of chaos and sham for sure), and the outrage continues to this day. Do you ‘know’ them? If either has wronged you or approached you with a money scam please inform the FBI.”

Of course none of the allegations in the anonymous “Un-Wanted” poster had been proven, but they nonetheless infuriated Perry and his father and were quite an embarrassment to Perry and his family in such a small community, where nearly everyone knows each other. But because no one knew who was responsible for tacking these posters up all over town, there was little that Perry could do except rip them down whenever he ran across one. And if anyone did know who was putting up the posters, it wasn’t likely that they would give up the information.

Perry certainly made enemies wherever he went, and Mexico had not been an exception. Many of those who accused him of wrongdoing and running scams remained on the sidelines, silent, while others fought their battles in the name of seeing justice done. One person who came forward, however, had had enough and decided to take legal action against him for allegedly defrauding her out of more than $200,000. Gayle Cancienne, a woman in her mid-fifties, hired a legal adviser, Henri Loridans, to help her in her civil complaint against Perry.

When Gayle had first moved to Ajijic, life was great for her. During her first few years there, she would awake whenever she wanted, stroll along the narrow streets and stop at one of the several sidewalk cafés when the mood struck, and partake in one of her favorite pastimes—playing bridge—with several of the new friends that she had made. She was happy and contented—until she met Perry March. After that fateful day, however, her world was turned upside down.

According to information that Loridans provided to the news media, Perry was involved in the sales of Gayle’s properties in the United States. He had set up corporations, holding companies, in Delaware, and in the country of Belize, to manage the properties she had owned, two of which were in New Orleans, her hometown, and the other in Kansas City, Missouri.

Initially, Gayle had expressed an interest in selling her properties and then depositing the proceeds into a Mexican bank, and would use the interest earned to pay her day-to-day living expenses. Several expatriates had made similar decisions and were living quite well as a result. However, enter Perry March, and Gayle’s plans took a sudden departure along a different route—right into Perry’s bank account.

Gayle had retained Perry’s services by paying him an initial $15,000, and later paid him an additional $5,000 before she became aware that something very wrong had occurred.

He had apparently explained to her that the corporations could act as tax shelters to save money for her and would supposedly at the same time boost the value of her assets. Gayle charged that Perry, through his schemes, had allegedly attempted to pilfer the proceeds from the sales of her real estate holdings by assuming control of the corporations without informing her of his actions.

“Actually, he had opened the corporation for himself,” Gayle said. “It’s his corporation, not mine.”

Apparently, Perry March had inserted himself as president of the corporation, and had named his father, Arthur March, as the sole shareholder of the Delaware corporation. On Perry’s advice, Gayle signed documents that transferred her property to the Delaware corporation with the understanding that
she
would be the president and sole shareholder, not Perry and his dad.

Gayle later learned that Perry had sold one of her properties, a duplex, in New Orleans, but had failed to inform her of the sale.

“He sold it for one hundred eighty-one thousand dollars,” she said, “because he wanted a quick sale.” She said that the new owner sold the property a short time later for $252,000. Gayle claimed that she was never paid any of the proceeds.

“I’m pretty naive when it comes to business,” she said. “I lived on the income of the rentals on the house. So, he took everything I had.”

Although Gayle had filed a civil suit in a Mexican court, Loridans didn’t believe that she would ever regain any of the money that she was claiming to have lost because of Perry’s alleged actions.

“We feel certain that Perry’s assets are protected or hidden . . . ,” Loridans said.

After Perry’s business dealings with Gayle had concluded, Gayle found that she was nearly flat broke. She had to go back to work, but was unable to make more than $2 per hour in Mexico. She held one full-time job and three part-time jobs, often working eighty hours a week or more.

“I’m getting too old for this kind of crap,” Gayle said. “It’s been horrible. I had to eat, for a long time, tortillas, beans, cactus, and eggs. Eggs are cheap.”

Gayle Cancienne was forced to move out of the house she had purchased in Ajijic because she was unable to afford the expense of keeping it up, nor could she any longer afford to pay her utility bills. She moved into an inexpensive apartment located outside of town where she no longer had the basic conveniences of a telephone, computer, or a television, because she could not afford them. She also had to do without a washer and dryer in her new home.

“Who would expect this?” she asked. “Who would expect to be destitute? I don’t see much hope for me in getting any money back. . . .”

According to Joel Rasmussen, many of the people allegedly victimized by Perry March had either been unable to gather sufficient evidence to bring forth charges against Perry and/or his partner, Chavez, and others had simply moved away. Many of the cases had proven very difficult to document, which had proven beneficial to Perry’s freedom and well-being.

“They were careful not to leave incriminating paper trails,” Rasmussen said. “Perry would hold on to the original paperwork, saying he needed it to make copies. Clients who tried to collect their documents and files often got nothing more than a brush-off. . . . It’s inconceivable that so many people with no other common connection would cook up a conspiracy of this magnitude.”

According to Esther Solano, many other people were afraid to come forward with details of their dealings with Perry March because, she claimed, they had been intimidated and embarrassed, or had been concerned that they might get into trouble for income tax evasion—better to let sleeping dogs lie, they believed.

“Some people knew that the way Perry March handled their investments was not legally aboveboard,” Solano said.

Solano said that at one point someone had placed a dead cat on her doorstep. Although she didn’t name anyone specifically as the culprit who may have placed it there, she believed, nonetheless, it had been done by someone as an unspoken threat to intimidate her into backing off from the crusade that she had been waging to expose Perry March’s business dealings.

Although Perry and his father had been claiming that Rasmussen and Solano had been acting as instruments being manipulated by Larry and Carolyn Levine, the charges were without merit. Both Rasmussen and Solano denied the claims, and insisted that their motivation was simply to try and protect their community from parasites—like Perry March.

At one point a mysterious fire broke out at the C&M offices in which important records were supposedly lost or destroyed, and a short time later the Mexican insurance company that had taken care of their insurance needs stopped doing business with Perry March and Samuel Chavez.

At another point, prior to Perry leaving the C&M businesses, a Baptist preacher, Don Hauser, had jumped on the crusader bandwagon and had reportedly frightened off an important potential investor. Because of all the negative talk circulating throughout the community, several other potential investors had already backed away. But the investor discouraged by the Baptist preacher had been a big fish and would have been a substantial catch. As a result of the loss of the investor, Chavez filed a slander and defamation lawsuit against Hauser, who reportedly had responded with a countersuit. Hauser also reportedly had put out the word that he was seeking any clients unhappy over their business dealings with Samuel Chavez and/or Perry March, but his effort ended when he left Mexico.

In response to many of the accusations that had been leveled at C&M, Chavez published scathing remarks in a local weekly newspaper in which he referred to the expatriate community as “arrogant, misinformed, Alzheimered gringos.” He also referred to them as “one foot in the gravers” and “gossipmongers,” and ultimately laid blame to those who were complaining for the failure of C&M’s businesses, particularly the PriMedical projects.

A short time later, Chavez became the apparent target of a drive-by shooting as he was taking his children to school one morning. Fortunately, no one was injured in the shooting. No one was ever identified, either, as the shooter.

Also, the headline coverage of the Levines’ whisking their grandchildren out of Mexico didn’t help matters for Perry March and C&M, Ltd. The fact that Perry had told a reporter that corrupt Mexican government officials had actively participated in assisting the Levines didn’t improve matters, either. Perry’s accusation prompted a public response from an official who said that Perry’s statement could net him charges of criminal defamation. Nothing ever came of it, however, until weeks later when the government official who had made the public statement was replaced. It seemed that Perry had come away unscathed, again. Nonetheless, the locals, including the expatriate community, were relentless in their efforts to get Perry ousted from Mexico.