THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290548
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOSEPH P. COSCO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
A federal indictment in Norfolk has caused a major flap in Mexico, with a retired U.S. Navy captain sitting in a Guadalajara jail, an expatriate community up in arms and an American consul under siege.
It began in May when a federal grand jury indicted Dennis S. Strole, two fellow executives and their company. They were accused of billing the Navy tens of thousands of dollars for unauthorized travel and labor expenses.
When Strole did not appear for arraignment June 1, a magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest. Mexican national police picked him up July 16 and he has been in jail ever since.
Strole, who is considered the unofficial mayor of a lakeside American colony some 30 miles north of Guadalajara, claims he was never notified of the fraud charges against him.
His fellow Americans living around Lake Chapala believe him. They have rallied around Strole, circulating letters to American congressmen, Attorney General Janet Reno and the prosecutor handling the case.
One form letter reads: ``I'm contacting you about a ghastly injustice that the U.S. Justice Department is inflicting on a U.S. Navy captain who retired after 30 years of unblemished and heroic service. He is one of the most popular persons in this retirement community of more than 5,000 U.S. citizens.
``This Naval hero, Capt. Dennis S. Strole, Ret., is presently in a filthy, urine and vomit splattered Guadalajara jail cell the size of a walk-in closet with six other prisoners.''
Sydelle Schwartz, who lives in the same village as Strole, said the retired captain has been getting Navy pension checks since he moved to Mexico in 1991. ``So it's not like they would have a problem finding out where he lives,'' Schwartz said in a recent telephone interview.
``Even a murderer gets notified of the charges. I can tell you thereare some people here who are very angry. You know, we're all Americans down here, and this frightens us. It could happen to us. You cannot imagine what a Mexican jail is like.''
The angry Americans lay much of the blame on the American consul in Guadalajara, John J. Jurecky, for not doing enough to help Strole.
Jurecky told an English-language newspaper in Guadalajara that he learned of Strole's arrest three hours after it happened. But the editor of The Colony Reporter newspaper said Jurecky was instrumental in getting Strole quickly moved to a cell with another American prisoner.
The consul was to meet with the American retirees to hear their concerns.
Strole, 58, who is president of the 1,500-member Lake Chapala Society, may find himself between a rock and a hard place. If he waives extradition and leaves Mexico as a captured fugitive, he may not be able to return to his adopted home, according to his Mexican attorney. If Strole fights extradition, he will remain in Guadalajara's Puente Grande jail for some time.
Strole's attorneys are asking that U.S. authorities lift the extradition request and let him report voluntarily to Norfolk's federal court, but a Justice Department source said that is unlikely.
Strole told The Colony Reporter he was shocked by the turn of events and claimed he was in jail for four hours before being told of the U.S. charges against him.
``I have never received any communications, either by mail, telegram, fax or telephone, about the charges or a request to appear (in court),'' he told the newspaper in a prepared statement.
Court papers indicate that a summons to appear for arraignment was sent by certified mail to a postal box in Ajijic, where he lives. But the summons is marked ``Returned unexecuted: No point of contact in Mexico to effect service.''
The prosecutor in the case and Strole's American attorney could not be reached for comment.
After his retirement from the Navy, Strole worked for Person-System Integration, an Arlington-based firm that had a $14-million contract to provide training and instructional programs and services to the Naval Air Systems Command. Strole was a vice president in the company's Virginia Beach office. He left in 1991 to retire in Mexico.
In May, a grand jury charged that the company overbilled the Navy in a scheme from December 1988 to March 1992. The indictment named the company, Strole, Gary J. Humphries and Daniel L. Milliman in 10 counts of mail fraud and five counts of making false statements.
Humphries, 42, and Milliman, 41, both of Virginia Beach, have pleaded not guilty and are free on bond. The trial is set for Sept. 19.
Defense Criminal Investigative Service agents are still trying to determine how much money was allegedly bilked from the Navy, but believe the loss could be at least $100,000. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color map
Mexico
For copy of map, see microfilm
by CNB