2005 Ford F-450 Earthroamer, Salvaged, Mexico, Auction

[Jdubucsd]

Oh. Crap. Yea I remember seeing it for sale on ebay and emailed the account selling it just to see what they would say. He said he bought it at a government auction in Mexico and thats his business. Then sells what he buys from the auctions he goes to etc Anyways, I knew it would have some messed up story how they seized it.

 

[workerdrone]

I'm so confused - so the MX Gov't seized this from you for unstated reasons in Feb 2016, but then you state in Nov 2016 that you won the case, and then again in early 2017 that it will be shortly be for rent in Colorado...

It's a crazy sounding story - write the book here please? Curious minds want to know what happened and whether it's foolish to drive anything sexy into MX these days

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Insurance anyone?

 

[pawleyk]

Holy F, I'd really like to hear the entire book's worth..

 

[hankgs]

...I don't think this story will be advertised on Earthromer's Sales Brochure regarding "Travel the World.."
Mexico continues to surprise, what a corrupt and disgusting Police /Military presence- They should be banned from any joint training exercises with the U.S.

 

[onemanarmy]

Yes, this is off topic, but it amazes me that the US so frequently and carelessly does business with such blatant corrupt govts all around the world.

Do billions of dollars worth of trade and then half *** condemn the corruption that our dollars prop up.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[Racingdad]

So sorry to hear about your experience. I assumed something bad happened just from seeing the ebay posting.Nothing as bad has ever happened to me in Mexico, but I have seen and heard enough to always proceed cautiously whenever I am down there. Best of luck in settling this!

Tad

 

[R50JR]

Curious minds want to know what happened and whether it's foolish to drive anything sexy into MX these days

Are you serious? I wouldn’t even drive my passenger car down south. I live about 10 minutes from the border in California and grew up traveling to Mexico very often. Its changed in good and bad ways. I think we should all be content that OPs vehicle was seized by feds and not by someone else.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Plainsmuse]

I have been reticent to write this, precisely due to the size, scope and ongoing legal wrangling's that are transpiring. Perhaps it will be cathartic.


Made efforts to sell the Earthroamer several times, and all fell through. Since we still owned it, as missionaries we left to minister among indigenous and underserved mountainous regions of Mexico and Guatemala in 2015.
After arriving with 1 dime at the border, we crossed into Mexico with $312 given to us by a Hispanic Assembly in Brownsville, Texas, and didn't stop till Saltio.
My wife and I ministered together for a number of missions, and this 5th mission was to be her last. She died in Guatemala in December 2nd, 2015, in their broken down, financially bankrupted by their last president hospital system, after a lengthy fight with an undiagnosed condition resulting after being bitten while camping by something that may have been a brown recluse spider near a CDC Lab. We used a product called Miracle II, that we put on the liquefying bite, and were miraculously surprised to watch it counteract the toxin/poison from the wound, that had eviscerated to the bone. The soap was placed on a wet towel, that I wrapped around the wound and soaked with the soap directly. The area grew skin back, but was indented obviously where the bite transpired. The modern medicine protocol was steroids and antibiotics, with no apparent diagnosis for a swelling condition that would come and go afterwards, and worsen with time. My wife was opposed to cut, burn and poison barbaric "modern" medicine, so I learned alternative therapies, used rare amazon compounds, energy medicine and ultimately had her 12 more years.

 

[Plainsmuse]

Yes, returning alone, I fell among legal thieves in Chiapas. I would have liked to have had insurance, as pointed out, but was intercepted before I could find an agent to purchase for return thru Mexico, and I would have had to fight to prove the unlawful procedures used before they would have paid out on legally badged criminals misdeeds. Perhaps if I would have left the vehicle where it was at a church in Guatemala, and returned via bus...but like most of life, you made a decision and now you are in it. Extrication, that's more important now that I look back. What is the way out/back?

First off, when ADUMA wants $60 for the importation sticker, they wouldn't take pesos. They were forcing me to leave the ADUMA immigration area on the border, to go and exchange pesos for dollars, and to withdraw/borrow/beg resources for the deposit. That was illegal from the get go. Regardless of what transpired afterwards, I shouldn't have been forced to leave the immigration compound with the vehicle. This wasn't at gun point, here. This was by an abusive, obese, woman and her search partners who didn't speak English, but were on the radio to their counterparts up the road at Huixtla
Second, once I was permitted to exit with the vehicle, I was lawfully entered into Mexico without importation, and therefore whatever excuse came, they illegally conspired to create their own theft by quoting obfuscating legal jargon, chutz·pah and bluff that barely anybody of communicative Spanglish wouldn't hope to understand. Even though every other vehicle passing that day from Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico returning could pay pesos, I wasn't permitted. Then, they couldn't explain that the $300 wasn't an actual charge to a credit or debit card, but just your number in the event that some accident transpired and they had it as insurance. I had the one individual that day who spoke virtually no English whatsoever, who basically knew to keep me from passing without paying in dollars, and then wouldn't or couldn't communicate that I didn't need to pay $300, just needed a credit card number to pass. So, the whole affair boils down to better have a trusted friend when traveling this deep into Mexico. This particular day, there weren't even the usual suspects wanting to "expedite" your transit for a few $100 pesos. Yes, I was here with next to nothing, my deceased wife's credit card, and a debit card with cents. I am a man of faith, and I had the pesos, and they worked their deception.

 

[Plainsmuse]

In the future, when any of you are considering traveling this way, recommend taking an expired credit card, a prepaid debit card with only $300, or if you have a charged-off credit card use that, and keep your active debit and credit cards away from them. It was well known in the Credit Card industry that I happened to work for in the resolutions and legal department back in the early 2000 timeframe, that Chiapas sold the credit card numbers on the black market routinely.

All told, I didn't lose my life. Surprised they just put me out, along the Highway 1, but wouldn't return my passport or my title. I was put off by armed personal, oh, and an intimidating drug sniffing German Shepard, and varying threats if I return. I was to spend a month or more in a Catholic shelter for immigrants, with the aid of Beta Groupo. Which brings up a whole list of things...someday.
This leads me to Rommel. Yeah, General Rommel's son, 70ish, and a grey headed gentleman. He had moved away from Germany and was living in Tapachula, Mexico. I hope he is rewarded richly for his efforts. I was on a transport/combi, Nissan van with a lot of passengers, advised of going to some immigration place for reporting my conflict. Although we were conversing some in German, (which I know less of than Spanish) and someone on board was making some sense of my broken Spanish, he took it upon himself to find the offices of this Immigrant helping Beta Groupo. After a long walk, we came to the gate and were told by the guard come back tomorrow. Closed. I guess the day, and the proceeding night of conflict with the goon squad had taken it's toll. I recall sliding down on the wall opposite the gate and coming to rest on the sidewalk hard.
He talked with the guard a while longer, and the agent that would assist me was coming on his shift, and did have passable English. Thus begins the many doors leading to where I am tonight, New Year's Eve.

 

[Plainsmuse]

I returned a day later with Beta Grupo, who recovered my passport and title, and a bag of clothes. Apparently they were aware of the illegality of withholding both, and relented in keeping. Did have an extra set of keys, and a drivers license that wasn't taken, but they weren't letting me anywhere near the vehicle, with varying military and HK/FAL armed guards between the entrance and was ordered to stay in the Beta Groupo's Orange 1500 Chevrolet. These people had serious cash, with air boats, nice interdiction boats, Dodge 2500's, a couple of Jeep 4 Door packages, and serious equipment. No pictures.
In the efforts to pay the $600 fine for being to far from the Free Trade Zone without an importation sticker, they lied to all my interpreters, as even the Beta Grupo Immigration Assistance Officer said I had lost the vehicle. Reported to the local police, who advised there was nothing they could do for me, as it was on Department of SAT property. Beta Groupo Officer refused to give me his case number or the documentation of the event to appear with in court. Even a benefactor was lied to by several ADMUA/ADWANA/Dept of SAT officials who explained to them that I was given three interpreters of great skill, and was lying to them about not having representation. The fact that they were "in cahoots" didn't matter, what was trusted was the locals word, and the gringo had his offer of help reneged. Oh, forgot one detail, "He spit at us." Funny Catholic Nursing group tried to help me out for a day or so, within the 10 days I had to pay the $600 fine, and the interpreter advised me she had said, "I would have, too." I didn't, really, just was shouting at them and not being quiet about their lying, or that the interpreter wasn't truthful.

 

[Plainsmuse]

A UN Lawyer aided me to recover some of my personal affects from the ER in late March, of 2016. It was missing, I estimate, around $30,000 of personal tools, gear and equipment. Of course without receipts, which mind you disappear when they search your vehicle without you, your case against them is their word is last. This was when I saw the house batteries were removed, and the skylight seal hadn't been replaced properly, and water had infiltrated the unit. The eBay listing shows the air conditioner was replaced, as well, and that the air bags were left deflated. The Department of SAT representative worked over another interpreter, who after this return of personal effects, never returned to donate her time at the Catholic Immigrant Center, nor returned any phone calls.
I did have the Apple serial number for my MacBook Air, but it thus far hasn't gotten online, or else they are masking IP while using. The detriment of now having all this gear in an Catholic Immigrant Shelter, is now they evict you, as you are clearly a rich gringo, even though you have no cash, no local bank account to transfer funds, no family or friends willing to risk sending money there for fear it's a scam, or will believe you are who say you are. Many doors closed, so you begin selling for next to nothing your and your recently deceased wife's belongings to eat, and return to Guatemala to obtain a proof of burial document that your wife's life insurance company demands before they will pay out on her claim. Trying not to convolute this story line with too many details, there really was a lot going on.
Got a friend down from Oaxaca who ran interference to return to Guatemala and obtain the document that no one in Guatemala knew what it was, or had ever been requested. State Department had never even heard of an instance when it was needed. Apparently most people who visit from US die elsewhere, or pay the exorbitant $10Grand flight to return your carcass. Yes, I buried my wife in Guatemala. Family wasn't holding out that much dough to ship her home, and I wasn't taking on the debt.

 

[Plainsmuse]

Oh. You have to be buried under 24 hours south of Mexico if you are dead. Putrefaction and fear of disease in the climate. Doesn't leave any mercy for your tradition, or waiting with the body to determine if you swooned or such. Nope. Sad that a lot of families never get to see the deceased one, being too far out in outlaying areas to make the trip in time. Don't want to make the decision for yourself? No problem. They will just bury the body without your consent in a mass hole for the unclaimed and impoverished.
Impossible accomplished, my interpretive Oaxaca friend demanded I just leave my stuff their and return to Oaxaca with him. His family have a sister who has been an attorney in Oaxaca, but are told and accept that their is nothing to be done.
Another young student donating his time at this Catholic Immigration Center talks to his mom, who then offers me an room where I may stay as long as it takes to resolve this case, and store the remainder of my belongings that aren't sold, donated, or stolen. So, I stay for a few weeks, and pay his friend for the use of good old Chevrolet 1500, late 88, to move the dwindling resources restored from the Earthroamer captivity. That is until I see the mom's eye starting to take too admiring a look, and her husband has chosen a younger woman, but she is still married to him. Keep friendship, still agrees to storing stuff, and I chose to leave as another door to stay in a apartment with a man who had been granted political asylum in the US/Columbian. I forget what reason Arizona deported him, but was routinely being beaten first by the Sandinista's in Nicaragua for having been from the United States when he was deported on his Nicaraguan passport, (which a family member provided him, as returning to Columbia was a death sentence; 11 year old soldier on the wrong side of the winners). Then, he had one witness (where's the second) who said they saw him steal a motorcycle and so the Chiapas Police decided to beat a confession out of him. He didn't steal it, was home with his wife, and they wouldn't take her testimony. He didn't confess to it, and so off to prison. He encounters me on the street and offers me a slab of concrete with a piece of cardboard for your bed. I take it.

 

[Plainsmuse]

I got several calls from "concerned" State Department officials from Mexico City stating that my life was in danger while I was in Chiapas, and that I needed to find a way to Mexico City, where they would fly me back to the US. I had fell afoul of the locals and their laws, and they weren't going to intervene, was your introduction to their aid. At some point, whether they were just good intentioned, keeping tabs, or working to aid the locals and their ongoing scam of stealing my Earthroamer, I ran out of minutes for my phone and decided better of having contact with them. Don't get me started on the useless State Department officials, whose modus operandi is to fly you back to the US, take away your passport, and not return it until you repay the flight home. They reported my wife's death to Social Security Admin the same day, but anything in way of help here was like listening to a horror story.

I did hear of a few Zeta's who were apparently sizing up the Catholic Mission, to acquire a kidnapping or ransom victim, though I never saw them. It could of been someone's effort to curry favor, warning me of them, and offering his "protection." Several of the people at the Immigration Shelter were there for having to kill gang members whose collection efforts on their labor were life and death decisions that wouldn't permit them to return to their homeland.

A stranger occurrence was an ex-US Navy sailor, or Hispanic descent with an accent, came to the Immigrant Shelter for at least 4 days. He had in tow a African American or at least half Hispanic/African that was lighter complected, that was very slow and or drugged. The smaller sailor was the boss of this bigger man, and was showing up "coincidentally" to often where I was using the internet, and walking. I would switch up routes, use different patterns and times, and provide no clear pattern while they seemed to be attempting to catch me alone.

I confronted him about some naval maps that were distributed onboard Nuclear and Attack Submarines and had shown the St Lawrence seaway running clear down the Mississippi river valley along the Madrid Fault, and whether or not he had seen them. I apparently flustered him, as I had seen online a representation or 2nd hand account, but he may have assumed that I had been in the Navy. Either way, the next day both were gone. Strange, but wouldn't have put it past a contract hitter, and glad for my temporary suspicion/paranoia.

I still didn't take the State Departments offer to fly me out, and felt that I am going to win then, as I do now.

At some point, you have to decide who you will believe, if anything regarding this case and my limited Spanish Legal skills is believable. At some point you wonder if the whole city is a scam intending to make money on my person.
So, after paying well over $10,000 to $15,000 to varying corrupt officials who promised they would return the vehicle, only to be disappointed and explained away as it being too difficult, but thanks for the dough. I said no mas, and took it to Federal Court.