On the Brink of Collapse: Bad Roofs, Corruption, and Murder III

UPDATE: Please also check out my new book, The Definitive Dossier of PTSD in Whistleblowers by going to this link where in chapter three this case is explored in further.

Introduction: I will try and do my best to summarize the twists and turns of this very confusing tale here. That said, if you get confused, here is part one and part two of this story. If you read each, you will wind up back here.

On February 27th, Gerard Beloin walked into the Hillsborough County Court House. He was there in regards to a civil dispute that he had with St. Lawrence Church. He walked through the metal detector and then dropped off his computer bag for the same. In his computer bag was a gun which was set off the metal detector and Beloin was arrested on the spot. He was charged with KNOWINGLY bringing a gun to court and also a parole violation. The parole violation stemmed from a previous msidemeanor conviction of tape recording an individual without their knowledge. That conviction stems from the beginning of a long story that is now climaxing.

Beloin is a roofer and has been for more than two decades. In 2002, he was among several roofers that bid on a roofing project in his hometown of Goffstown, New Hampshire. From there, here's what happened.

In preparing for his bid, he examined the roof. He noticed that the roof was not only not up to code, but dangerously close to collapsing. The roof was made of tectum decking. This material is strong when it is first installed however tectum becomes weak when exposed to water.(page 5 number 3 explains the potential dangers) As such, after being exposed to water for many years, the material was now dangerously close to collapse. (note the video is about five minutes but a few minutes in a demonstration is made of what will happen to this material)

Gerard Beloin took his concerns to school board President, Dr. Craig Hieber. Hieber began to speak behind the scenes with other members of the school board about what should be done. Then, only months after Beloin brought his concerns to Dr. Hieber, Dr. Hieber died. (or very likely he was killed since his death was consistent with ARDS, which can happen when someone is gassed...later Beloin tapes an indivdual associated with the conspiracy claiming that bombing is S.O.P.)

After Hieber's death, Beloin began to secretly record local politicians and other power brokers in and near Goffstown. The tapes included admissions of arson, extortion, and kickbacks. Beloin published these recordings, along with a detailed and updated, account of his battle on the net and then took the recordings to New Hampshire's attorney general, Kelly A. Ayotte. The individual that Beloin identified as being the center of the corruption surrounding this roofing scandal was Kerry Steckowych. Steckowych was not only the County's Prosecutor but took over as head of the Goffstown School Board after Dr. Hieber died. The AG's office had its chief investigator, Michael Bahan, investigate the claim. Here's how "seriously" Bahan treated the investigation.

Steckowych is a close personal friend of mine. If Steckowych is involved, there is no crime.

After the "investigation" into Steckowych and others on tapes that Beloin handed to the office, the AG's office turned around and began investigating Beloin himself. The charges related to legalese in which people are recorded without their permission. Beloin insists that he was at all times innocent because each and every recording that he shared, both on the net and with authorities, were recordings in which either criminality was discussed or criminal wrongdoing was actually being done. For instance, local real estate mogul, John Janigan (and Beloin's landlord for his business) is heard on this recording alluding to bombs blowing up. (that of course is how it is alleged that Dr. Hieber died)

Beyond being charged on multiple times on charges related to illegally recording others, on two occasions Gerard Beloin was accused of felonies involving a firearm. The first occurred on March 20th 2006. In this incident, Beloin allegedly threatened two Peterborough Police department officers in a public parking lot when they asked him why he was carrying a firearm. In the second incident, on April 20th, 2006, Beloin allegedly threatened Goffstown officials including the afforementioned AG, Kelly Ayotte. Both these charges were eventually dropped when Beloin revealed that he was recording each of the incidents.

On November 14th, 2008, Beloin was convicted of one misdeamenor of recording"an agent for the State of NH, without his knowledge or consent". The recording in question was a threat made on Beloin's life. The Judge, James Barry, refused to allow the recordings to be played in court and so the jury never knew what it was that Beloin was recording. In fact, it's even worse than that. Initially, when this case came in front of the same Judge Barry, Barry dismissed the case with prejudice. The Judge then let the D.A.'s office refile the case and then refused to acknowledge that he had already dismissed the case with prejudice. Beloin wound up serving a day in jail. As part of his probation he was also not allowed to carry a firearm.

In all , Beloin was forced to file over 300 motions, letters and pleading, He was also forced to prepare for nearly a dozen trials , attend dozens of hearings, and he was forced, mostly, to represent himself for he would have run out of money if he had an attorney all the while. No less than seven judges: Justice Paul H. Lawrence, - 2005 Special Justice Michael J. Ryan - 2005, Justice Martha A. Crocker - 2005, Justice Philip P. Mangones-2005, Justice James Barry Jr.- 2005 -2006 - 2007 - 2008, Justice Kathleen A. McGuire - 2007 - 2008,
Justice James D. O'Neill, III - 2008, and Justice Walter L. Murphy - 2007 refused to hear Beloin's recordings during court proceedings. No one but Beloin has ever been charged with anything in relation to any of this and nothing has been done to address Beloin's initial concern that Goffstown's High School's roof are unsafe and on the verge of imploding. (Beloin's daughter is a student there)

That brings us back to the beginning of the piece though nearly six years into the ordeal for Beloin. Beloin was put in jail on charges of illegally knowingly bringing a firearm to court. He wasn't initally charged with a violation of his probation which the D.A. could have done as well. His bail the next day was set at $75,000 CASH. Then, for the next four days, multiple officials asked Beloin if he was "suicidal". In all, he was asked four times if he was suicidal, and emphatically responded that he wasn't each and everytime. Meanwhile, on March 18th, Beloin was offered a plea bargain in which he would immediately be set free if he plead guilty to a felony of knowingly bringing a firearm to court. Beloin continued to file motions from jail. On April 8th, he filed a second motion to dismiss his gun charge with the state's Supreme Court. On April 15th, he faced Judge Smukler in a bail reduction hearing. Smukler not only didn't reduce his bail but revoked it entirely and referred to Beloin as " a threat to society". To put that into perspective, Beloin's bail was now higher than what future convicted cop killer Michael "Stix" Addison initially received after he was charged with murder. Addison received a bail of $2 million. Julie Corey, who was recently charged with murder and kidnapping, also received a $2 million bail.

Beloin filed his second motion to dismiss in April. Following this, in which Beloin pointed out that seven judges in Hillsborough County North refused to even hear his recordings during court proceedings, Chief Justice Robert Lynn recused all judges from Hillsborough County North. He moved the case into the Southern District of Hillsborough County. There, Judge Groff heard the case on June 22nd. Groff set the bail to ZERO and Beloin was prepared to leave jail almost four months after being put into jail. Instead, the D.A. immediately refiled the charge of violating his probation. (having a firearm was a violation in and of itself) Groff set the bail for this charge at $50,000 cash or bond. Beloin's family finally raised the money and on July 21, 2009 he was finally released from jail.

Beloin now faces up to 7 years in prison. He has a hearing on September 11th and his trial is set for the end of September. The most shocking part of this ordeal is that no media, local or national, has taken up this story. Beloin has been forced to act as his own journalist by setting up this site. Beyond that, he has acted as his own attorney for more than four years. None of this he makes any money, and so that's on top of earning a living as a roofer. If no media, besides this blog that is, has picked up the story, it's not from lack of trying. Beloin took the story to every local newspaper and television station. All refused to do a story about it. He even took the story to Boston area radio personality Howie Carr. Carr sent all the materials, recordings and otherwise, back and refused to do the story as well.

That's no small point. The main reason for the first amendment is to keep an eye on the powerful. Such a travesty of justice would never happen if the media had insisted on reporting this corruption. Instead, a whistle blower faces jail time. Beloin insists that he didn't know the gun was in his bag. In fact, he believes that the gun was planted. He points to the two prior firearm charges that were filed falsely as evidence of a pattern of deceipt on the part of the officials in Hillsborough County. He believes that his case will be won in the court of public opinion and hopes that the old adage is true "sunshine is the greatest disinfectant".