Category: Herkimer Drugs

Mission Accomplished! – Fire Chief Barton’s Fire Revisited

forensic video analysis of fire 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer NY               The Fire Chief’s Fire – Clip From Forensic Video Analysis

What Did Douglas Barton Know? When Did he know it?

Douglas Barton Herkimer NY
Douglas Barton, Deputy Fire Chief, East Herkimer Volunteer Fire Dept.

With the help of forensic video analysis, we revisited the 1/10/16 garage fire at 333 Pleasant Ave., Herkimer, home to East Herkimer Fire Department Deputy Chief Douglas Barton and his wife Joyce Barton. Why? Because it just didn’t look right.

There seemed to be a tendril of smoke in the lower left of Chief Barton’s garage, just before he and his daughter left in his truck. And the same drifting across his backyard. The Bartons appear to avert their gazes from the garage as they approach it. Judge for yourself–here’s the original clip:

Was this a line of inquiry worth pursing? we asked. We’d forwarded all our videos of the fire to the Herkimer Police and Fire Departments on 1/11/16. But, it is Herkimer’s brazen Bartons. And Joyce Barton is ever in the background of Herkimer happenings. Also, the Herkimer Fire Department inspector seemed to agree with Deputy Fire Chief Barton that the cause was probably a faulty circuit breaker. (In a 1930’s garage, its  electricity coming over an ancient line strung from the house. )

The fire inspector asked for copies of our video clips after he and a Herkimer police officer viewed surveillance footage on our computer. He said he didn’t know the Herkimer Fire Department’s email address. (It’s unpublished, I later learned. As is Herkimer Mayor Anthony Brindisi’s.) I sent the clips over the next day on a flash drive via a police officer, who said he’d drop them off. So much for chain of custody. But then as folks in Herkimer say with a sigh, “It’s Herkimer.”

Herkimer NY spirit of governance

Sensing how Herkimer would be the investigating the fire chief’s fire, we sent the above key clip from The Fire Chief’s Fire series of videos to PerpPics for preliminary analysis. PerpPics is a well-regarded video forensics firm, noted for its skills in surveillance video enhancement and clarification. It often works with law enforcement agencies. Its analyses are fully admissible as evidence.

The surveillance videos you see on our blog are compressed for transmission to our cloud hosting service. The originals are in high definition format, which can be restored to their origiinal quality, further enhanced, enlarged and forensically analyzed.

Below is the crucial frame from the clip, enhanced by PerPics. The surveillance camera is about 200 feet from the Barton’s garage. Barton and his daughter are in their driveway walking toward the garage. Could they reasonably have been expected to miss from about 15 feet what our surveillance camera saw from 200 feet?

333 Plesant Ave. Herkimer Fire - Forensically Enhanced Image“Upscaled resolution to increase detail. Clarified steam and reduced compression artifacts.”  (Forensic video analyst report.)

(Steam = water. Smoke = fire. Which one was present in Barton’s garage?

farewell potential evidence

Mission accomplished!

Deputy Fire Chief Barton HatThe Fire Chief’s Fire – What Next?

The Herkimer Post lacks the resources to complete a full video forensic analysis of the video. But maybe you do? Here’s the forensic analyst’s downloadable report and Enhancement Procedure Summary:

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Neighbors Get Excited by Driveway Cleanout–Beat Me Up

by Linda J. Kaidan

Mean and irrational neighbors at 333 Pleasant Ave harassed me as I enthusiastically sorted my trash and continued my driveway cleanout. There were plenty of them yelling and berating, but time being of the essence, I continued my outdoor trash organization.

Seriously, it seemed to me as if some of these guys were high, drunk, or looking for a fight.

I think I’m about 1/3 of the way through my cleanout and hope to be continuing at the same rate until I’m finished!

No one physically harmed me until someone named Heidi, who was taller,  heavier and much younger, shockingly shoved me to the pavement, bruising my arm, skull, and neck. Believe it or not, this is the first time that  I was injured by someone on my own property, bashing my head on the paved driveway. Make sure to view the video of this. It’s been submitted to the Herkimer police! You’ll be able to see dear Heidi in action.

Souvenir of Heidi

Imp;rint of Heidi's large trollish fingers on my arm where she hurled me to the sidewalk.
Impint of Heidi’s large trollish fingers on my arm where she hurled me to the sidewalk.

333 Pleasant Avenue — Long a Troubled Property

333 {leasant Ave. We're always watching. Used to be home to drug dealear Joyce Barton.. She moved on, tired of our cameras. No drujg traffifcking now, but much consuming. The current tenants like to loudly harass us as they smoke their lives away.
333 Pleasant Ave. We’re always watching. Used to be home to drug dealer Joyce Barton. She moved on, tired of our cameras. No drug trafficking now, but much consuming. The current tenants like to loudly harass us as they smoke their lives away

The Fix Is In–Sweetheart Plea Deal for Coke and Gun Stashing Herkimer County Legislature Chairman Robert Hollum

Stephen Ames Berry

In a sweetheart plea deal, Herkimer County Legislature Chairman Robert Hollum was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest and three years of probation with drug and alcohol conditions. A separate gun charge was “satisfied” by the same plea, according to the news snippet on WKTV. Ilion Village Court Judge Audrey B. Dunning sentenced him on January 24.

Hollum was arrested in May for cocaine possession and pled guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in November. He was arrested on the gun charge in September by state police.

His case was prosecuted by the Oneida County District Attorney’s office. If the intent was to avoid any hint of impropriety, it failed. This is the sort of sweetheart plea bargain for which Herkimer DA Jeffrey Carpenter is notorious.

Why was the court of jurisdiction also not transferred to Oneida County? That would have truly removed any hint of impropriety. Leaving it in the hands of a Herkimer County village court presided over by a part-time judge fuels suspicion that this is being swept under the rug to protect a prominent local politician.

PROOF THE FIX IS IN

I wouldn’t have written about this had WKTV not hidden its first Facebook posting of Hollum’s sentencing. It had over 100 mostly scathing comments when it vanished. Its replacement post is attracting scathing remarks, too. (Follow the link to the original before it disappears.) This all so smacks of Herkimer’s good ole boys protecting each other. 

Hollum’s case has inspired me to look at the Herkimer County Legislature’s other recent shady doings. (Did you hear about the unfrocked judge?)

Stay safe, Herkimer.

A&E’s Neighborhood Wars To Showcase Herkimer Drug Thug Curtis Cool, AKA Curtis Doolen

Herkimer Crime Goes Big Time Agaiin On Neighborhood Wars
Herkimer Crime Goes Big Time Again

Stephen Ames Berry
Linda J. Kaidan

Curtis Doolen aka Curtis Cool
Curtis Doolen aka Curtis Cool

Our partner, Junkin Media, the producer of A&E’s popular Neighborhood Wars, has licensed our videos of our former neighbor, Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Doolen. Cool was the first of a series of abusive neighbors next door at 328 Pleasant Avenue who tried to drive us from our home. 328, allegedly controlled by Herkimer County’s largest producer of meth amphetamines, was later home to drug dealer Kimberly Vargas, aka Kim Bormann, and her son Jordan Bormann. Their harassment and the hulking Jordan’s savage assault on me (Berry) was the subject of the first A&E documentary for which we provided the clips. (Herkimer DA Jeff Carpenter ensured Jordan was fined $200 and sent home to his mother.)

Herkimer Monster Mom Kim Vargas
Kimberly Bormann Vargas. Sadly, not a caricature.) Son Jordan Bormann in backgrfound

Junkin Producer Evan Garland suggested the Curtis episode after coming across our blog post about Herkimer Police Officer Jason Crippen refusing, as duty officer, to register a complaint about Cool’s obvious menacing and criminal harassment. You’ll be seeing extracts from the same clips Crippen saw. See if you agree with him. 

Evan and his team are brilliant at separating the wheat from the chaff in the original clips and sharing the resulting gripping footage with A&E’s worldwide audience.

Here’s the blog post that sparked Evan’s interest:

Officer Jason Crippen, Curtis Cool And The Nanny Nanny Boo Boo

I’ll post a link to the Cool episode when it’s available.

Stay safe, Herkimer.

Climate Migration and the Gangs of the Rust Belt. A Cautionary Tale

Stephen Ames Berry

Moving north to climate safety? Lovely county up here, but it’s not all apple blossoms and 4H. Please read this book before you make any firm plans: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7SW861Y

Wife Linda and I relocated from Sarasota to Central New York in 2013. We’d done our homework. We knew Florida was doomed and that the Rust Belt was a sweet spot climate safety zone. And so far that’s proven true. 

We did our homework, checked out Realtor, identified possible relocation spots, pulled the crime stats for those places we could afford, and bought a very nice old house for very little money–very little being what we had.  Herkimer, a historic New York village near Utica, became our home. 

We moved in on March 13, 2013. Soon after that, the long years of warfare began with the trafficking gangs that controlled Herkimer, their presence hidden from research–the police didn’t register complaints—statistically, Herkimer’s crime rate was similar to Nantucket’s. Herkimer had gotten rid of many unwelcomed newcomers before. Two more “old, weak people” didn’t seem much of a challenge. They had no understanding of the power of social media. But we did.

We videoed it all blogged about it and fielded a YouTube channel through all those long years. And now that it’s over and we won–with a lot of help from the Feds–I put it all in the book, which relies heavily on our blog and the videos. You wouldn’t believe me otherwise.  “What county is that?” we sometimes asked each other.

It’s all in the book: the in-your-face corruption, the wholesale drug and child trafficking, the protected, gang-run neighborhoods, the menacing, the poison gas attacks, the blogger beatings, the cop-proof thugs.

I’m a science fiction writer. This is my first and last work of nonfiction. I didn’t enjoy writing it. But we all have a duty to warn. Pass it on. There are a lot of Herkimers and ambush predators up here in the Rust Belt.

From Gork’s summary of the related X post:

  • The post promotes Stephen Ames Berry’s memoir “This Is Our Place!”, detailing a Florida family’s decade-long struggle against a Rust Belt trafficking gang, tying into climate migration—a concept supported by a 2021 study in Nature Climate Change predicting 200 million climate migrants by 2050 due to rising sea levels and economic shifts.
  • The Rust Belt’s transformation from industrial decline to a potential climate migration hub is underscored by Danny Schleien’s 2021 Medium article, which notes its historical population loss reversed as people flee coastal climate risks, challenging the narrative of its permanent economic stagnation.
  • Berry’s work aligns with emerging research, like a 2023 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper, linking climate-driven displacement to increased crime rates, offering a gritty, firsthand perspective on gang activity amid environmental upheaval.
 

Ding Dong! Kim Vargas Moves On

Stephen Ames Berry

Herkimer drug thug Kim Vargas goes from success to success: after several years of harassment and drug trafficking along Pleasant Avenue, she wrapped up her stint next door by helping her son Jordan Bormann on his way to prison,  charged with a class D violent felony. Jordan Bormann, 21, assaulted an elderly neighbor, sending the old veteran to Albany Medical center with a traumatic brain injury. 

Vargas, the subject of many herkimerpost.com articles, enjoyed a two-and-a-half-year reign of unchecked criminality next door to us at 328 Pleasant Avenue, long a gang sanctuary and retail drug thug front. 

328 Pleasant in the past has been tenanted by such local gang luminaries as Curtis Doolen, aka Curtis Cool, Xavier Rowe, Amanda West and unnamed crew members of gang chieftain Stanley Sykes’ drug and child trafficking gang. It is the next-to-the-last property on Pleasant Avenue to be emptied of Herkimer drug and child trafficking filth. (Landlord Jay Smith’s properties comprising Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking Hub remain unflushed.)

This March makes our ninth year in Herkimer. For seven of those years, 328 Pleasant Avenue has been tenanted by a succession of low criminal types trafficking drugs and occasionally kids, and doing their inept best to force the “weak old people” from “their” street. As with all else in their wretched lives, they failed. Here’s a 328 Pleasant Avenue rogues gallery:

The Froth On the Scum Of The Earth: 328 Pleasant Avenue Rogues Gallery

Herkimer Monster Mom Kim Vargas
Herkimer Monster Mom Kim Vargas
Herkimer elder-basher Jordan Bormann, unfortunate son of Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas, with vile friends on porch of 328 Pleasant Avenue.
Herkimer elder-basher Jordan Bormann, unfortunate son of Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas, with vile friends on the porch of 328 Pleasant Avenue.
Kim Vargas' son Jordan Bormann assaults elderly neighbor in front of 328 Pleasant Avenue, causing traumatic brain injury. Officer Jason Crippen investigation, found elderly neighbor guilty of the assault. Reinvestigation based on victim's survei9llance cam footage saw Bormann charged with Class D Violent Felony.
Kim Vargas’ son Jordan Bormann assaults elderly neighbor in front of 328 Pleasant Avenue, causing traumatic brain injury. Officer Jason Crippen’s investigation found elderly neighbor guilty of the assault. Reinvestigation based on victim’s surveillance cam footage saw Bormann charged with Class D Violent Felony.
Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Doolen, harassing elderly neighbors from 328 Pleasant Avenue.
Curtis Cool. Cop-coddled Herkimer drug thug and probable child trafficker ally, menacing his neighbors from driveway of 328 Pleasant Avenue.
328 Pleasant Avenue's Amanda West menacing old folks on their porch.
328 Pleasant Avenue’s wacky Amanda West harassing old folks on their neighboring porch.
328 Pleasant Avenue's Xavier Rowe harassing neighboring old folks.
328 Pleasant Avenue’s Xavier Rowe harassing neighboring old folks.

Herkimer police officer Jason Crippen responding to Kim Vargas' call. from 328 Pleasant Avenue. Crippen threatened us with arrest for using foul language in our driveway.
Herkimer police officer Jason Crippen responding to Kim Vargas’ call. from 328 Pleasant Avenue. Crippen threatened one of us with arrest for using foul language in our driveway.

I’ve speculated at length as to who controls 328 Pleasant Avenue, using it as a retail drug trafficking front. The demographics of the Herkimer area are rapidly going upscale.  We’ll see if they sell the place or move another set of gang scum in there. Whatever happens, there are a lot of surveillance drones around and our cameras stand ready.

“Many More Of Them, Live Next Door”

Stephen Ames Berry

“Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein

On November 4, members of the neighboring gang from landlord Jay Smith’s 332 Pleasant Avenue attacked my wife, Linda Kaidan, as she exited her car in our driveway after a 500-mile drive. One kept shouting “I’m gonna drag her!” before assaulting Linda in our driveway. They broke off their attack on the 68-year-old grandmother and returned to their front yard when the police arrived.  Linda counted nine of them, in and around the driveway. (Not to be confused with the gang that hangs out at the gang house on the other side of us: 328 Pleasant Avenue. The gang meat puppet currently living there is Herkimer Mother of the Year Kim Vargas.)

11.4.22 Herkimer teen from 332 Pleasant Avenue attacks 68-year-old grandmother in our driveway.
11.4.22 Herkimer teen from 332 Pleasant Avenue attacks 68-year-old grandmother in our driveway as she exits her car.

“Those cameras don’t work at night.”

For some time now, we’ve been overhearing that our cameras don’t work at night because the little red lights aren’t always on. The little red lights are the infrared beams that illuminate the dark in the absence of enough ambient light. When there is sufficient ambient light, they don’t come on. Thus they are off. The cameras work fine.

11.4.22 This photo was taken without the use of infrared enhancement, as the gang's porch light and the street lamp provide enough light.
11.4.22 This photo was taken without the use of infrared enhancement, as the gang’s porch light and the street lamp provide enough light.

The detail provided by this blind camera is more than enough for me to identify familiar faces:

11.4.22 332 Pleasant Avenue gang who participated in criminal trespass and harassment in support of assault on 68-year-old grandmother.
11.4.22 332 Pleasant Avenue gang who supported or participated in criminal trespass and harassment of the assault on the 68-year-old grandmother. Left to right: drug thug and gang den mother Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas of 328 Pleasant Avenue. The Pirate, seen trespassing and throwing stuff prior to the assault. Teenager and frequent criminal trespasser and hate graffiti artist called “Lem” by his friends, all of whom hang out at Kim Vargas’ house. And the “Gonna drag you!” teen, who assaulted Linda Kaidan. She is most probably the sister of Kyle Stone, ace crack trafficker from 332. Not circled, but to the top of Vargas, next to the police officer: Kylee Figueroa, Joyce Barton’s daughter. The Bartons moved recently, leaving Kylee at 332 but taking their beloved dog.    
Bare ruined choris: Joyce Barton moved out recently,leaving amount of trash and daughter Kylee behind. (Their dog, they took.)
Bare ruined choirs: Joyce Barton moved out recently, leaving a mound of trash and daughter Kylee behind. (Their dog, they took.)

So yes, the cameras work at night. We’ve forwarded more videos to the police and expect charges to soon be filed. Of course, we’ll just keep, what was it? “Dragging,” on the blog.

Gang’s Last Gasp?

 

Gang’s Last Gasp?

Stephen Ames Berry

Things have livened up here on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue since I survived a vicious street assault on 9/30. Formerly quiet gang-allied neighbors have grown aggressive, harassing and assaulting my wife and daughter in our driveway. A squad of them went after my daughter Alex and wife Linda on 10/24, 10/25, and 11/4. The pattern keeps repeating: one of us enters our driveway after dark, and the swarm descends from next door at 332 Pleasant Avenue, long a gang haven— trespassing, throwing stuff, menacing, and attacking a 68-year-old grandmother as she defends herself. They scatter as soon as they spot the police. It’s a miracle no one here has been injured as the gangers practice elder abuse. I went down with a brain injury when Kim Vargas’ son Jordan Bormann threw me to the sidewalk and kicked me. (I was videoing his mother, drug thug Kim Vargas accosting my wife.)

“We do not retreat—retreating is how Rust Belt Herkimer became a pirate haven.

If this continues, one of us will be injured. We do not retreat—retreating is how Rust Belt Herkimer became a pirate haven. These folks aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed and may not know what a Class B Violent Felony verdict would do to their lives—the sort of verdict young Mr. Bormann is facing. No more probation-only: it’s a mandatory multiyear prison sentence. Used to be, beating up old folks in New York was a misdemeanor blood sport, just youthful hijinks. No more. And if you kill or permanently injure one of us oldsters, you won’t be seeing the Outside for a very long time. Open Season on the elderly in New York is now closed. The Herkimer Police responded promptly. Hopefully, they’ll soon shut this dangerous game down.

The video is of all three incidents, somewhat edited. Those familiar with South Herkimer gangdom will recognize Kylee Figueroa, Joyce Barton’s daughter. (The Bartons left town about a month ago, leaving their trash and Kylee behind.) The young woman trespassing and assaulting my wife is also from 332 Pleasant, probably the colorful Kyle Stone’s younger sister. (She’s the one shouting “I’m gonna drag her!” meaning my wife.) 10:07

Don’t know who the ball-hugging, object-throwing trespasser is.
Don’t know who the ball-hugging, object-throwing trespasser is.

Don’t know who the ball-hugging, object-throwing trespasser is. Probably from somewhere here on our Pleasant Avenue. (There are people still living who swear it was once pleasant.)

Sorry, I couldn’t join the fray, but am still recovering from a subdural hematoma, courtesy of Jordan Bormann. (I get to see him each day as he lounges on his mother’s porch, 15 feet away, eating takeout and smoking weed. His trial’s tentatively scheduled for April. Until then, he gets to lounge at home, courtesy of New York bail reform. Don‘t worry, I’m protected from my violent mercurial assailant by a restraining order and his ankle monitoring device.)

Frankly, I think this is all about rage at the loss of drug and child trafficking income here in the ‘hood. We’ve lived here for 9 years and trafficking’s never been this light. Plus, our attackers keep checking in with mother-of-the-year Kim Vargas, who may be incentivizing their behavior. The dynamics of the Mohawk Valley are rapidly changing, fueled by an influx of affluence, itself catalyzed by climate change and the chip fab construction boom. 

Things are quickly changing here, hopefully for the better.

Monster Mom Kim Vargas: People v. Jordan Bormann–The Apple Didn’t Fall Far

Stephen Ames Berry

On 9/30/22, 21-year-old Jordan Bormann savagely attacked his 74-year-old neighbor, leaving the elderly veteran unconscious and bleeding on the sidewalk in front of his home. He was diagnosed with a brain injury. Bormann is charged with a violent felony against an oldster, a local blogger who was videoing a confrontation between Bormann’s drug peddler mother and the victim’s wife.

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree: Bormann and his mother Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas, moved into the rental house next to the victim’s two years prior to the heinous attack. Mother Kimberly immediately began harassing and threatening the elderly homeowners, objecting to their surveillance cameras, their security lights and their activist blog, where they posted her alleged drug trafficking activities. She’d call the police and falsely report them for harassment and trespassing–charges given the lie by their surveillance videos.

The day of the assault, Kim twice threatened the victim’s wife with physical violence–in keeping with her history of threats and harassment. Bullied from Vargas’ porch as they were in their adjacent driveway, the couple sallied forth, the wife confronting Kim, her husband filming, Jordan’s friends heckling him and his wife as Jordan watched. (If you don’t confront bullies, they just escalate.)

With a role model like Kimberly Vargas, how else would Jordan turn out? Watch Kimberly strut her foul-mouthed stuff over the two years she’s lived next to us, the elderly couple: threatening violence, harassing our mentally ill daughter. Just a few brief highlights of her despicable behavior:

Jordan Bormann is of an age where he’s responsible for his actions and will be held accountable for them in court. He’s facing a mandatory minimum of 2 years, a maximum of 7, for a Class B Violent Felony.

As I told the District Attorney’s staff and the court, I hope his sentence sees him sent far away from his mother’s reach, where he can receive effective counseling and learn a vocation. To be just given probation would leave him where he is now, 15 feet from our house, lounging on his mother’s porch, eating takeout and smoking weed. He won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of a decent life if he’s returned to his mother Kimberly’s foul clutches.  To reinforce my suggestion to the court, I included a copy of this video with my Victim’s Impact Statement, which is reviewed prior to sentencing.

You can imagine what I think of New York’s crazy gone-today-here-tomorrow bail law.

Jordan Bormann--far right, on porch railing. He's with his heckler friends.Boy-next-door Jordan Bormann–far right, on porch railing. He’s with his heckler friends.

Bormann;s unconscious victim bled profusely.
Bormann’s unconscious victim bled profusely. Bormann kicked him as he lay out cold.

11/2/22 Correction. The name of my assailant is Jordan Bormann, not Jordan Harris. (I worked with Harris at Harvard. He never beat me up.)

Murder On Their Mind–Knock ’em To The Ground, Kick ’em While They’re Down

Stephen Ames Berry

On September 30th, in the Herkimer tradition of beating bloggers,  I was the victim of a vicious unprovoked street attack by Jordan Bormann, son of longtime Herkimer drug thug Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas.  Jordan Bormann, a strapping young adult, charged me as I was photographing his drug-dealer mother’s usual harassment of us, hurling me violently backward onto the public sidewalk and seriously injuring me. As I lay unconscious, he cursed me,  kicked me and shoved my wife away when she tried to help me.

I sustained a subdural hematoma (deep brain bleed) and was taken first by medevac to Little Falls Hospital, and then by ambulance to Albany Medical Center for neurological treatment. A subdural hematoma can be fatal.

It’s taken me several weeks to recover enough to compile video evidence of the attack, file a police complaint and write this post.  As I write,  the Bormann-Vargases are next door on their front porch, partying and smoking substances legal and illegal. 

The initial police investigation was conducted by an officer against whom I previously filed an extensive misconduct report. After interviewing my assailant, his mother and their friends, he determined me guilty of provoking the assault; seems young Mr. Bormann was just defending his mom. Not interviewed was my wife, present the entire time. Footage from our two CCTV cameras covering the attack was not requested. Happily, I was not arrested for littering the public pavement with the copious amount of blood from my wound.

We’ve been writing about Kim Vargases’ drug dealing, threats and harassment for several years. In response, Vargas often calls the Herkimer Police with bogus complaints. On September 30th, she called them to complain that we’d stolen her cat. Her cat, the malnourished Shadow, often lounges on our porch railing and is delighted to be fed the good stuff. Astoundingly, the police often respond to Vargas’ absurd complaints, as they did that day, a Friday.

The Varga’s porch, as on most nice days, was filled with aggressive pondlife harassing us as we went about our lives in our adjacent driveway. While the police were present, Vargas told an officer on camera that she would “punch that bitch [my wife] in the face before I move.” The officer made no remark. Obviously, Vargas’ son Jordan Bormann comes by his violent behaviors honestly.

9.30.22 Usual aggressive pondlife who gather on Kim Vargas' 328 Pleasant AVvenue front porch to smoke substances legal and illegal and harass homeowners next door. My assailant, Jordan Bormann, sits on the railing.
9.30.22 Usual aggressive pondlife gathered on Kim Vargas’ 328 Pleasant Avenue front porch to smoke substances legal and illegal and harass homeowners next door. My assailant, Vargas’ son Jordan Bormann, sits on the railing.
9.30.22 Herkimer drug thug Kim Vargas, aka Kim Bormann Vargas in front of 328 Pleasant Avenue. Son Jordan Bormann is to the rear.
9.30.22 A candid shot: Herkimer drug thug Kim Vargas, aka Kim Bormann Vargas, in front of her 328 Pleasant Avenue. Son Jordan Bormann is to the rear. Vargas has just invited neighbor, software engineer Linda Kaidan, to “Hit me! Hit me!”
9.30.22 Blood from Berrry's skull in front of Vargas' house.
9.30.22 Blood from Berry’s injured skull in front of Vargas’ house.
10.1.22 Wound to my head following attack by Kim Vargas' Jordon Bormann on 9.30.22., which resulted in deep brain bleed. Note staples. 75-year-old-bodies heal slowly.
10.1.22 Wound to my head following attack by Kim Vargas’ son Jordan Bormann on 9.30.22., which caused a deep brain bleed. Note staples. 75-year-old-bodies heal slowly.

We have several videos of the attack. Below is a portion of an audio video, covering from the time of the police responding to Vargas’ 911 cat call to the moment just before the first responders arrive to scrape me off the pavement. It ends with my wife dashing into our house to get her cellphone, evil laughter following her. 

Video Timeline

0:01-0:44 My cellphone video.  Typical harassment from pondlife on Vargas’ porch. Police arrive, police leave. Usual attempts to drive us from our property and then from the public sidewalk.

0:45 Action has moved down the public sidewalk. (Suspect Vargases believe they’re off camera.) Vargas invites Kaidan to “Hit me!”

04:02    Jordan Bormann charges me as I’m filming, hurls me backwards onto the pavement, knocking me unconscious, lacerating my scalp and causing a subdural hematoma (deep brain bleed).

04:06    Bormann shoves my wife Linda away as she tries to come to my aid, then curses and stomps me.

05:00-End          Vargas and male thug from porch ignore my wife’s repeated direction to leave me alone. Linda dashes into the house to get her cellphone, denouncing the twosome hunched over me as “Monsters!” Evil laugher follows her.

More to come: A longer higher quality video, clips and a critque of the initial police investigation by Officer Jason Crippen.

Dodgy Herkimer Cop Jason Crippen — “Complicit Or Just An Idiot”? You Decide.

 

Child Trafficker Carrie Ann Bass Sparks Roman Fire Foray

Stephen Ames Berry

On 5/13/22, Herkimer gang gal Carrie Ann Bass hosted a large fire-themed party at Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking Hub, presided over by Bass and owned by landlord Jay Smith. The centerpiece of that most recent raucous gathering was a large illegal fire, which was twice shut down by Herkimer Police following my 911 calls. 

Bass rents a house on one end of the trafficking hub–341 Eureka Avenue– and has long treated the hub as her little empire for dirt: child trafficking, drug trafficking, poison gassing of nosy neighbors, criminal tampering. Cops and cameras have done much to stifle her, but she’s still there, the last holdout of the Stanley Sykes gang.

A criminal mastermind, Bass typically strikes back by hiring others, as happened here a week later.

The Roman Fire Foray

Audio: 00:40–Chatter     1:22-1:30 Wood breaking 

The Roman fire squad slipped into the child trafficking lot under the cover of darkness at 0200 hrs on 5/22.  They came in two cars whose license plate frames read “Rome Pre-Owned” and filled with wooden shipping pallets. (Never saw the two of them or their cars before.)

By 0204 they’d broken up some of the pallets and were kindling a fire in the rickety cinder block structure used for the party bonfire two weeks before.  I called 911.  The Herkimer Police police responded and made them put out the fire.

Undeterred, they later broke up another shipping pallet and started the fire anew, moving a car between the fire and our cameras. The brief and no doubt unsatisfactory fire quickly ran out of fuel.  Unusually, they didn’t rip the slats off of our poor old fence to kindle the flames. (24 cameras. )

Two of them then hung around for hours, waiting for Bass to return, presumably to be paid–she’d cleverly left well before they arrived. One of them met briefly with her, and then they were gone. Haven’t seen them time since. (The lad with the nice pink underwear doing some weeding should thank me for not putting that clip on YouTube. )

Herkimer Fire Freaks Frolicking'

5.13.22 Herkimer gang welcomes Spring with much noise and an illegal bonfire in their sanctuary at Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking’ Lot, landlord Jay Smith, proprietor.

There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide. Job 34:22

(Forensic analysis of the accompanying video might produce usable facial recognition features.)

5.22.22 Gang guys breaking up shipping pallet to kindle illegal fire in Herkimer's Historic Child Trafficking Hub
5.22.22 Gang guys breaking up shipping pallet to kindle illegal fire in Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking Hub.
5.22.22 Gang guys readying to break up shipping pallet to kindle illegal fire in Herkimer's Historic Child Trafficking Hub.
5.22.22 Gang guys readying to break up shipping pallet to kindle illegal fire in Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking Hub.

Here are the two principals with their cars, waiting for Bass. (Facial recognition quality  images could probably be extracted from the video)

Roman Fire Squad in the child traffricking lot with one of their cars: Subuaru Outback NY license HHW5652. (Per binoculars.) Rear platge frame reads "Rome Pre-Pre-owned".

Roman Fire Squad in the child trafficking lot with one of their cars: Subaru Outback, NY license HHW5652.  (Per binoculars.) Rear plate frame reads “Rome Pre-owned”.

Other Roman Fire Squad car, Appears to be a Chevy 4 door. NY license JCH8451
Other Roman Fire Squad car. Appears to be a Chevy 4-door. NY license JCH8451

Another black, four-door Rome Pre-Owned is often seen at Bass’s: NY license KTH6114

Frequently seen at Carrie Bass's house at 341 Eureka Avnue on Herkimer's Historic Child Trafficking Lt: NY licesne KTH6114. Rear licxsns frame reads "Rome Pre-owned".
Frequently seen at Carrie Ann Bass’s house at 341 Eureka Avenue in Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking Hub: NY license KTH6114. The rear license plate frame also reads “Rome Pre-owned”.

We’re keeping a camera on that tippy, uncemented cinder fireplace in the trafficking lot. It’s an easy accident away from the dry scrub around Bass’ law-abiding neighbor’s new wooden fence and the house they brought back from the dead through years of sweat equity:

Gang-crafted ramskacled fire place amid the brush in Herkimer's Historic Child Trafficking's Lotg.
5.14.22 Gang-built fireplace beside brush and fence in Herkimer’s Historic Child Trafficking Hub.

Herkimer Child Trafficking Hub Handover