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Uploaded: Friday, November 16, 2012, 9:06 AM                                             

Warrants served in Menlo Park fraud case
Police disclose little about targets of investigation

by Sandy Brundage
Almanac Staff

Posted by Sybille, a resident of the Menlo Park: Fair Oaks neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 12:31 pm

Strange first paragraph.

Posted by confused, a resident of the Menlo Park: The Willows neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 1:07 pm

Huh?

Posted by reader, a resident of the Atherton: West Atherton neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 1:34 pm

Ok. I am not an ivestigative journalist, but one can go to Google Maps and see there are only a small handful of buinesses in the 1800 block of El Camino. If an enterprising reporter called each of them, I would be willing to bet one or more would tell of seeing police search a neighbor, and that only one would respond with :No Comment" Bang. Now there's an ACTUAL story, not a silly and reather lazy teaser based solely on a press release. WEAK

Posted by Business Owner, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 2:43 pm

MP PD isn't too forthcoming with information. A business down the street from ours was robbed a few days before I saw several officers "searching for someone." They declined to offer any information about who they were searching for (can't help if we don't know what we're looking for...).

I asked about the robbery down the street from us and they wouldn't give ANY information about that, either. Wouldn't say which business was robbed. Wouldn't say who we need to keep a watch for. Wouldn't say if the suspect(s) were armed, or anything.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised with the lack of cooperation being provided by MP PD. Most PDs would welcome the public's assistance in keeping their eyes open. At the VERY LEAST, you'd think they'd warn other businesses of what to watch for or at least let us know why the particular robbery wouldn't apply to us.

IMHO, these guys aren't very professional and don't seem to be interested in "protecting and serving." Just too weird that they'd be so closed-mouth about crimes when the information being sought doesn't appear to be the sort of information that would compromise an on-going investigation.

Posted by Nancy Drew, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 2:50 pm

There are only a few homes on Laurel Place, and there are a few names that many of us would recognize. Simply figure out which one of those people owns or works at a business in the 1800 block of ECR and you've got your person.

I do wonder how the MPPD expects us to provide them with "information about the case" when they won't even tell us what it is!

Posted by whatever, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 2:52 pm

Gee all I wrote was the names of two of businesses in the 1800 block of El Camino - and you deleted my comment.

Well here's all four businesses in the block - Celia's restaurant, Zink hair salon, Tri Easy Foods & Liquor and Cindy's Flowers & Gifts

Don't think that's offensive, or private info.

Posted by Chalo, a resident of the Menlo Park: Park Forest neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 3:03 pm

Sure, oftentimes the police have good legal and investigatory reasons not to release information, but other times they just accrue it and refuse to say anything because it gives them a sense of greater power.

Posted by MIke, a resident of the Menlo Park: Fair Oaks neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 3:51 pm

Relax. If it's a fraud case, I doubt there are any guns involved.

Posted by Menlo Voter, a resident of the Menlo Park: other neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 4:44 pm

It was Cindy's Flowers and Gifts. We live around the corner and had wondered what was going on.

Interestingly, when they first moved in a few weeks ago they had someone picketing out front claiming they were an employee that had not been paid what they were owed. I guess MPPD was paying attention, huh?

Posted by Nancy Drew, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 4:54 pm

Look at this list of people who live on Laurel Place and you too can connect the dots. Easy.

Posted by Pam Zink, a resident of the Atherton: other neighborhood, on Nov 16, 2012 at 8:53 pm

I am the owner of Zink Salon! What I know is.... this situation is about Cindy's Floral Designs. She is a new tenant of our building and she has been more than a nightmare since she has arrived. I actually don't understand how she has been able to maintain her business. [Portion removed; don't speculate about criminal behavior.] My Mother actually recently received an arrangement for her birthday from Cindy's that was all wrong and the purchaser was furious.

I can only say I hope she gets what she deserves!

I hope our lovely neighborhood does not associate us with her, even though we reside in the same building!

Here's to getting rid of the riff raff! Thank you to the officers on top of this!

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of another community, on Nov 16, 2012 at 9:13 pm

Hah! I knew it. Ever since my husband had problems buying flowers at Cinday's a few years ago & we read bad Yelp reviews et voila! we started hearing other complaints from locals. Interesting.

Posted by SteveC, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 17, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Why am I no surprise it was Cindy's. Have had nothing but problems with her in charging and not delivering and never refunding. I hought she had gone out of business when her shop on Santa Cruz was closed. Too bad, she should be out of business. Maybe the investigation will cause this

Posted by Nancy Drew, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 17, 2012 at 3:18 pm

I have to admit that I derived a great deal of amusement reading the Yelp reviews, including the filtered ones. There are a couple of employee complaints there as well. Given the references to dead flowers and lame customer service, it's hard to understand how the business has stayed afloat. I guess this investigation provides us with a clue.

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of another community, on Nov 17, 2012 at 4:02 pm

How does someone like this afford to move her business & live in an expensive area? When I pointed out this article to my husband he said he witnessed her treating her employee badly & that's the main reason he never returned. This reminds me a. It of the Natalie's Salon debacle w/poorly treated employees. Do these employers really think that they can't get into trouble?

Posted by To Business owner, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 18, 2012 at 5:04 pm

IMHO = it means humble opinion. Yours was not. It seems the press release was just poorly written and the almanac just did not do a good job at reporting. Provide one instance where the police were not helpful to you?

Posted by Some Guy, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2012 at 9:00 am

It's just a sad fact that American media has devolved into repeating PR releases, instead of reporting.