Brill-Pinson, Becky | Testimony transcript

Transcript of the Testimony of Becky Brill-Pinson

Date: December 5, 2013Volume: I

Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: December 18, 2013

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078

Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]

Internet:

Becky Brill-Pinson In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

Page 1

IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION

TELEPHONE SWORN STATEMENT OF

BECKY BRILL-PINSON

Taken on Thursday, December 5, 2013, from 10:32 a.m. to

10:58 a.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson,

LLC, 626 S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper,

State of Missouri, before

SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,

a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and

for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.

Becky Brill-Pinson

In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078


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APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]


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S T I P U L A T I O N

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn

Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by

SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and

afterwards reduced into typewriting.

It is further stipulated that the signature of the

witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of

said witness shall be of the same force and effect as

though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.


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I N D E X

Page/Line

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4

E X H I B I T S

(sic) - typed as spoken

(ph.) - phonetic


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1 BECKY BRILL-PINSON

2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,

3 testified as follows:

4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:

5 Q. Becky, would you state your name and your

6 present occupation for the record?

7 A. It's actually Becky Pinson now. I just got

8 married a month ago. And my occupation is

9 Grant Analysis.

10 Q. And what was the spelling on that last name?

11 A. It's P-I-N-S-O-N.

12 Q. Becky, how old of a person are you?

13 A. I'm 42.

14 Q. Is it true that you used to work for the City

15 of Joplin?

16 A. Yes.

17 Q. And how did you work? What was your position

18 here?

19 A. I was the Grant Coordinator for the City

20 Manager.

21 Q. You worked underneath City Manager Rohr?

22 A. Yes, and the Assistant Sam Anslem.

23 Q. Can you tell me there's been a sticky note

24 issue that has come up. Are you familiar

25 with a sticky note that was in the


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1 handwriting of Mark Rohr found on the floor?

2 Is that true?

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. And where did you find that?

5 A. I actually found it on my lunch hour. If you

6 walk towards the bathroom on the second floor

7 there's a piece of carpet in between the

8 men's restroom and the women's restroom and

9 it was laying face up where the handwriting

10 was visible in that area on the carpet.

11 Q. Can you tell me what information was

12 contained on that, if you recall?

13 A. If you've ever read his handwriting it's

14 impossible. I looked at it and couldn't

15 identify anything but the little whatever the

16 identifier is for the FBI. I looked at that

17 and though, ooh, that probably shouldn't be

18 sitting on the carpet in between the

19 bathrooms.

20 Q. So what did you do when you picked it up?

21 A. I took it back to my office actually to give

22 it back to Mark and his door was shut and at

23 that time I looked over at the clock and

24 realized it's lunch hour, everybody is gone,

25 and was going to put it on the secretary's


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1 desk to wait for him to come back, but

2 because it said FBI it made me kind of

3 nervous. The first drawer of hers is the

4 only one that is unlocked and we walk in

5 there all the time and grab keys for

6 different meeting rooms. And because I

7 couldn't read the handwriting I thought

8 that's probably not very safe, so I walked

9 from her office and just handed it to the

10 City Attorney and said this was laying by the

11 bathroom, I don't know what it is, it says

12 FBI, I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be on the

13 floor. We have a conference room, they have

14 a conference room that's adjacent to the

15 bathrooms, and they had a meeting going on.

16 I think it was a Chamber - no, maybe it was

17 Wallace-Bajjali. I can't keep them straight.

18 There were about 25 people in the conference

19 room and that was part of why I picked it up

20 because I didn't want somebody - obviously if

21 I found it somebody else was going to find

22 it, so I wanted it in someone's hands for

23 safety.

24 Q. So you put it basically in Brian Head's

25 hands?


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1 A. Yes, gave it to Brian.

2 Q. So subsequent to that there's been quite a

3 controversy over how Brian got it so I'm glad

4 you came forward with this information.

5 A. Yes, my mom has been calling me and reading

6 me what's been said in the Globe.

7 Q. There was no intent on your part to steal

8 anything or take it off of Mark's desk or

9 anything of that nature, you just found it in

10 the hall and you saw the word FBI on it and

11 some scribbles and you handed it to Head?

12 It's just that simple?

13 A. Yes, to be really honest I thought I was

14 safeguarding the note by picking it up

15 because it did say FBI on it, and I knew it

16 was my boss' handwriting, and you don't want

17 that floating around, so the whole idea was

18 to remove it from what could have been

19 anybody picking it up in the public and

20 pushing it back into, you know, the

21 attorney's hands, keeping it safe.

22 Q. So originally if Mark would have been there

23 you probably would have handed it back to him

24 because you recognized his handwriting?

25 A. I did. I actually went to his door and his


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1 door was locked. That's where I went first

2 with the sticky note. I was working on

3 something on the computer and I just totally

4 lost track of time. So after I went to his

5 door and the handle was locked I turned

6 around and looked at the clock, that's by the

7 double doors and thought, oh, well, of

8 course, it's when he leaves for lunch, so

9 he's not here. And I recognized his

10 secretary wasn't at her desk, so those two

11 options were out.

12 Q. Okay. So you selected the third most safe

13 option, and that would have been Brian Head?

14 A. Yeah, exactly.

15 Q. Okay. Can you tell me why you did not want

16 to get involved in coming forth with this

17 information at an earlier time?

18 A. I wouldn't say that. It's always been a

19 constant battle between City administration

20 and the Council, and also City administration

21 and the City Attorney's office, a lot of

22 conflict with those areas. I work with all

23 three of them and there tends to be a us

24 versus them mentality. I (inaudible) of my

25 job review. Every job review I had to sign


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1 off on. One of the things I have to agree to

2 do was never speak to any other person about

3 what is said in the City management office.

4 So you knew from day one that there is

5 always, you know, a widely unspoken rule that

6 you had to be very careful of what you said

7 and who you said it to because you would

8 raise the ire of --

9 Q. The ire of who?

10 A. The City management, both the City Manager

11 and the Assistant City Manager.

12 Q. That's Mark Rohr and Sam?

13 A. Correct.

14 Q. How long did you work for the City Manager?

15 A. About 8 years.

16 Q. Why did you quit?

17 A. I got engaged to a young man who lives in

18 Fayetteville. He just passed his CPA and has

19 a company here, so it was just not an option

20 for him to move to Joplin since he already

21 had a business here.

22 Q. How long did it take you to get a job after

23 you left?

24 A. I actually had a job before I left.

25 Q. You had used the word you were fearsome in


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1 some fashion of some kind of action on the

2 part of Mark Rohr against your family or

3 brother or something like that that still

4 lives here. What was that all about?

5 A. It wasn't so much fear, it was the

6 recognition of how there are certain

7 relationships that appeared to be obvious

8 between the office I worked for and the

9 media, and too many people of the press you

10 could recognize very certain (inaudible) to

11 the media that was very pro City Manager,

12 which I know he's been grateful for and

13 appreciative of, and I didn't know how it

14 could evolve once the information came out

15 about the note, and I didn't want to put my

16 mother in that position, having to read that

17 and being such a lifelong member of the

18 community, and my brother is in upper

19 administration in the electric company, the

20 CEO of the electric company is very active in

21 the PET project, sits on the board of the PET

22 project of the City Manager. We all know

23 that when you live in a small town when you

24 do anything with politics the mud never

25 splatters strategically, there is a


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1 probability that could have some way affected

2 them, and I just didn't want that to happen.

3 Q. Is that based on your understanding the way

4 Mark Rohr has historically worked insofar as

5 vindictiveness and stuff?

6 A. His reactions to work product or his

7 reactions to interaction with the City

8 Council definitely led to that assumption,

9 yes.

10 Q. So would you say that Mark creates an

11 atmosphere of distrust and just basically a

12 difficult environment to work within for its

13 employees?

14 A. I'd say any time that you have to sign off in

15 order to get a pay raise on your work

16 performance, that you will not talk to anyone

17 about your work outside of your office, that

18 you're making it abundantly clear to that

19 employee that they better know their place

20 and they better not step out of their place

21 because you put it in a written document that

22 there are consequences.

23 Q. Okay. And these consequences, you observed

24 them on other employees while you were

25 working with the City?


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1 A. Yes, I did.

2 Q. Okay. And this connection, what company was

3 it, the power company that you brother works

4 for?

5 A. That's correct.

6 Q. And you think that the President of the power

7 company and Mark Rohr are somehow close

8 associates?

9 A. There is a Board of Directors called

10 Connective Culture that is in the process,

11 it's actually a really great project, getting

12 a performing arts center in the entertainment

13 district and that was a Board hand selected

14 by the City Manager, and the Board President

15 from the company that my brother works for is

16 on that. They meet sometimes once a week and

17 have for almost 4 years.

18 Q. Okay. So you were would consider them close

19 friends?

20 A. I would consider that he probably has more

21 interaction with my brother's boss than he

22 does with many other people, and if you get

23 copies of the minutes you can tell, you can

24 get copies of the minutes you can tell the

25 dialogue between them is very friendly, very


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1 easy. They interact often and appear to be

2 good friends or at least friends.

3 Q. And that's Empire District Electric?

4 A. Yes.

5 Q. So basically you were fearsome that because

6 of your knowledge of the way Mark operates

7 and his vendettas and et cetera and so forth,

8 you were worried about the fact that you had

9 picked this note up and you didn't want any

10 kind of retribution called down on your

11 brother or your mother through either Empire

12 District Electric or I guess through Lance

13 Roberts, the Police Chief?

14 A. That would be correct.

15 Q. Okay. I want to thank you for coming up and

16 helping us out on this. This has been an

17 interesting investigation.

18 A. I'm so sorry that you had to look into it.

19 I'm sorry it came to that. But maybe some

20 good will come out of it.

21 Q. Well, I hope so. I hope so. But certainly

22 this will be important to my report and I do

23 appreciate you coming forward on this.

24 A. Absolutely.

25 Q. And if you think of anything else or you


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1 observe any retribution I'd ask you that

2 you've got my cell number there, you keep

3 that for the future.

4 A. Okay. I will do it.

5

6 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)

7

8

9


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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

STATE OF MISSOURI

ss.

COUNTY OF JASPER

I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the

State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the

foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the 5th

day of December, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was

examined. That examination was then taken by me by

steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn

Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set

out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith

returned.

I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or

relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of

either party or of the attorney of either party, or

otherwise interested in the event of this suit.

_________________________

SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650

Documents

Brill-Pinson, Becky | Testimony transcript