Boulder woman accused of extortion after fender-bender (Boulder Daily Camera)

Boulder woman accused of extortion after fender-bender
Police: Abigail Jane Suber threatened driver with call to immigration authorities

By Erica Meltzer Camera Staff Writer
Posted: 07/06/2011 04:54:42 PM M

A Boulder woman has been charged with felony extortion after police said she threatened a Longmont couple with calling immigration authorities if they didn't pay her money after a car accident in which she was at fault.

The case started back in April when Abigail Jane Suber, 28, of Boulder, and Hector Holguin-Perez, 41, of Longmont, were involved in a minor car accident near the intersection of 24th and Pearl streets in Boulder.

Holguin-Perez and his wife, Irma Hernandez, told Boulder police that Suber threatened to call immigration authorities if they did not admit fault in the accident and pay her $400. Later, Suber demanded $800, they said.

Suber said she offered to settle the matter privately at the request of Holguin-Perez and Hernandez, only to have them stop payment on the checks.

In a written statement she gave to police, Hernandez said she got a call from her husband, who does not speak English, that a woman had hit him with her truck. Holguin-Perez then asked his wife if she could come to the scene because he didn't understand what the woman was saying.

Hernandez said that when she arrived, Suber asked for Hernandez's driver's license, wrote down her information, then told her Hernandez should say that she was driving and that it was her fault. If Hernandez didn't pay Suber $400, she would call immigration, the report said.

Hernandez said Suber asked her if she wanted her 5-year-old son to grow up without his father and said she pays a lot every month on her truck, a 2011 Toyota Tacoma.

According to the police report, Holguin-Perez had insurance for his Chevrolet van, but no driver's license. His immigration status is not clear.

Hernandez wrote two post-dated checks to Suber for a total of $400, she told police.

In an interview with the Camera, Hernandez said she didn't feel good about the incident because she knew the accident wasn't her husband's fault. She called an attorney she knew through her work cleaning houses. He advised her to cancel the checks and talk to police.

The attorney referred her to Brandt Milstein, an attorney who frequently represented immigrants who haven't been paid for their work. He put her in touch with the Boulder County District Attorney's Office, where attorneys asked her to make a police report.

Colorado's extortion statutes explicitly include threatening to report someone to immigration as a crime.

Hernandez told police Suber became angry after she canceled the checks and demanded $800 for the repairs, plus $30 for the canceled checks.

Suber left a voicemail message for Hernandez confirming her address and saying she was sending police and immigration to get her husband, Hernandez told officers. Hernandez saved the message and gave it to police, the report said.

Suber could not be reached for comment, but in a written statement included in the police report, she said no blackmail occurred. Suber said Hernandez and Holguin-Perez wanted to settle the matter privately without involving the police because Holguin-Perez is not here legally, then stopped payment on the checks without warning her. That caused Suber to be fined by her bank.

Suber said she told Hernandez she was seeking legal advice about the stopped checks and gave her another chance to work it out.

"I then spoke to her about having the police involved and speaking to an immigration lawyer," Suber wrote. "I feel that I was lied to and taken advantage (of). He had no right to be driving on a public road. He has no license and is therefore at fault."

According to the police report, Holguin-Perez said he backed up out of a parking lot and was pulling forward when Suber, who was backing up, struck him on the rear passenger side of his van.

Suber told police both vehicles were backing up when they struck each other.

The damage to both vehicles was consistent with Holguin-Perez's account, Officer Sharon Ramos wrote in the report.

"The damage was minimal in that the bumper was very slightly pushed in on the left side and very hard to notice," the report said of Suber's truck.

There were noticeable scrapes and a dent on Holguin-Perez's vehicle.

A warrant was issued for Suber's arrest on May 27. She was booked into the Boulder County Jail on June 20. She was formally charged with extortion last week.

Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said if Holguin-Perez did not have a license, he would have been ticketed -- if police had been called to the scene of the original accident. However, the felony accusation against Suber supercedes a traffic infraction.

"To charge the victim of a felony with a misdemeanor traffic violation would discourage other crime victims from coming forward in the future," Kobel said.

Boulder police did not investigate Holguin-Perez's immigration status because he was not arrested, Kobel said. Under state law, Boulder makes a report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement only when a person is both under arrest and there is probable cause to believe they are in the country illegally.

Hernandez said she had been afraid of Suber, but she is glad the police took the matter seriously.

"People need to speak up and not stay quiet," she told the Camera in Spanish. "The police are here to help people. I've lived in Boulder for 21 years, so I had confidence they would do their job well."

A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 18.