Original subtitles

MALE (VOICEOVER): This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Luis Gasparetto of Brazil

is no ordinary artist.

He works at a frenzied pace often

competing drawings and paintings in less than five minutes.

Incredibly, Gasparetto claims that his every move

is guided by the spirits of long dead artists,

creating new works from beyond the grave.

Does Luis Gasparetto possess stunning psychic powers?

Tonight, you can judge for yourself.

For nearly three years, Tara Breckenridge

was a waitress in some of Houston's most

fashionable adult nightclubs.

Then one evening in 1992, she left work

and mysteriously vanished.

Tara's family believes she was a victim of foul play,

and that her boyfriend knows more than he is admitting.

December, 1944-- the Second World War

still raged across Europe.

But for a brief moment, peace reigned

in one tiny corner of Belgium.

On Christmas Eve, three Americans GIs

and four Nazi soldiers put down their guns to share

an unlikely holiday dinner.

Now, the young boy who helped make friends out

of bitter enemies needs your help to find the man who gave

him an unforgettable Christmas.

To his fellow parishioners in Virginia Beach, Virginia,

Carlos Garcia was honest, devout Christian.

No one suspected that Garcia was, in fact, a devious con

artist who would eventually scam his church

and the people in his community out of more than $2 million.

Join me for these intriguing cases.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[music playing]

For those who love art, it is tempting to wish

that the great masters could return to paint

just one more glorious canvas.

Utterly impossible?

Of course, unless you believe in the extraordinary claims

of a man named Luis Gasparetto.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As he whips color across the page,

Gasparetto seems a man possessed.

Indeed, if Gasparetto's astounding assertions are true,

his every gesture is directed by the spirits

of long dead masters who continue to create new works

from beyond the grave.

Bandeau, Monet, Renoit--

all gone now for more than half a century.

But believe it or not, Luis Gasparetto

says that these paintings are nothing

less than their recent work channeled through him.

Is Gasparetto a gifted psychic as he

claims, or a flamboyant showman, as common sense would dictate?

We invite you to see for yourself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Luis Gasparetto grew up in Sao

Paolo, Brazil's largest city.

The culture here is laced with mysticism,

and many consider psychic experiences

part of everyday life.

The Gasparetto family is no exception.

Luis's mother Zybia has written 13 books,

work she says were all channelled

from the spirit world.

Luis was just a boy when he first

began to believe that he, too, possessed psychic abilities.

At the age of 13, Luis was overwhelmed

by stress, sleeplessness, and trouble at school.

Zybia thought he needed counseling, and took

him to see Madame Laise, one of the city's

best known clairvoyants.

[speaking spanish]

I was embarrassed, because it was the first time there.

But I started to feel the that my body is shaking inside,

and all that energy.

And something was holding my throat.

And I tried to control myself.

And it gets worse.

So I had to let it go.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Gasparetto recalls feeling

pain and tingling in his arms.

To Madame Laise, it was a sign he would be able to channel

writing, much like his mother.

But quite unexpectedly, Luis began to draw.

Gasparetto had found his calling.

Gasparetto says that over the past three decades,

he has channeled more than 20,000

paintings by some 50 artists.

His claims go largely unchallenged in Brazil.

Gasparetto's reputation has begun

to spread around the world.

In January of 1995, we asked to film one

of his channeling sessions ourselves.

When you invite me for a presentation,

I ask them if they want to come, because I cannot do it myself.

So if they say yes, I just accept invitation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Our invitation

was apparently accepted.

And we filmed Gasparetto in New York City.

Gasparetto works with such intensity an assistant

holds down the work.

GASPARETTO: The sensation of coming in, involving me,

involving my arms.

And I just let it go.

And the arm goes by that force, not me.

It's not coming from inside.

It comes from outside.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): During the frenetic session,

Gasparetto completed six drawings and three paintings,

most in less than five minutes.

He moved easily between different artistic styles.

GASPARETTO: I try not to control anything.

I try not to put my thoughts or my ideas.

But people think that if you are unconscious,

it's going to be somebody else coming through you

or taking your body.

That's impossible.

Nobody takes your body.

It's just an energetical influence through you.

So I just learn to be passive.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): During the 45 minutes we were filming,

Gasparetto says he channeled works by seven artists,

among the greatest of all time.

An impressive accomplishment, but is it

proof that the great masters are hard at work in the afterlife?

Perhaps some comparisons are in order.

A painting by August Renoir completed in 1877,

August Renoir in 1995 was channeled

through Luis Gasparetto in roughly five minutes.

Claude Monet, 1880, Claude Monet through Gasparetto.

Vincent van Gogh, 1890, van Gogh through Gasparetto.

Art experts in the United States are hardly convinced.

The notion that any one of these artists--

take a van Gogh, for example, a man of extraordinary intensity

and seriousness of purpose-- to think that he would want

to come back after his death and produce

third, fourth, fifth rate imitations

of what he successfully did during his life

seems to me incredible.

Gasparetto certainly seems to be possessed by some force.

I mean, perhaps it's the force of his own subconscious

playing back images that he's seen in art history books.

Or, perhaps, he's really receiving these images

from the afterlife.

I mean, I certainly can't say.

The painters are coming through me

because they want to show that there is life after death.

And they want us to think about eternity.

They want to help the evolution of our conceptions of life.

They want us to see life in a different way.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Is Luis Gasparetto

a window to the metaphysical side of art?

Can there possibly be any substance

to his stunning claims?

No matter what you may believe, even a skeptic

has to admit that Luis Gasparetto

puts on a great show.

Next, the search for a beautiful young waitress who

mysteriously vanished in 1992.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Men's Club in Houston, Texas

is an upscale adult night spot.

The clientele is mostly male, the entertainment topless.

For many of us, it is tempting to make

assumptions about the type of women who dance and work here.

But don't be deceived.

Consider the case of Tara Breckinridge,

who waited tables at the Men's Club from 1989 to 1992.

Tara grew up in Del Rio, Texas, population 34,000.

She was the third of five children

in an upstanding, devoutly religious family.

Tara was a very caring type person,

a very loving type person, very nurturing type person.

She was always very upbeat, very cheerful,

just a real wonderful daughter to have.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Shortly after graduating

from high school in 1987, Tara set off for Houston to pursue

a career in photography.

But in the end, financial reality

forced her to take up waitressing,

and ultimately landed her at the Men's Club.

Tara wasn't the type of person you would think

would work in a place like that.

It was more just for the money.

She was going to school and stuff.

So it made her the money that she was comfortable with.

And she was happy with that.

When Tara Brackenridge arrived in Houston,

she was no different than thousands of small town girls

with big city dreams.

But for Tara, the dream may have ended in a horrible nightmare.

In 1992, she vanished without a trace.

The police and her parents fear the worst.

They believe that Tara was murdered.

And high on the list of possible suspects

is Tara's boyfriend at the time, a young man named Wayne Hecker.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They met in 1989, two years

after Tara arrived in Houston.

Even though Tara had never danced at the Men's Club,

Wayne was less than thrilled about her job.

She was working before I met her in those kind of places.

And she loved the money.

And she loved the atmosphere.

And I guess that's just something.

And I'm not going to tell her where to work, you know?

Wayne was not happy about Tara working at a topless club.

But he accepted it, because it was paying the bills.

And so Tara worked at night.

And Wayne wasn't working at the time.

So he didn't have much of a choice.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite Wayne's misgiving,

the young couple soon moved in together.

At first, they seemed happy.

But as time passed, their relationship became

more and more contentious.

Tara and Wayne's relationship was kind of rocky,

to say the least.

She was always talking about moving out,

or thinking about moving out.

And we would discuss it at times.

And she would say she needed to talk it over with him.

And, occasionally, we talked about her doing it

without talking it over first.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In July of 1992,

Tara made a visit to her parents' home in Del Rio.

Tara's mother says she felt that something was not quite right.

I think maybe her problems were a lot bigger

than we would have guessed.

And we had no way of really knowing,

because she didn't talk to us about it.

And we didn't know to ask at the time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two weeks later, on August 3, 1992,

Tara was back in Houston working at the Men's Club.

It was a slow night.

And management decided to send two waitresses home early.

Anybody want to go?

You want to? I need one more.

Any volunteers? - I'll go home.

No kidding?

Yeah, it's slow, not much happening.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Everyone was surprised

when Tara volunteered to leave.

It was strangely out of character.

It would be a little unusual for Tara to ask to go home.

She wasn't always interested in leaving.

She was there till 2:00 o'clock to see if she-- you know,

till closing time, make as much money as she could.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tara changed into street clothes.

And at 12:29 AM, she punched out for the night.

Tara, when she left, walked past the doorman

without saying goodbye, or without responding

to his goodbye.

And that would have been unusual.

The security guard indicated that he

carried her tote bag that she had when she left the club.

He physically took it from her and carried it as he

escorted her to her vehicle.

He watched her get in the vehicle.

He told her to be safe as she drove

home, and then saw that she exited the parking lot.

We asked him if anybody followed her,

or if he saw anybody follow her.

And he said he did not.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At the very moment

Tara was leaving the men's club, her boyfriend Wayne Hecker

says he was in a pool hall 15 minutes away.

Wayne had phoned Tara earlier that evening,

but never spoke to her.

I didn't really think anything at that time.

And they told me that she was on the floor.

I probably got home at around 5:00.

And I expected to see Tara either laying on the sofa

or in bed.

And she wasn't there.

So at that point, I mean, I would

do like anybody else would that was in love with someone, or--

I went to find her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Indeed, it

would be Wayne who found Tara's car at 7:00 AM, abandoned

by the side of a busy freeway.

When I saw the car, the first thing that comes my mind

is, what's it doing there?

Apparently, she drove the car there.

The car alarm wasn't even on.

The flashers weren't even on.

That really surprised me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tara's car was locked.

And a can of mace was inside.

And she always carried her mace on her.

And when I saw the mace in the car,

I thought, why is the mace in the car?

And why aren't the flashers on?

And why isn't in the car-- we did have a car alarm.

Why wasn't it engaged?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The police fear that Tara

had met with foul play.

Before long, suspicion began to center on Wayne.

Investigators were especially curious about his activity

the night Tara disappeared.

We have employees of the club that indicated that he left

the club approximately midnight, 12:30,

and was next scene at approximately 1:45

in the morning.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The pool hall is located here,

15 minutes from the men's club.

Tara's car was found here, just three miles from the club.

Wayne's alleged absence from the pool hall

was a full hour and 45 minutes.

Well, there's certain actions and reactions

that we got from Wayne that cast suspicion upon himself.

Obviously, we don't have any evidence

to support a belief that he may or may not be involved in this.

But he certainly has not been eliminated as a suspect either.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Later, we put the question

directly to Wayne Hecker.

MAN: How do you respond to the charge

that Wayne Hecker had something to do

with Tara's disappearance?

To tell you the truth, I don't know an explanation

to anybody but the Lord.

And the Lord has given me--

you know, he's--

I'm waiting-- I'm waiting to hear something.

And it's from him.

I can't-- I can't answer to anybody, because there's not

an answer that I have.

Only he has it.

And-- and until there is an answer,

I don't think anybody will be satisfied.

And-- and-- they-- I might be pinpointed

for the rest of my life.

And, I mean, there's nothing I can do about that.

There's a lot of people that have said things,

made a lot of derogatory statements.

And-- and, uh--

that's-- I can't--

I can't help them.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): With no concrete evidence

of foul play, Tara Breckenridge was

officially listed as missing.

Then the police obtained a series of love notes

that indicated there had been another man in Tara's life.

One note said, please don't be scared.

Do what your heart tells you.

I'm very excited that you'll marry me.

But another one said, the more you hold out,

the longer you jeopardize what I feel for you.

According to people at the club, Tara's admirer

was a frequent visitor, and often

lavished her with $100 tips.

He apparently had intimate knowledge of her difficulties

with Wayne.

But the notes seemed to indicate that, in the end,

Tara rejected the man's advances.

There was nothing threatening in those notes.

We interviewed the individual.

Our opinion at this point is he was just

an individual that had an attraction toward Tara,

and nothing more.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But if Tara's admirer

was not a suspect, who was?

Once again, a shadow of doubt was cast upon Wayne Hecker.

Wayne did know about the guy.

And I do, honestly, think there was some jealousy.

But I don't think that it would cause

him to do anything stupid.

I haven't been charged with a crime, no, not at all.

I didn't commit a crime.

So how can I be charged with one?

Simple as that.

I loved the woman to death.

She is the best thing that ever happened to me.

She's a great girl.

Yeah, I do. I love her.

I love with all my heart.

And-- and, um-- and I hope the whole world hears that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tara Breckenridge

would today be 26 years old.

She's five feet, five inches tall, and weighs 120 pounds.

Her car was found about in the 1200 block of the West

Loop North in Houston, Texas on the morning

of August 4th, 1992.

Next, a remarkable story of an unlikely friendship

between bitter enemies, three Americans

GIs and four German soldiers.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The story you are about to see

is one of the most remarkable tales

to ever come out of the Second World War--

remarkable for the fact that it involves

no fighting and no bloodshed.

In 1973, "Reader's Digest" magazine published the account.

And in 1985, it was a focal point of a speech given

by President Ronald Reagan.

Tonight, we need your help to find three

unknown American GIs, and write the closing

chapter of this amazing saga.

[explosions]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): December 1944,

the battered German army launched

its last great offensive along an 85-mile front

in Belgium's Ardennes Forest, the infamous Battle

of the Bulge.

Nearly 16,000 American soldiers would lose their lives.

Another 60,000 would be wounded or captured.

It was the costliest battle the United

States would wage in any war.

Within earshot of the fighting on the edge of the Ardennes

Forest stood a small, isolated cabin.

There, Fritz Vincken, a 12-year-old German boy,

lived with his mother Elizabeth.

Fritz's father Hubert had moved his family

to the cabin for safekeeping.

But life in the forest was difficult.

The Huberts served as a civilian banker

for the German army 20 miles away.

Fritz and his mother struggled to put food on the table.

My father thought, like everybody else,

that the war would be end--

would be over by Christmas.

But that was not to be.

And our stay in this shack was longer than we anticipated.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Christmas Eve, 1944

arrived with an air of sadness and uncertainty.

Hubert had still not returned.

And his family was resigned to the fact

that they would be spending the holiday without him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fritz's mother

tried to make the evening as festive as possible.

She scraped together a Christmas meal of a few potatoes

and a scrawny Rooster.

[knocking]

Papa?

Shh.

FRITZ: My mother blew out the candle, and went to the door.

And I went with her.

She opened the door.

And there were these soldiers.

Good evening, ma'am.

Do you speak English?

No.

We're Americans.

They tried like to talk to us.

But my mother didn't speak English.

Our friend's been shot.

Can we come inside for a while, please?

FRITZ: My mother just looked.

And she looked at the guy sitting in the snow,

until finally my mother after what

seems to be like an eternity to me, she asked them to come in.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fritz's mother

knew full well that harboring the enemy

was punishable by death.

But she was more than willing to take the risk.

The injured soldier had been shot in the leg

and lost a great deal of blood.

Elizabeth did her best to make him comfortable.

What's she saying?

I don't know.

Ask her if she speaks French/

[french]

FRITZ: He said that they had lost their unit,

and were wandering through the Ardennes

for the past two days and two nights.

She's going to change his bandage.

My mother was all motherhood.

She worried for them.

And she worried for the wounded man.

And she did everything she could.

They were very nice, like big boys from the neighborhood,

you know?

How you doing, kid?

Have a nice Christmas?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fritz's mother

made the American GIs feel right at home.

The men began to relax, in anticipation of

an unexpected Christmas dinner.

[knocking]

FRITZ: We thought automatically, this must be more Americans.

And I went to the door and opened the door.

And there were four German soldiers.

I was petrified with fear.

He said, we have lost our unit.

And we would like to warm up a little bit.

So my mother said, you not only will be allowed to warm up,

but you get a nice dinner, if you accept our guests.

[speaking german]

FRITZ: And my mother said, this is Christmas night.

And there will be no shooting around here.

Put your arms in the wooden shed.

And then we come out, and have a nice, nice Christmas.

[speaking german]

FRITZ: Meanwhile, my mother had turned to the Americans, who

by then had noticed that some Germans were coming,

and had turned to their guns also.

[speaking french]

FRITZ: My mother said to me, get more potatoes, and more water.

We have more mouths to feed.

For about a minute or two, maybe three, there was a tension.

But then it was warm.

It smelled good.

And either way, there was a sense of hospitality.

You speak English?

Yes, a little.

Your comrade, he's wounded?

Yeah.

He got a round in the thigh earlier.

One of the German soldiers went over to the American that

were wounded, and asked the Americans in English

what was wrong with him?

So what do you think?

He's lucky.

He's lost a lot of blood.

But the cold has prevented the wound from getting infected.

He should recover, provided he gets some rest and nourishment.

Good.

FRITZ: He had some first aid kit.

And he applied the dressing to the wound.

And the whole evening, he would every now

and then go and look after him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That night, hostilities ceased

in at least one corner of the forest,

as American and German soldiers sat down together

to honor the Christmas spirit.

FRITZ: My mother said grace.

It wasn't a regular prayer.

It was something spontaneous, as she said,

let's all thank the lord for being together

tonight, peaceful in this terrible war.

And let's enjoy dinner, the little things that we have.

And let's promise to be friendly to each other forever,

if possible.

Let's also pray for an end to this terrible war

so that we all can go home very soon.

And by the time--

by the time they were all crying--

by that time they were all crying, not profusely.

But the tears were holding--

even the German Sargent, I was very surprised.

And then we ate.

And the tears disappeared.

But from then on, there was a feeling of friendship

that permeated the whole room.

It was wonderful.

I never forget.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After dinner, the soldiers

drifted outside one by one.

Elizabeth and Fritz soon joined them.

As they gazed heaven, each gave thanks in his own way.

That night, the men would sleep side by side

under the same roof, the differences

of war temporarily set aside.

FRITZ: They were so peaceful.

You'd never think that they are two different kinds

of soldiers, that one day before they

would have shot each other.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fritz remembers

that the spirit of brotherhood continued the next morning.

The German soldiers helped construct a makeshift stretcher

for the injured GI, and then gave the Americans

directions back to their line.

You come to the railroad tracks.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That same day, Fritz and his mother

left with the Germans, and were soon

reunited with Fritz's father.

Five months later, the war would end.

In the early 1960s, Fritz Vincken immigrated

to the United States.

Today, he is an American citizen living in Hawaii.

Like his father before him, Fritz

owns and operates a bakery.

But that special night in 1944 remains a defining

moment of Fritz's life.

He now hopes to find the American GIs

who helped him learn the true meaning of Christmas.

It showed me what my mother could do.

And it showed me what one single human being can do to avoid

bloodshed, and to bring peace.

And it also showed me at a very early age

that we are all alike.

No matter what uniform we wear, we

have the same joys, the same sorrows, the same problems.

And it was a very significant experience.

I never forgot it.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On a previous broadcast,

we told you of Earl and Donna Chotvacs, a young couple intent

on building their dream house on this breathtaking site, 200

miles north of Denver, Colorado.

Don't you think we ought to build a log house right

here, and a big picture window?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In April of 1991,

Earl and Donna hired a builder they

knew as Mark Mitchell, whose specialty was log cabin homes.

There you go, into your new home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A contract

was drawn up and reviewed by the Chotvacs and their attorney.

Earl and Donna gave Mitchell $25,000 as a deposit,

their entire life savings.

Then they waited for their dream house to take shape.

But weeks stretched into months.

And no structure ever rose on Earl and Donna's property.

Every time they questioned Mitchell, he had an excuse,

told them not to worry.

The final blow came six months later

when the Chotvacs banker turned up disturbing information

about Mark Mitchell.

I'm afraid the news isn't good.

It has nothing to do with you too.

The problem is with the builder.

It appears this man is in some serious trouble.

He has been taking deposit money,

just as he did yours, and then has not started

construction on the homes.

Matter of fact, Mark Mitchell is not even his real name.

It's Wade Mitchell Parker.

At that point, I felt nauseous.

Suddenly, just was sick, feeling as though we

were going to lose all the money that we

had given to Mark Mitchell.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Wade Mitchell Parker, alias Mark

Mitchell, left town soon after.

He allegedly disappeared with more than $1 million

stockpiled from at least 30 other fraud victims.

Parker avoided arrest for nearly three years

until just after the most recent broadcast of this story.

On August 11th, 1994, Wade Mitchell Parker

was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia,

some 1,300 miles from Colorado.

There, Parker was using two new aliases, Ronald

Anderson and Larry Wheeler.

But information developed from our program

helped reveal his true identity.

On September 26, 1994, Wade Mitchell Parker

was arraigned in Colorado on fraud and theft charges.

Our cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom.

However, Earl and Donna Chotvacs made sure they were

on hand to see justice done.

If he'd have been an honest man, we'd be living in our home

right now, and raising our children.

I think that anybody who has been ripped off this way

could take heart from this, knowing

that with enough perseverance, they may get their guy.

So it certainly gave me a lot of heart when

I was beginning to lose hope.

[music playing]

These days, the church seems like one of the few places

where you can expect to be safe from the harsh realities

of the outside world.

Certainly, it's the last place you'd expect

to find a con artist at work.

But for a devious swindler named Carlos Garcia,

the hallowed sanctuary provided the perfect setup.

The Holy Family Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia

serves a small, tightly knit Hispanic community.

Parishioners are honest and hardworking,

but by no means affluent.

In 1985, the church welcomed a new member.

Carlos Garcia I was a friendly middle

aged businessman who soon managed to ingratiate

himself in the community.

What really struck me about him

when he first came to us was how honest he seemed to be,

and how concerned he seemed to be

for the people of our community, for the Hispanic people,

especially with the Mexicans.

He was extremely close to the Mexican community.

And he earned their trust immediately,

just like he earned mine.

Let me just say how excited I am.

We've had a great year.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By 1988, Carlos

had been elected president and treasurer

of the local pastoral council, which oversaw the church

budget and expenditures.

It was an important prestigious position.

No one yet suspected that Garcia was, in reality, a brazen thief

who would end up stealing $2 million

from his church and his fellow parishioners.

You'll find the explanation on page two.

There was, for many people, almost an immediate trust

that this is somebody who has come

to this country, who has become successful,

and now is helping other people.

Unfortunately, we found out the trust

that had been put in Carlos had been

betrayed just in many ways.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Garcia used his position in the church

to attract clients to a seemingly legitimate tax

preparation business.

Over several years, Donaciana and Irma

Naranjo gave Carlos more than $13,000

to turn over to the IRS.

The IRS never got a penny.

[speaking spanish]

INTERPRETER (VOICEOVER): We didn't

know how the system worked here for paying taxes and all that.

As we come from Mexico, we didn't know a thing.

He helped us arrange our citizenship,

our immigration cards.

And he always helped us with everything.

So that's why we trusted him so much.

And that's why we trusted him with our taxes.

He takes advantage of the fact that a great many

of the individuals he comes in contact with

are unfamiliar with federal income tax laws.

They trust him to guide them through what

really must appear a maze.

Unfortunately, they don't realize

that he has no intention of taking them anywhere but

to the cleaners, so to speak.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But Garcia's tax preparation scam

was just the tip of the iceberg.

He obtained privileged and confidential information

from hundreds of community members.

He then used that knowledge to order credit cards

in the names of his fellow church goers

and their deceased relatives.

He would use the information he obtained about other people

to build resumes, obtain credit cards, establish bank accounts.

And with his credit cards, he even assumed

the identities of females.

And he would charge things on these credit cards.

And nobody would ever question the fact

that he was signing what would appear to be a female name,

simply because it was Hispanic.

And he would explain to them that sometimes a name that you

would assume would be female was not

because it was a Hispanic name.

And he got away with it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For most con men,

that would have been enough.

But Carlos Garcia was also something of a ladies' man.

One woman, whom we will call Anna,

dated Carlos for six years and never got the slightest inkling

that he was up to no good.

When Carlos learned Anna's mother had

a large sum of money to invest, he encouraged

her to put the funds in a CD.

He had told her that the interest rate would

be better at his credit union.

And he had already picked up the signature cards and everything,

and brought those with them.

So she filled out the application

and the signature card.

And he took the money.

He put it in the credit union.

It's an excellent investment.

Thank you, Carlos.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Unbeknownst to Anna

and her mother, Carlos cosigned the signature card.

Before long, he had emptied the account to the tune of $25,000.

Thank you very much.

It hurts.

It hurts that all of these years,

you thought that someone cared about you.

And, really, they were just using you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For eight years,

Carlos Garcia operated at will.

Finally, one of his class became suspicious

and contacted the IRS inspection office.

The taxpayer alleged that she had given Carlos cash monies

for three consecutive years for Carlos

to apply and send to the Internal Revenue Service.

She subsequently learned that Carlos--

that IRS did not have any record of her filing,

or any payments made to the Internal Revenue Service.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1983,

the client made a phone call to Carlos

to discuss her situation.

Carlos had no idea that IRS inspectors were listening in.

Carlos, I'm calling because I've received

some letters from the IRS.

And they say that they haven't received payments from me.

And, you know, I paid you in cash.

And I don't have any record of it.

Obviously, there's been a terrible mistake.

I will call them on Monday morning and straighten

this whole situation out.

So you do have the record then?

You can prove to them that I gave you the payment in cash?

Yes, I've got those records.

I know you paid me.

I've got everything right here.

I will take care of it.

Do you understand?

OK, then I'll wait to hear from you.

Thank you, Carlos.

Bye-bye.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Carlos Garcia

was arrested a few days later.

He soon posted bail.

Within a week, Garcia slipped out of Virginia Beach

and vanished.

When investigators searched through Garcia's records

and documents, they discovered his true identity,

Fernando Zapico.

Zapico, a native of Argentina, is a career con artist

whose life of crime spans more than four decades,

and includes at least 17 aliases.

Authorities say that Zapico has bilked hundreds

of victims up and down the east coast

out of millions of dollars.

Probably even greater than the loss of funds

from our Hispanic community has been the loss of trust,

and the real betrayal that people have felt of someone

whom they loved and respected, and truly looked up to as

a leader of our community.

And now they find that they've been betrayed by him.

INTERPRETER (VOICEOVER): Our dreams came rushing down.

And now, we can't trust anyone anymore.

We're afraid something like this will

happen again, because he was a man who belonged to the church.

It was impossible to conceive that he

would steal from the church.

And, yet, that's what he did.

I still have times when it is hard for me to accept this.

I still have times when I feel like cry,

when I feel depressed, because I trusted him.

I believed in him.

He took money from people that were simple people--

again, people that trusted him.

And these people will never be the same again We all--

the whole community will never be the same again.

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Join me next Friday for another intriguing addition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

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