Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, June 25,  2003

President Put on D.L.
President Abel Pacheco has been ordered to stay home and take a much-needed break from his hectic schedule for the remainder of the week, after being diagnosed with stress and fatigue-related hypertension by his personal physician, Dr. Manuel Sáenz Monday afternoon.
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Vault President Commits Suicide
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

ROY TAYLOR TT/ Scott Brennon

Chicago native Roy Taylor, president and majority shareholder of The Vault Holding Firm, shot and killed himself in the bathroom of his downtown offices at 3:20 p.m., during a police raid yesterday, according to Taylor's lawyer.

Taylor, 58, was under investigation by the Prosecutors' Office for Financial Crimes for allegedly defrauding one of his partners out of $3 million. He reportedly shot himself in the head after being informed by prosecutors that he was being detained and taken downtown to the court for questioning.

"Roy Taylor is dead," Vault lawyer Mauricio Brenes, inside the office at the time of the police raid, told The Tico Times via cell phone at 3:30 p.m. "Roy just committed suicide. He went into the bathroom and shot himself."

The Vault claimed to be an asset-based firm that made profits from real-estate development. Taylor was also allegedly running an unregulated high-interest rate personal loan business (TT, Dec. 20, 2002).

The Vault regularly took out two-page ads in The Tico Times.

Taylor, who had lived here since 1996, said last December that The Vault had dozens of partnerships in the 76 companies he owned. He told The Tico Times Monday that his company had more than $20 million in assets, but said he was being forced to liquidate a majority of his holdings to pay back some 30 "associates" who are currently trying to cash out their accounts for a sum total of just over $1 million.

Taylor's problems began last December when parallel investigations were opened by the Prosecutor's Office for Financial Crimes, SUGEF (Costa Rica's financial regulatory agency) and the Special Fraud Prosecutor's Office (TT, Dec. 20).

The SUGEF investigation concluded last April, and Taylor reportedly stopped making interest payments to many of his "associates." The Vault sent a letter to its investors shortly after the SUGEF investigation, explaining that it could not make interest payments for April due to a "complete overhaul of our cash payment system for this month only."

The Vault's 10 downtown San José offices, including the recently opened central office on the pedestrian boulevard, were raided Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. by several state prosecutors, a San José judge and some 15 officers from the Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) and Municipal Police.

Ten minutes later, paramedics arrived when Taylor reportedly showed signs of a heart attack. Taylor, who was rumored to have suffered a heart attack last week, told The Tico Times Monday that he had been in the hospital for an infection, not a heart condition.

Taylor, who had been incarcerated in Costa Rica in 1997 for eight months while police investigated allegations of extortion (the charges were later dropped) and did prison time in California in the early '90s for grand theft, apparently was determined not to go back to jail, according to close sources.

He is survived by his Costa Rican wife, Lilliam Corrales, and her children.

Don't miss Friday's TT print edition for full report on the future of The Vault and exclusive interview with Taylor the day before his suicide.

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President Put on D.L.
By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff

NOT FEELING SO GOOD: Pacheco takes a break photo/Casa Presidencial

President Abel Pacheco has been ordered to stay home and take a much-needed break from his hectic schedule for the remainder of the week, after being diagnosed with stress and fatigue-related hypertension by his personal physician, Dr. Manuel Sáenz Monday afternoon.

The problems began at around midday Monday after the 69-year-old President felt ill after returning to the Casa Presidencial after attending a graduation at the National Police Academy in downtown San José. Shortly after, Sáenz made a house call to Pacheco's office, where the diagnosis was made.

Later in the afternoon, a press release was sent announcing Vice-President Lineth Saborío would temporarily assume the presidency until next Monday.

"The President is a good patient and is following all the instructions given to him by his doctor. I am temporarily assuming his responsibilities," Saborío said yesterday. "Only matters of extreme importance will be discussed with him this week. That way he will be able to make the most of the eight days he has to recover.

"He hasn't had a vacation for a long time; first he was involved in a very long and hard campaign, and now he is going through a difficult and stressful first year," she added. "The President hasn't taken any breaks since assuming the office 14 months ago. He has had a very hectic schedule, working between 12 and 14 hours a day."

In January 2000 Pacheco suffered a mild stroke. Sáenz discarded the possibility that the hypertension could lead to another stroke, but just to be safe ordered Pacheco to rest.

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Plane Crashes in Pavas
By Amanda Schoenberg
aschoenberg@ticotimes.net

CRASH LANDING TT/ Susan Hollis

A small single-engine plane crashed into the roof of a small home in the western suburb of Pavas Tuesday morning, spewing gasoline and injuring the pilot and one resident, but leaving no fatalities.

After taking off from the nearby Tobás Bolaños airport, the small plane dived into the private home at 10:22 a.m., coming to rest nose-down next to a toilet. Two hours after the accident, with the plane's tail poking out of the roof, fresh flowers and eggs still sat on a bureau and a pair of jeans adorned one of the destroyed plane wings.

Though five people were in the home in the mostly Nicaraguan enclave of Cristal, only 29-year-old Herman Burlan was injured, suffering first-degree burns resulting from a fuel spill from the airplane.

Four other residents, including two children, were uninjured.

Police said pilot Ortez Arante, 48, who was on his first routine test flight with the cropduster company Aviación Agrícola, reportedly general trauma from the impact.

A police officer on the scene said the pilot was conscious when he was removed from the plane and appeared in relatively stable condition.

Both injured persons were taken to San Juan de Dios Hospital in central San José.

Civil Aviation said the plane apparently took off in good condition, and already had logged 200 flight hours. Authorities are beginning an investigation, but no cause for the accident has yet been identified.

A similar accident occurred Jan. 15, 2000, when a twin-engine plane took off from Bolaños airport and crashed into a home in the nearby western district of Rohrmoser, killing four of its 15 passengers (TT Jan. 21, '00).

Three hours after Tuesday's crash, mechanics from Aviación Agrícola and Civil Aviation began to dismantle the wreckage, while 10 firemen continued to stand by in case of possible sparks, according to fireman Jorge Murillo.

The house next door was also damaged, with bits of wreckage poking through a child's playroom and large chunks lying in the street. Police evacuated neighbors for 50 meters around the scene, but most returned to their homes several hours later.

Twelve-year old Mauricio Sambrana was babysitting his younger brothers at a house across the dirt road when the plane hit.

"When it fell, we left the house to see, thinking that a car had crashed into a house," said Sambrana. "We were all running out and realized it was the plane that fell, with sparks of flame flying out of it."

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