By: Vivienne C.
Hathian’s crime landscape is a murky mix of gangs and police, there are instances where the line between justice and corruption becomes disturbingly blurred. This is the story of a kidnapping that morphed into a tale of police corruption, leaving the victim suffering twice over.
Stripper-Gram Scam
Delphine Laveau and David Pink have been terrorising unsuspecting citizens for some weeks now and conducting home invasions, in this story they set their sight on Tracy Azuma and her friend Clara Delarosa. A stripper gram showed up on their door step one day, which they did not order.
“The stripper went by the Satin Wrangler. Showed up in pink assless chaps with a bedazzled cowboy hat. The girl said she was his handler, just there to make sure everything went down as intended.”
Clara Delarosa – Survivor
This scam was a robbery, they handcuffed both Tracy and Clara to the toilet and trashed their place. Even went as far as threaten to cook their pet, a dog called Nugget, alive. The harrowing experience did not end there, they continued to threaten them to handover everything Trathat was of value in the house.
After some hours and once they managed to get themselves out, the survivors went to HPD, only for their case to be initially ignored (this is a common practice for Hathian police which practices some form of mysterious selectiviness). Unfortuntaley, Tracy and Clara did not know they were being watched by Delphone and David.
The Kidnapping
It happened in broad day light, and in one of the busiest spots in Hathian, Tracy was at Lou’s.
“I was just trying to find some peace, to escape a recent rejection, when they attacked me outside of Lou’s. Delphine and David came at me with a bat… and this makeshift weapon I later learned was a Nokia phone strapped to a stick. They were relentless, fueled by this twisted sense of revenge.”
Tracy Azuma – Survivor
The kidnappers were sadly successful in taking her and phoned her friend the next day to inititate their diabolical extortion.
“I received a text from Tracy’s phone the night she didn’t come home. It was Delphine and David, taunting me and sharing pictures of Tracy beaten and locked in a cage. They wanted me to pay a ransom. Of course I didn’t know it was them at the time. But they had accidentally made the conversation a group chat, so I took the numbers and pictures to HPD to try to get their help. I guess they must have gotten a hit on Delphine and David’s numbers, but they kept that info from me for awhile.”
Clara Delarosa – Survivor
Graphic image sent by kidnappers to Clara’s phone, of her friend Tracy kept in a cage.
Clara herself was attacked in what would seem a series of most unfortunate events, that is where Officer Mikaela Akimov enters the story as she visited her in the hospital and filed the report for both incidents. Officer Akimov used Clara’s phone to communicate with the kidnappers who demanded a whooping amount of $75,000 as ransom money.
It would appear that during their torture of Tracy, Delphine and David learned that she had a trust fund of that amount kept safely for her future. Tracy told me of the inhumane treatement she recieved at the hands of Delphine and David, which is too distressing to list here. The couple were indiginant that she went to the police and blamed her for being treated like an animal.
God forbid that peaceful citizens should report crime or do anything to prevent it, we must all endure the insanity of Hathian with meek obedience. But I digress, Clara eventually managed to retreive the money and with the help of HPD they set a date and a time to handover the ransom.
“That night the time to meet up finally arrived. I carried a duffel bag with all 75k in cash. A Detective from HPD, Lieutenant Landon Fyre joined Akimov and I in the sting operation. I positioned myself on the second floor while Willams hid and Akimov acted as lookout on the third floor. Fyre would join the scene later when he was needed as he waited in a cop car out of sight.”
Clara Delarosa – Survivor
The criminals showed up with Tracy, dressed up like a doll in a big pink ball gown, her hair had been bleached from the usual black and red. The events that followed unfolded rapidly and dramatically, resulting in falls from considerable hights, ransom money flying out from the duffle bag.
Clara was severely injured and while all this is happening, Lietunant Fyre lunged for ransom money which was pocketed as witnessed by Clara in the scene. Officer Akimov too managed to take some money while she could. Out of the three officers present, none offered to help.
HPD robbed Clara and Tracy, the betrayal felt by both cannot be overstated. To have this done by a senior ranking Lietunant and an officer who prioritized their own interests over the safety and well-being of those they were duty-bound to protect ensured that the survivors have even less resources and tools to heal from the kidnapping experience.
The Corruption Unveiled
There has always been whispers about police corruption, shady dealings, and mysterious money that shows up being donated for the “community”. Now we have proof that the money is not always confsicated from criminals to be laundered to the benefit of Hathians but that it could as well come from innocent civilians.
The tally of HPD crimes continuous to grow, there will be a reckoning, one that I hope would start with a much needed police reform discussion tackling police brutality, lack of transperancy, and accountibility. Not more crimes as we have witnessed in the past weeks.
Stay Safe Hathians!
