5.Clariza Lebredo — Direct/Cross/Redirect
196 linesJUDGE WHEELER: Okay. All right. Thank you, ma'am. You're free to go.
State may call its next witness.
MS. DUGAN: State calls Clariza Lebredo.
JUDGE WHEELER: Clariza Lebredo, please.
Okay. Ma'am, if you would come right up here, please.
Good afternoon.
JUNE UMCHINDA: Good afternoon.
JUDGE WHEELER: Before you have a seat, we're going to swear you in. Okay. Please raise your right hand and respond to the clerk.
whereupon, CLARIZA LEBREDO was called as a witness, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
JUDGE WHEELER: Thank you. Please have a seat. We just need you to speak loud and clear into that microphone. Okay. If you could scoot up to that.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DUGAN:
MS. DUGAN: Good afternoon. will you tell us your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: My name is Clariza Lebredo. C-L-A-R-I-Z-A, Lebredo is L-E-B-R-E-D-O.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. I'm going to ask you today some questions about your employment at the Adelson Institution. I guess since maybe about three years ago, that's now a different dental practice; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And but before -- what year was it sold?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: A year ago. Less than a year ago.
MS. DUGAN: Less than a year. Okay. But up until less than a +=year ago, you worked for the Adelson Institute for many years?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. How many years?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Close to 40.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And now do you work at the practice that it was sold to?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Now where was the -- I'm just going to ask you about Adelson institute. And so where was the Adelson Institute located?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Tamarac.
MS. DUGAN: where in the Miami area is Tamarac?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: No, it's not in Miami.
MS. DUGAN: where in that area is Tamarac?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: It's in Broward, Broward County.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And is it near Fort Lauderdale?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: what is the -- or what was the exact address?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: 7737 North University Drive, Tamarac.
MS. DUGAN: And what type of business was the Adelson Institute?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Dental office.
MS. DUGAN: And what was your position there?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Dental assistant.
MS. DUGAN: Did you ever work the front desk?
MS. DUGAN: And you knew Harvey and Donna Adelson and their children?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: All right. You said you worked there for almost 40 years. That includes the years 2014 to 2016?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: My questions are going to be about those years for you today. Okay?
All right. Can you tell us the names of the employees of the Adelson Institute during those years?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Myself, Dr. Adelson, Charlie, Donna, Erika and Amy.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Erika is Erika Johnson?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And she works the front desk and is Charlie Adelson's assistant?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And you are a dental assistant?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And Amy, what does she do?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Hygienist.
MS. DUGAN: Hygienist. Okay.
And then the only other people besides you, Erika and Amy are the Adelson family: Harvey, Donna and Charlie?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Right.
MS. DUGAN: Now Harvey and Charlie, they are dentists; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. What about Donna? what does she do there?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: She worked up front and --
MS. DUGAN: Kind of like manages the office?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Is she the person that does payroll? Did she write your checks at the time?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I don't know.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Did she kind of serve as an office manager?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I don't know if that was her title, but --
MS. DUGAN: She would do office-type clerical work?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: what were the Adelson's business -- Adelson's business hours back in 2014 to 2016?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: 8:00 to 5:00, 11 to 7:00 was our late night, four days a week.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. would it be Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 8:00 to 5:00, and then your late day would be wednesday --
CLARIZA LEBREDO: wednesday, correct.
MS. DUGAN: -- 11 to 7:00? And that was 11 to 7:00 that day?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And those were not just your working hours, those were the operating hours of the Adelson Institute?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Correct.
MS. DUGAN: would doctors see patients on Friday or the ~weekends?
MS. DUGAN: All right. Now, if a patient called while -- when the Adelson Institute was closed, during any hour that it wasn't open, would that call go to a voicemail machine?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: All right. And whose responsibility would it be to, like, check the machine and call the patients back?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: It could be any of us. It could be Donna, it could have been myself when I came in, or Erika.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. who has access to the employee records at Adelson Institute?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: They did.
MS. DUGAN: Meaning the Adelson family?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: The Adelsons, yeah.
MS. DUGAN: Do you have access to it?
MS. DUGAN: All right. Do you recall two law enforcement officers coming to Adelson Institute back in June of 2016?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: All right. And they asked you if you were familiar with an employee named Katherine Magbanua?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: All right. And you told them no, but referred them to Erika Johnson?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Right, yes.
MS. DUGAN: And she said -- you said, she's an employee there who is Charles Adelson's assistant, also works the front desk?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Do you know the Defendant in this case Katherine Magbanua?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: From the office.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And when you say "office," do you mean you know her from coming in and working there at the office or from being a patient at the office?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: From being a patient. I saw her.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. So she's come in to get a cleaning or some type of dental work there?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Right.
MS. DUGAN: How many times has she been a patient?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Once, once.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. In your almost 40 years of working there, did you ever see Katherine Magbanua come in to the Adelson Institute as anything other than a patient?
MS. DUGAN: How did you get paid by Adelson Institute?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Just a check.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. How often would you get your checks?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Every two weeks.
MS. DUGAN: Have you been paid for weeks of -- for a week or two weeks of work prior to completing the work? Has that ever happened?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And I'm not talking about sequential checks. I'm talking about predating. Like, you getting your check before you've worked, before you've completed that period?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: would you ever get multiple paychecks at a time?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. How many?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Maybe two more than I was supposed to get.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. So that would be three then?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Right.
MS. DUGAN: Did you ever get four, five, six --
MS. DUGAN: -- checks in a row?
MS. DUGAN: when you would get two or three at a time, what would be going on at that time for the Adelson family that would cause you to get those checks?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: If they were going to go away, they'd pay me before they left.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. So if you were due to get a paycheck and they were about to go on a two-week vacation, they would go ahead and give you your paychecks while they would be out so you wouldn't not get paid?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. But you would never get four, five, six in a row?
MS. DUGAN: Have any of Charlie Adelson's girlfriends been on Adelson's payroll, to your knowledge?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I don't know.
MS. DUGAN: You don't do payroll, I guess; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Huh?
MS. DUGAN: You don't do the payroll?
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Have you ever been aware of any employee of Adelson Institute, in the history of your employment there, that has ever worked exclusively by phone or remotely? Prior to, obviously, the pandemic? I'm talking 2014 to 2016?
MS. DUGAN: That's all I have. Thank you.
JUDGE WHEELER: Cross examination?
MS. KAWASS: Thank you, Judge.
CROSS EXAMINATION BY MS. KAWASS:
MS. KAWASS: Good afternoon, Ms. Lebredo. How are you?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Hello. Good.
MS. KAWASS: Now, you have been working there 40 years, you said, at the Adelson Institute; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. KAWASS: It's a small family dental practice; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. KAWASS: It's not some big, you know, multi-dentist operation with several partners and different -- the people in charge are Harvey Adelson and Donna Adelson; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Correct.
MS. KAWASS: Now you only work from Monday to Thursday; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. KAWASS: You would have no idea if anyone came into the office at all from Friday to Sunday; right?
MS. KAWASS: Okay. Now, you have no say or knowledge -- I mean, Donna Adelson and Harvey Adelson and Charles Adelson don't have to come and check in with you to determine or to let you know what they're doing and who they're writing checks for; right?
MS. KAWASS: Has Wendi Adelson ever worked in the office?
MS. KAWASS: So if her parents put her -- gave her a paycheck every couple of weeks, you know, but she didn't physically work there, that's something that they could do for their daughter; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I don't know.
MS. KAWASS: Okay. You wouldn't know; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I wouldn't know.
MS. KAWASS: Okay. And so you have no idea the arrangement that was made between Charles Adelson and Katherine Magbanua as to why she was getting those paychecks; right?
MS. KAWASS: And you're not in a position, really, to ask the Adelsons why they write checks; right?
MS. KAWASS: The best people to tell this jury about what that was for would be Donna Adelson and Harvey Adelson; right?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I don't know.
MS. KAWASS: Okay. They're not in Tallahassee; are they? They're not coming here to testify under a State subpoena?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I don't know.
MS. KAWASS: Okay.
MS. KAWASS: Okay. No further questions.
JUDGE WHEELER: Redirect?
MS. DUGAN: Yes, sir.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DUGAN:
MS. DUGAN: The sequential checks that you told us about, you said you get sometimes two or three in a row, how often would that happen?
MS. KAWASS: Objection. Outside the scope of cross.
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Once --
JUDGE WHEELER: Hold on a second. what's the question?
MS. DUGAN: How often she would get paid more than one or two paychecks in a row.
JUDGE WHEELER: Overruled. You can answer that.
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Once a year.
BY MS. DUGAN:
MS. DUGAN: Did the Adelson Institute have a cleaning service?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: was that a husband and wife team?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And you saw them, the husband and wife team?
CLARIZA LEBREDO: I know them, yeah.
MS. DUGAN: Okay.
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Was it Katherine Magbanua?
MS. DUGAN: Okay. That's all.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. we can release the witness?
MS. DUGAN: Yes, sir. She can be released.
JUDGE WHEELER: You're free to go, ma'am. Thank you.
CLARIZA LEBREDO: Thank you.
JUDGE WHEELER: Let's meet sidebar quickly, please.
(Discussion held off the record).