June 20, 2003

Lauderdale Man Charged with Stealing $70,000 in Red Cross 9-11 Funds

Party boy Patric Ian Henn is on his way back to Fort Lauderdale, but this time it won’t be courtesy of a first-class airline ticket paid for by the American Red Cross.

The con man that lied about his lover dying on 9-11 at the World Trade Center in Manhattan will be heading to the Broward County Jail in shackles, to answer charges of theft and grand larceny.

Henn is accused of falsely claiming that his purported partner, Jeff Anderson, perished on September 11, 2001, thus entitling him to partnership and survivor benefits. Using phony addresses, false social security numbers, and making up stories about a ‘Luis Vitton’ lifestyle, Henn duped charitable agencies into paying him over $70,000 in cash.

The Express, however, did an investigative report, which revealed that Henn’s claims were fraudulent and specious, that the wealthy lover never existed, and the Red Cross was the victim of an organized scheme to defraud. After the expose appeared in The Express, Henn admitted the scam to his neighbors at Middle River Terrace, confessing that he made up the scam to "get money."

Henn then fled Fort Lauderdale, but a continuing investigation by The Express revealed that he attempted to continue the con job in Washington, D.C., and later Littleton, Colorado. It was revealed that Henn had gone to high school in the Colorado region, claiming at one time, ten years before, to be a dying AIDS patient, who miraculously recovered.

Now a reporter with the Globe, and the American Media chain, Express reporter Ian Drew worked on the story with publisher Norm Kent. He commented "I was in New York on September 11. I know how sad a day it was. For Henn to do what he did was unconscionable. He used a time of tragedy for all Americans to line his own greedy pockets."

After a lengthy investigation, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department procured a warrant for his arrest on fraud charges, December 19, 2002. He has been a fugitive ever since.

The Express learned today that Henn was arrested by Dallas, Texas, police on Friday, June 13, 2003, on a charge of possession of marijuana. He tried to conceal his identity by giving a false social security number, but the attempt failed.

According to Detective James Pott of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department (954-828-5528), arrangements are now being made to transport him to Florida to answer the accusations articulated in the felony warrant.

Detective Pott told The Express, "We believe we have a solid case with good witnesses, and we will prosecute it vigorously."

Publisher Norm Kent, whose leads were turned over to the detectives to enable them to further their investigation, indicated, "The police have phony applications for relief and other tangible documentation which establishes the fraud, the con, the lies, and the theft."

"Beyond that," Kent added, "Henn made numerous false and conflicting representations to many individuals that are going to come back and haunt him now. Hopefully for about ten years in a small, dark cell. He is a traitor who robbed the real victims."

Gay City News

http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn225/gaymanarrested.html

Gay Man Arrested in Trade Center Fraud

Patric Henn arrested for alleging scamming $68,000 from Red Cross, $1,000 from ESPA
By Mick Meenan

June 20, 2003

A gay man who allegedly defrauded the Red Cross of $68,000 by falsely claiming his domestic partner died in the attack on the World Trade Center has been apprehended in Texas.

Patric Henn was arrested on June 13 in Dallas and is facing extradition back to Florida where a Broward County judge last December issued a warrant for his arrest.

Joe Tarver, press spokesperson of the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), said that Henn had contacted The Express, a Florida-based gay newspaper, to complain that ESPA had denied him aid after his partner Jeff John Andersen, was killed. Following a lengthy investigation by The Express, holes appeared in Henn’s story.

According to News4Jax.com, the online site for a local Florida TV station, Henn was arrested in Dallas for petty theft and marijuana possession. The Florida warrant then came to the attention of Dallas police.

According to News4Jax.com, Henn first aroused suspicion when he approached The Express to complain that ESPA had not done enough to assist him, despite the group already having given Henn $1,000.

“He wanted notoriety and sympathy. He wanted to be on ‘Larry King Live as a victim of this disaster,” said Norm Kent, publisher of The Express.

An exposé by the newspaper uncovered the fraudulent nature of Henn’s claims to be the surviving partner of Jeff John Anderson, an alleged September 11 victim.

“To our knowledge, no such person exists,” Fort Lauderdale Detective James Pott said in the News4Jax.com article.

Shortly after September 11, Henn arrived in New York City from Florida, claiming that his partner, a businessman, had spoken with him 45 minutes before the attack began and was about to visit a brokerage firm in the World Trade Center.

Henn availed himself of the emergency donor funds established by advocacy groups for the survivors of LGBT victims of the attack. Safe Horizons, the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Red Cross, ESPA, and the Stonewall Community Foundation scrambled in the days after September 11 to address the needs of those survivors.

Henn was given a $1000 advance from the general fund of ESPA after convincing the organization that he was destitute and financially dependent upon Anderson. ESPA expected that the money would be reimbursed to them once Henn was given a Red Cross survivor’s payout.

After returning to Florida, where the Red Cross put him up in a Fort Lauderdale guesthouse, Henn contacted ESPA and persisted in asking for more money from the organization.

“I spoke to him on the phone and told him he needed to furnish the documentation for his claim that all other survivors needed to provide,” said Joe Tarver, recalling a November 2001 conversation with Henn. “I explained to him that we wanted to help him, but that he needed to help us do that, that there were legal issues at stake. Then he snapped. He said, ‘You people are supposed to help people like me and you’re doing nothing, but hurting us. I need money now,’ he demanded.”

According to Tarver, Henn said he would “expose ESPA to the gay press in Florida and that we would regret it.”

It was at this juncture in his alleged ruse that Henn contacted The Express.

According to Tarver, approximately 24 LGBT survivors of September 11 applied for financial relief assistance, with Henn’s being apparently the only fraudulent claim among them.

“Of all the hundreds arrested for fraudulent 9-11 claims, Henn appears to be the only gay case,” said Tarver.

“To use one of the most traumatizing events in our nation’s history to personally enrich himself was disgusting,” said Tarver.

Following the resolution of the charges in Texas, Henn is expected to be extradited to Florida where he faces 15 years in prison if convicted.