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A deeper look at the “Fatback”/”Ralphie” saga

HeadlineA deeper look at the “Fatback”/”Ralphie” saga

LOS LAGOS, Thurs. Feb. 12, 2015–This past Monday, February 9, we reported on the response of former PUP Minister of Home Affairs and Budget Planning, Ralph Fonseca, Sr., to allegations of skullduggery which were made by Eugene “Fatback” Webster, 55, a former employee of his late son, Ralph “Ralphie” Fonseca, Jr. – claims which he, Fonseca, categorized as “ridiculous and pure fabrication.”

Amandala dug deeper into the story today, and we spoke to Webster, who is seeking what he calls the rightful compensation that he has earned after 18 years of service to the Fonsecas.

According to Webster, things started to go downhill after the death of Fonseca, Jr., and Ralph Balderamos (a friend of Fonseca, Jr.), who both died in a tragic road traffic accident that occurred on September 11, 2007 when Fonseca, Jr.’s Toyota Prado SUV collided with a trailer that unhitched from a truck just outside Orange Walk Town.

Webster, who was in the back seat of the vehicle at the time, sustained serious bodily injuries which rendered him partially disabled and in need of hip replacement surgery, but since the incident, the former employee and bodyguard of Fonseca, Jr., believes that he has now been “thrown under the bus” by Fonseca, Sr., whom he used to refer to as his “dad”, and who, he said, had promised to “take care” of him in the wake of the tragic accident.

Fatback to Ralph, Sr.: Run mi money!!! The former employee of Ralph Fonseca, Jr., maintains that after 18 years of service, he was “chanced” out of his rightful compensation

According to Webster, however, instead of being assisted, he has been “chanced” by Fonseca, Sr., who has since emphatically insisted that Webster’s claims are unfounded.

“I don’t have to lie. The truth hurts. That’s why all this is coming out in the public now, because I’m talking the truth, but I would rather die for the truth. All I’m asking for is to be compensated for my years of service; I’m not asking him [Ralph, Sr.] for nothing else. I took care of his son until he died, and I got nothing in return. I had $30,000 in my pocket when we crashed and I gave them everything, not one cent short. That’s why I’m asking him why is he doing this to me after he called me ‘son’ – they collected from the accident, and I didn’t get a penny, not even from the insurance. He is not telling people the right thing”, Webster declared.

Webster explained to Amandala how the accident has affected his mobility and changed his life.

“I’m [constantly] in pain every day. I can’t do anything. I was a runner and I used to play ball, but that’s done now. I’m left here with this hip which is eating away. I can feel the steel coming out of the side of my foot since my bone is now healed. With this, you can’t do anything because when the weather change, this is no joke. That’s all I want Mr. Ralph to know – da nuh you crash, da me lef ya eena pain and witnessed your son’s death. Now I have to live with that”, Webster noted.

“…They just chanced me, man, pure chance. I have it in black and white showing where he is lying. Now you are trying to make it look like your son owed money when he died? Don’t do the young man that. He worked hard. Da Ralphie [used to] do all of his father’s work,” said Webster.

Webster then put out a public invitation for Fonseca, Sr., to sit down and discuss the issue with him.

“I want Mr. Ralph to come and face me, to sit down and talk with me….,” Webster stated.

Webster also spoke about the infamous $37 million in funds that “Ralphie” had allegedly amassed in “various countries all over the world.”

Fonseca, Sr. described it as “nonsense”, but Webster maintained that “all the money that his son died lef gone right back to him [Ralph Sr.].”

“This man has companies all over the world. I don’t even have a piece of land in my name after working with them for so long. I’m not greedy. He can send anything for me for my years of service, and I will leave him alone and don’t bother him anymore. All I’m asking the man is that I want to take these [metal fixtures] out [of my leg] because I’m in pain,” Webster said.

Webster also added that it has been 8 years since the accident and that his doctor’s prognosis was that he was supposed to have taken the hip replacement surgery within a 5-year span to avoid further harm to his body, and therefore he is in a position where not only his health, but his life is currently on the line.

The hip replacement surgery that Webster is to undergo is scheduled to be conducted in New York at a cost of $106,000, which would be one of the primary reasons that he is clamoring for his fair share of compensation for his years of work.

Webster also used documents in his possession to refute claims made by Fonseca in an earlier interview with Amandala that all monies owed to Webster as part of a settlement following the accident which caused his disability were paid, and in fact, that he had received more than what was owed to him.

On March 9, 2011, a settlement agreement was drafted between Webster and Raul Cuello, the owner of the trailer that caused the fatal accident, stating that Webster was to be paid $167,000 in damages via installments of $450 a week for a five-year period.

Rather than receiving all his monies, however, Webster told us that not only was he short-changed in the deal, even though all the other parties have received their payment in full, but now, he is being maligned for speaking out about the situation.

“I collected three years of payment, but it was supposed to be for five years. On May 23, 2014, it stopped, because they [the Fonsecas] reversed the payment. Now, they don’t even want to face me; when I go to see them, they don’t want to see me. Every time I go to the office [of the firm that drafted the agreement], they tell me that the person I’m supposed to see is in a meeting and when I call, they tell me that the person is not there. I’m 55 years old, and all I’m asking is for my payment so that I can sustain my family,” he reiterated.

“I went to settle with Cuello, but they did not finish making the payments, so I gave them my house papers and told them to keep the next two years. I signed for 5 years, but only got the $450 for 3 years. I wondered why they were paying me weekly when everybody else was being paid up front. Ralph Balderamos got US$400,000, Fonseca, Jr. got his share [paid to both their beneficiaries], but why was mine spaced off? Why are they trying to crucify me? I didn’t drive and kill Ralphie. It’s the same thing I told Mr. Ralph, da greed again. I left you with the millions, and you are still grabbing at the crumbs, but you don’t want me to say anything now,” he went on to emphasize.

The house to which Webster is referring is located in Los Lagos, Ladyville, and was previously owned by Fonseca, Jr.

After Ralphie’s death, it was later offered to Webster, who paid the remaining mortgage of $50,000 as stipulated by the agreement, but up to now, he (Webster) has not received the ownership documents in hand, and he explained that it is all part of a plot to castigate and impoverish him for no apparent reason.

“They say my settlement done, and my payments [towards the house] done, but I still can’t get the title. They gave me the house and still turned around and sold it to me, and I am still waiting for the title,” Webster mentioned.

“I have it in black and white; they said that I was out of the country when I don’t even have a passport. What Mr. Ralph said is just sinking him deeper. You think I would have said anything if they gave me $1,700 over? They are the ones that have money for me. $95,000 they are beating me out of right here…,” Webster lamented.

The former employee concluded that even though he is facing intense hardships presently, he is grateful to God that he is still alive.

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