Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Investigative reporter attacked by real estate scammers

KTLA (Los Angeles) reporter John Mattes was attacked by Assad "Sam" Suleiman and his wife, Rosa Amelia Barraza, while attempting to interview Brian Phillips about Suleiman's violence directed at Phillips. Suleiman had been the subject of a July story by Mattes, showing that he had forged documents to purchase homes with the identities of other people, and was renting or leasing them out. Mattes ends up with a bloodied face and cuts to his eye from Suleiman attempting to gouge his eyes out.

Barraza keeps up a nearly continuous stream of verbal abuse after pouring a bottle of water on the camera, hitting Mattes in the face with it, stealing a microphone from the cameraman, and threatening to get a gun and to send Mattes to Tijuana or Ensenada.

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