Complaint Review: BYRON J. DIAS

I'm victim #4! I lived next door to Byron for 1 year at Border City Mills.  I met him on the first day I moved in - he was walking up the hallway with his blond girlfriend from New York - had his shades on!

As we became friends (platonic), he eventually asked me to borrow money for his "T-shirt business."  He called me and asked me to come over and help him choose T-shirts to display for his new business, and informed me he had a very   important business meeting the next day with clients.  I helped him choose T-shirts and wished him luck.  I was really happy for him, as he told me he had been a model in NYC, but had been sticking around FR for his daughter, so was short on cash. He also told me in his spare time he was a trainer - he was always at the gym at Border.

To make a long story short, he had his meeting, told me he got the account, and then the next day kept texting me asking when I would be home as he said he left his wallet at the restaurant of where he met the clients, and the restaurant was mailing it back - he needed me to see if there was a package outside his apartment door.  He was a pain - kept calling and texting me until I finally got home, called him and told him there was no package.  He then called me again later, saying that the restaurant made a mistake and sent his wallet to his NYC apartment address, the address that was on his license.  He then told me he was broke and asked if he could borrow $600 for an order he had to have sent out by midnight that night to California.  He said if he did not get the T-shirts in the mail, he would lose the account.  After explaining to him again that I was a single mom, 3 kids, which he knew, he kept harrassing me, calling over and over again, but getting so upset when he thought my daughter was in the room when we were discussing it over the phone - he said he did not want my kids to know! His mood shifted so quickly from sounding desperate to angry, I was shocked.  I had never seen that side of him!

I eventually gave in and let him borrow the 600 dollars! Stupid!!!! He promised to pay me back the next day.  I even gave him a ride to his brother's house in Cranston, RI, as he said he needed his brother's help to fill the T-shirt orders for CA.  Before driving him there though, I had explained to him that I did not like driving in RI, I had broken my neck years ago as a teenager, and I don't like driving out of town, not because I cannot, but because I get nervous with the cars speeding by.  He also knew I would be late for work if I drove him to his brother's - I'm a medical transcriptionist (19 years), worked at home (still do), around my baby's sleeping schedule.  He did not care, and I eventually drove him to his brother's house. 

Of note, Byron had been waiting for me outside when I returned from the ATM.  He always was outside waiting for me when I came home, whether it was with groceries, picking up my daughter from school, etc.  He said "people are creatures of habit" as his explanation for always knowing where I was!

Byron never paid me back, and in fact asked me the next day "can we do the same thing as yesterday, another $600?"  That is when I thought for sure he was working with my baby's father, Michael J. Smith, to try to make me look delinquent in court.  Michael was trying to gain custody of our child.  The police explained that if was to fall behind on bills it would make me look "unfit" as a mother.  This was their explanation for who was stealing my mail each month, and recommended I open a PO Box, which I did.  Byron was always standing around the mailboxes in front lobby, when my daughter and I would leave that way, and one time was even parked in front of me at the drive through ATM at Shaws parking lot, and I thought to myself, I bet he's taking my money! Byron also saw Michael come in the front lobby, entering with a key, and another time leave my apartment with "your 11-year-old daughter," saying Michael told him he was "dropping her off from school for you," but when I asked him to talk to the police with me, he refused, saying "I didn't se anything, I didn't hear anything, don't mention my name to the police, and did you tell Michael what I said?" Byron knew I was scared to death of Michael, but did not help me.  He would always say, "I'll pray for you."

There is so much more to write about Michael J. SMith, AKA Smitty, but I will write a separate report on him!

Back to Byron, I said no to another $600, as my rent was due in 2 days, but after phone call after phone call after phone call, and so many text messages begging me for the money, I finally agreed to let him borrow the 100 dollars he then started asking for, claiming it was for a "bus ticket to NYC" so he could get his wallet.  This was a few weeks later and I just wanted him to stop harassing me, so I said yes and loaned him the money for the bus ticket.  He then gave me his word, promised me again that he would pay me back the 600 dollars and the 100 dollars, but then also in addition for waiting so long, he would give me an additional 500 dollars.  I told him I would be happy with the 700 so I could pay my rent.

I ended up moving out at the end of my lease.  I wanted to stay, but I got far behind fast - Border City Mills kept trying to deposit my rent check, which when I gave it to him supposedly was 20 dollars short - they did not notify me until 15 days later that it was insufficient though, and instead kept trying to deposit, so in 15 days, I lost all of my rent money to charges on both ends, and they served me with a notice to quit or something to that effect.  I even left a copy under Byron's door, so he would know I was telling the truth of how badly I needed him to pay me back the money he owed me but he never responded, did not care, and I chose to leave before I was evicted and left at the end of my lease.

I hope by writing this, and joining your fight, we stop Byron from taking advantage of any other women!!!!

Thank you!