The California State Board of Pharmacy confirmed that an Albert Yashin had registered with them following his graduation from the University of the Pacific’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, located in Stockton, California, class of 2014.
It was when I tried to learn Mr. Yashin’s current address that I ran into trouble.
“We’re not permitted to give out that information,” the voice of an older woman informed me.
After I identified myself, the woman still refused to divulge Yashin’s whereabouts.
“May I speak with your supervisor?”
“I have no supervisor.”
“Is there someone in the university hierarchy I can speak with?”
“Not about past graduates.”
“Tell me your name again, please?”
“I never told you my name.”
“Would you tell me now?”
There was silence for a while. Then she said, “Carolyn Daffron.”
“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Daffron. As I mentioned, I’m investigating a serious crime and Mr. Yashin is a material witness.”
“I can’t divulge his address, regardless.”
“Is there a reason you’re being so intransigent?”
“Rules.”
“And you and you alone are the arbiter of these rules?”
“I am.”
“And you see fit to deny the County Sheriff information you possess that’s valuable to a criminal investigation.”
“Rules are rules.”
“May I tell you something, Ms. Daffron?”
“Tell me what?”
“You’re making a grievous error in judgment.”
“That’s one opinion.”
“So it is. But if you continue to refuse me this information, I will so inform the Sheriff of San Joaquin County of your actions and, in the interests of reciprocity, he will send two deputies to your office at the university and they will arrest you and charge you with obstruction of justice.
“This charge, in turn, will be called to the attention of the office of the President of the university, accompanied by a complaint from the Sheriff’s Department regarding your obstructionist behavior.
“Your autonomy, Ms. Daffron, will be seriously jeopardized, as most certainly will your job. The sight of you being frog-marched out of your office in handcuffs won’t be pretty. And afterward, everyone watching the evening news will be treated to footage of you being loaded into a Sheriff’s van, handcuffed and chained, and bolted to the floor.”
A brief silence followed.
“You said you wanted Albert Yashin’s current address?” Carolyn Daffron gasped.
“I did say that, yes.”
She provided it.