Actually not Fred Brito...

...but George Santos certainly SOUNDS like Fred Brito.

After being caught lying about his resume about his employment history and college education, the recently elected Republican congressman is playing the victim card, and using other Fred Brito-ish tactics such as downplaying numerous embellishments on his resume saying doing so is not criminal, and saying "a lot of people overstate in their resumes".

While certainly not as brazen as Brito, Santos did use the dead mother excuse for not responding to these stories in due time... he claimed he was recognizing the sixth anniversary of his mother's death. (Brito once listed on his resume that he was taking care of his elderly parents, even though they had passed away years prior).

More at. CNN.

Taos IHOP manager revealed to be Fred Brito

While Covid-19 is dominating the news cycle around the world, in Taos, New Mexico, Fred Brito has managed to become a front page story.

At the top of this week's Taos News is a photo of Brito with the headline, "The pancake con man." In the article, reporter John Miller interviews Brito about his long history of being "one of the more notorious con men living in the United States today," and ultimately how he ended up being hired to work at their local IHOP using a falsified resume and an assumed name.

The article is partly the result of a tip this blogger sent their way last month. We discovered Brito had been working as General Manager of the IHOP under the name Max Gomis DeMaria. Miller gives credit to this blog for tipping them off, but overlooks that one month ago the Taos News had already published an article about "Max Gomis DeMaria", and that they deleted from their website soon after they were alerted to his identity.

The March 5 article was called "Breakfast and a new beginning: IHOP starts fresh", praising the work of their general manager, accompanied by a photo of restaurant staff and management, including  Fred Brito.

A screenshot of the article as it appeared online -- Fred Brito is on the far left.

According to the article, "Max" was hired by IHOP last September to help improve a restaurant that was facing customer service and staffing challenges, and that "Gomis DeMaria and his team are steadily reaching the peak of excellence that is their goal." While the print edition labeled the article as an "advertorial" (a paid advertisement that otherwise appears to be an article), the online version did not indicate this.

Would you trust this man with your family fortune?

We have learned that Fred Brito eventually moved on from the Wingate in Dallas, and according to an anonymouse tip has moved up to selling "luxury vacation homes" in Oklahoma.

Our source says he's been working in Oklahoma since July, 2018, but "bailed" after they "just figured him out yesterday."

The tipster, who provided us with this photo, tells us Fred Brito had been using the name Max DeMariio, who is listed as the General Manager of The Residence Club at Carlton Landing in Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma.

The Residence Club is the "luxury vacation home" arm of a new residential development, selling properties from $59,000 to $139,000.

On assorted paperwork Brito filled out for the job he listed as having previous addresses in Dallas, only three hours away by car.

Would you trust this man with your room keys?

Fred Brito aka Gomez de Maria aka Max Gomez.

We recently confirmed a tip that for the past few weeks Brito was hired by the Wyndham chain of hotels as a general manager for the Wingate by Wyndham Dallas/Las Colinas, using the name "Max Gomez."

Brito was recognized by a tipster who saw him dining at a nearby Benihana on multiple occasions.

Shortly after he was hired, reviews popped up for the hotel specifically applauding "Max Gomez" from accounts that had just been created, and reviews of only the hotel and adjacent restaurants... including the aforementioned Benihana.

As of this writing, we still believe Brito is still working at the Wingate hotel, so check in at your own risk.

Attention Law Enforcement Professionals!

Please note that you're always welcome to contact me directly at unsomnambulist at gmail dot com for any questions about this blog or the subject.

Fred Brito, er, "C. H. Patel" corrects the record on his time with National Hospitality Services and Staybridge Suites

Fargo area journalist Barry Amundson, who reported on Fred Brito's hiring and firing there, forwarded me an email signed by "a mere family friend of Fred Brito",  that claims to correct some details on Amundson's reported story. Signed "C.H. Patel", the email plays like a winning hand of Fred Brito bingo. Some bullet points from the letter:

• Lying on a resume is not a crime.
• The reason Brito has to lie about his resume is because otherwise nobody would hire an ex-felon.
• A "tell-all book" is coming soon.

(As for me, this isn't the first time someone who is "not Brito" has come to Brito's defense accusing me of crazy stuff. In 2007, when I first reported on Brito for the Metblog's flagship site blogging.la, an anonymous individual accused me of getting them drunk and stealing their watch. Now, Brito - er - Patel, claims I'm using a fake name and that I've tracked him by accessing his credit reports.)

The email also claims Brito was hired only after a "so-called exhaustive background check" and that he had been employed for 40 days before being fired... contrary to what his employer claimed to reporter Barry Amundson. 

Full letter after the break...

Fred Brito surfaces in Fargo, ND

Coincidence or CYA*-incidence?

Weeks ago, this blogger learned that Fred Brito was working for the Staybridge Suites Hotel in Fargo, ND. This blogger waited to gain some additional verification, and once it came in, we notified an employee with the management company late last week. Less than 24 hours after I contacted them, it appears Brito was fired.

We tipped off Fargo area reporter Barry Amundson on the story, and he writes about it here. He was able to confirm that, in fact, Brito, using the name Luca Gomez DeMaria, had been hired by a local hotel operator, and then let go in recent days. Alas, it sounds like the HR company is taking credit for discovering Brito's background before he was actually put to work:

Sarah Koustrup, executive vice president for a hospitality services company in Fargo that had hired him, quickly uncovered Brito’s scam.
Brito was in a training program when they discovered he had given the company a falsified resume, Koustrup said...
The company executive wanted to emphasize that her firm has a stringent hiring and resume checking system.
"We have a system of checks and balances and we caught it fast," she said. "We're very careful on who we hire."

So, if this is to be believed, Koustrup, Executive Vice President of National Hospitality Services, discovered Brito's false resume on the very same day I tipped off another executive with her company.

On December 29, I sent a message to Julie Brown, VP of Sales and Operations with National Hospitality Services, notifying her that her company was employing a conman. In her first response, she wrote back, "HR completes background checks before they hire."

The following Monday, she offered to put me in touch with someone with her Human Resources Department, to which I replied would be appreciated. Her next response was, "Thank you for letting me know. I cannot speak about employee related questions on behalf of our company for legal reasons. Based on that, I am unable to continue to respond to you."

To be clear, my goal isn't to be personally credited for this. The purpose of this site is to keep more people from being victims of a conman. But if an HR company is going to lie about their hiring practices instead of acknowledging an error and addressing steps to keep this from happening again, they are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

*CYA = Cover Your Ass.