I am the Vice President & General Manager of FOX6 & MYTV13. John Mattes is one of our terrific reporters who specializes in helping our viewers investigate situations where fraud, theft and injustice has taken place. At FOX6 John has been an ardent and passionate crusader for the San Diego community protecting our viewers from consumer abuse.
This past week, John Mattes was violently and viciously attacked by a husband and wife “team”(Sam & Rosa Suleiman). In the past three months, the Suleiman’s illegal and violent activities had been exposed through John’s excellent reporting and broadcast to San Diego viewers during our newscasts.
On the day of the attack, I went to the hospital to meet with John, and saw the immediate after-effects of this attack. John was covered with his own blood, not just on his face, but his clothes looked like they had been soaked in red paint. John was severely lacerated around his face and eyes when Sam Suleiman attempted to gouge out his eyes. In addition, John had to receive a tetanus shot since Sam Suleiman had bitten John on both his hand and ear and had bitten him so viciously that blood and teeth marks were evident in both locations. Finally, along with bumps and bruises, John had several cracked ribs and damage to his nose.
Sam Suleiman outweighed John by 30-40 pounds, and as bad as John’s injuries were, the damage could have been much worse, possibly even fatal, if was not for the intervention of B.K. Philips. B.K. Philips is a true hero, since he literally picked up Sam Suleiman (BK is 6’6” 260 pounds) and John and put them on the ground…pinning Sam Suleiman and then pinning him as our photographer helped John Mattes extricate himself by pinning Suleiman’s legs.
Rosa Suleiman had also slapped John in the face with an empty water bottle after emptying it on John and our photographer, and told them she was going to her car to get a gun to shoot them. Fortunately, despite searching under her seat, she could not find a gun.
What many people watching the video of the attack did not realize was during the fracas, when Sam Suleiman was pinned to the ground and John was trying to get away, Rosa Suleiman did come back from the car with a very heavy glass perfume bottle and attempted to hit John Mattes and BK in the head. Fortunately, another brave bystander stopped her and took it from her hands.
In addition, Rosa Suleiman, speaking in Spanish, told John that she intended to kidnap him across the border and "finish him"...we had many of our Spanish speaking viewers so concerned about this that they called and wrote us warning us about what she had said. Adding to the “hate crime” nature of the attack and showing Sam Suleiman’s true lack of character, as BK Philips restrained Sam Suleiman, BK was repeatedly called the "N" word, and Suleiman told BK that he would “get him”.
(Unknown to FOX6) the Suleimans had evidently been secretly stalking/shadowing our reporter. This was why, when Mr. Mattes was on the private property of BK Philips, doing his interview, Sam & Rosa Suleiman were able to locate him. They drove up in separate cars and trespassed onto Mr. Philip’s property where the interview was being conducted, and as I have described, attacked John Mattes.
This story was so shocking and the injuries John Mattes received so severe, that it has received national attention, being replayed on virtually every TV station and media outlet all over the world. John has been interviewed on FOX News Channel during every one of their shows, as well as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Geraldo, and even David Letterman has wanted to have John appear on his program because he was so shocked at what had transpired. In addition to TV programs, John has been interviewed via the phone on local and national radio programs and we have requests for him to appear on many more programs.
In response to our video and follow up stories, we have been deluged with phone calls and e-mails (over 1600 e-mails as of today, Saturday September 9th) from all over the world, most of which have expressed their support for John and outrage that these people could be out on bail within a couple of hours of their arrest. The Suleiman’s will be arraigned again on Monday and hopefully they will not be able to stay out of jail after that arraignment. Without a doubt, civil charges will also be coming against them on top of their criminal prosecution.
However, what has been very disheartening is from many parts of the United States, even here in San Diego, we have received many e-mails (10-15%) from people who have said they believe John Mattes DESERVED to be attacked.
To give an idea of some of these emails, here is a small sample. These are NOT the worst of the negative e-mails, but they have not been edited in any way other than the F-word was eliminated in places it was used:
• It truly warmed my heart to see your sissy, smart mouth, sanctimonious newsman get his ass kicked proper. He truly deserves it getting in that lady's face. Loved his "have a nice day comment" and then getting decked. You guys are all a bunch of drama queens with your "reign of terror" hype. jeez. Get real, man up, and quit crying like babies.
• Mattes got what he deserved. He follow someone around with a camera which is just crappy journalism and then proceeds to get beaten up like a little girl on live TV. I'm guessing he won't be seeing any *** for awhile.
• Hardly a surprise attack. You fools apparently think you have some God-given right to get in any scoundrel's face and push his buttons with impunity. Then you cry foul to the Heavens when the very foreseeable lands on your nose. Get more professional, and less Jerry Springer.
• You're sorry attempt to grab ratings worked. It looks like everything worked out in everyone's favor. We should just call it even. Your news guy gets his ass kicked and the station gets more ratings. Sounds fair to me. I wish I could see more reporters get their ass beat down. Especially the pushy ones who don't listen when you try to be polite. F*** you all.
• I wish I could see more reporters get their ass beat down. Especially the pushy ones who don't listen when you try to be polite. F*** you all. I must have missed your reference to the bubbly effervescence af Mrs. Psycho and the verbal skills of the pugnacious Mr.Loon. And to you, likewise.
• I am glad the reporter got his ass kicked, the woman deserves privacy and should not have been videotaped after she asked that they stopped. Who the f--- do these reporters think they are?
• You guys are pathetic. If it weren't for the ratings?...why wasn't the camera man doing anything? Roll tape and bring on the ratings...Pathetic news program
• Are you an investigative reporter or an invasive reporter. I just saw this report on CNN and it seems that you are on private property, invading the woman's privacy, and you basically got what you deserved. Journalists today have an aura of being above the law, as if it's your right to invade and instigate a subject for the sake of a story. I'm pretty sure if you saw your wife fending off reporters, continously telling you to stop, that you'd react in much the same way her husband did. Now you're the joke of the evening news, and you're impressive resume no longer matters. Stick with being an investigator, not an instigator.
• Conrats to the Puncher. He got in a couple of good shots. It serves him Right. These College Dropouts. We had a reporter stick a microphone in a truck drivers face. His response was the Right one. "Get that the F*** out of my face"
Frankly, these types of responses are shocking to me. At first, I thought some of these people were simply misinformed, but in most instances, even when presented the facts, they refused to change their positions, firmly believing that John Mattes deserved to be beaten.
This event reminds me that once again, regardless of the facts of any situation, people will come up with their own conclusions, regardless of how wrong or completely opposite from the facts they are. We euphemistically talk about how important it is to have peace and cooperation in our society. We also speak of our hopes for a compromise in the Middle East, and how we want our political system to not be so increasingly polarized and divisive.
And yet, after a shocking event such as this one, when we had a reporter physically attacked on the private property of the man he is interviewing in a manner that is literally bestial in nature, and ANYONE believes they should identify with the beastality that performed the attack, then it is obvious we have reached a new low point in the downward evolution of our society.
In the days of Columbus the reality was the world was flat and he would sail off the edge of the earth, but despite the fact the majority of the world believed this falsehood, it didn’t make it true. Is perception a reality? Individual perception is also why murderers are allowed to go free by juries, despite proof that is irrefutable. It is also the reason there are so many people today who actually believe 9/11 was "staged" by our government and not the work of terrorists. It is also why other people believe that our space program has never happened but is shot on a "Hollywood lot".
John Mattes began investigating the Suleiman’s for one reason, because the victims of the Suleiman’s asked John to help them. The truth is the Suleimans hate John Mattes because he has exposed the truth of their illegal and terrorist-type activities. It is simply beyond rational belief that anyone could identify and empathize with these people since they represent the basest elements of everything that is wrong with our society.
The Suleiman’s have literally stolen millions of dollars in real estate by stealing the identities of their victims. We have received emails from many more victims who are now coming forward…including people from surrounding cities and states…all of whom were victimized and defrauded by Sam & Rosa Suleiman. In many cases the victims of this fraud were either physically attacked (last week Sam Suleiman physically attacked another man and literally bit a piece of flesh from his chest, and then got out on bail) or were threatened with physical harm and in many cases, death!
The victims of these people include the most vulnerable members of our society, the elderly, whose security was destroyed by the Suleimans. On the day of the attack, John Mattes had just interviewed an architect who had worked for Sam & Rosa Suleiman, who told John that recently he had gotten into a disagreement with Sam Suleiman, who then threatened this architect by telling him if he didn't do what he wanted him to do, he would "break his legs and rape his wife". This man was so frightened he until his interview with John Mattes, he had not told ANYONE, including his wife about this threat. Think about that for a minute, "I will rape your wife"...this is the man you say you would defend for "putting a camera in his wife's face". Forget human decency, what animal would ever say that to anyone?
The Suleiman’s are liars and thieves, they are terrorists and thugs. It is too easy to call them “delusional” or “crazy”…they are evil people, who intentionally hurt and cheat other people. Sam Suleiman is guilty of perpetrating hate crimes and physical assault and he has done so on camera in a way that is irrefutable and beyond dispute. What must happen now is Sam and Rosa Suleiman need to face justice by losing the freedom they have so ruthlessly taken from their victims.
However, even when justice is served on the Suleimans what about those who still believe their actions and violence is justified? How is this possible? Unfortunately, as part of my long experience in dealing with the public I have learned that regardless of a person's intellectual capacity there is no guarantee that someone will ever have good judgment.
Our hope for a better future for our society can only be realized when we can reach the point when we say without any hesitation, this type of behavior is wrong and will never be tolerated and there must be immediate consequences for these actions.
