My adult story starts like many others here in America, raised by a single mother along with a  special needs little brother who needed most of the mama’s time and energy. Sometimes left to raise me or raised by an older sibling. I struggled to be a  normal child in society’s eye and later a  teen in high school. I found my first “true love”  at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich Connecticut. My senior year I was engaged to be married to  Tim Guyette a man that quickly became my everything until the birth of our first child Gabriella Rose. Her skin was so fair and her hair was as bright as the sun. She was a true angel on earth. She became my main focus and stole my heart. We soon found ourselves traveling two different paths.  Tim wanted freedom again and I wanted my family with my daughter.

I soon became a single mother of a 6-month-old. And for months I tried to get him to come home or at least be in her life. He refused and I ended up moving back home with my mother. For a while, I went on state assistance until I got my certification as a  nursing assistant and got my first job. I struggled with trying to work and raise my little girl alone. When I received a large sum of child support from my father, I used it to buy Gabriella needed furniture, food, clothes, diapers, and toys. As I watched my firstborn sleep, my heart longed to give my little angel, the one thing I never had growing up and always wanted, a father and a true complete family. I found myself whispering to her late at night “don’t worry my angel mommy will find you a new daddy.” I spent months praying to God to fix our broken hearts. Our silent prayers were finally answered on March 9th, 2012. An old male childhood friend of mine (John) came by for a  visit six days before Gabriella turned one year old. While he was in the act of walking into our home, and past my daughter, she spoke her first-word “dada” and smiled reaching up for him. 

She took to him immediately, as he helped us celebrate her first birthday at  Chuck E Cheeses. My heart finally started to heal from the pain of her not having her biological father around, and I could finally start letting go of the anger I had in me since the day he left us for his freedom. I found myself expressing my inner dreams and worries to God. Most nights when I couldn’t sleep I prayed. I prayed that I would have the joy of bringing my daughter some siblings. I was later blessed with my first son Mason Hunter. The thanksgiving he was born my heart grew in size to make room for our new favorite little man. Gabriella loved to speak to him and called him her  “bibble or butter.” We were a family. A beautiful, happy, loving family. 

I cried tears of joy that night thanking God for standing by our sides and blessing me with such a happy, healthy little family. We ended up moving from the state of  Connecticut and into a  studio apartment in Blackstone,  Massachusetts. I began my new job as a Certified Nursing Assistant at  Blackstone Nursing Home. I was working over sixteen hours a day caring for individuals with complex medical needs who didn’t have anyone else in the world. Even when times got hard, we always made it through as a  family. We had a  roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, clothes on our backs, and toys to play with. We were clean and had smiles on our faces because we had each other. A  year later, God blessed us again with my youngest son Dallas Sage. He was the complete opposite of his two older siblings, but just as breathtaking. Two days after he was born, a  Department of  Children and  Families investigator in Connecticut came into my hospital room. Loretta Drain claimed she was called by a concerned nurse who believed I was homeless because I gave a Groton, Connecticut address, and yet I gave birth in Norwich, Connecticut. So with my body and mind being denied the right to heal, I was being forced to meet with the Department of  Children and Families removal team with the threat of losing my children and being charged with neglect if I did not.

With my body still bleeding out and being drained from childbirth 3 days prior, I was forced to leave my three infants alone with strangers. I faced the Connecticut Norwich Department of Children and Families alone, and my ex-fiance that abandoned us 2 years prior. There were allegations of mental illness, bad parenting, and neglect all thrown at me for going to a  hospital in a different city than where my address was. As the insults and the abuse of the department raged on, I was forced to move to a family shelter in Danielson Connecticut. Far away from home with my three infants alone or I risk losing them. Their father was not even allowed to know where we were. As time passed slowly I was able to establish early childhood education, throw myself into 3  different parenting classes: a  housing program, support and parent them alone, and demand a  housing program from DCF since they forced me to leave mine  (no mental health program was offered or demanded) without them checking it out. 

The meetings and late nights I spent crying over worries for our futures threatened to bring me to the deepest abyss of emotional fires of hell. I found my body forcefully bending till I was on my knees with a  strong urge to look up at the sky and speak my heart’s worries away for someone will always be listening. Days passed as  I made this my nightly ritual after all my children were taken care of and safely in their beds. My body ached, my soul barely breathing, as my children were pressed together near me. While my instinct to protect them kept me on guard, my only companion was my thoughts and the feeling of an archangel’s protection. Days turned into weeks, then months, as I fought alone to keep us together and their spirits high. On a sunny day in May, a day I should have seen as an omen instead of a  blessing. My two toddlers, Gabriella and  Mason, played in the backyard of the shelter, as  I watched them playing with Dallas on a blanket in the grass. 

A  young man by the name of  Brandon Messier introduced himself to my toddlers and began playing catch with them. At this sight my heart was filled with worry and guilt, they needed their father and he was nowhere to be found. I called my children over to me quickly and they came as fast as their little legs could carry them and so did Brandon. We spent the day talking and getting to know each other. He expressed how he used my children to get the courage to come to talk to me. He thought  I was an angel sitting in the grass. He talked about how horrible his childhood was, how his parents were never there for him and how his mother always kicked him out for her new men. I opened up to him about my difficult childhood. we went out to dinner a few times and I met his wicked half-sisters Rachel and Courtney and his brother Tyler. He helped me with my children and I helped him, we became best friends in my eyes. But that all changed when my children’s real father and grandmother started to come back around. a  switch seemed to turn off inside of Brandon. 

His words were no longer sweet and encouraging. Instead, they became violent, engaging, excusing and emotionally abusive every time my children left with their father. Every man and woman in that shelter, even his sister-in-law, told me he was no good, I wish I had listened. The only thing at this moment I could be grateful for is that it never happened around my children. As time went on I prayed for things to get better and they finally did in August 2014 when I was able to move back home to New London, Connecticut and into my new two-bedroom apartment, just my three kids and me. I became employed at New London Rehab and Care right after I moved into our new home, paying my bills with the help of Connection inc. in Norwich. Mason and Dallas were in an early home education program called Birth To Three and Gabriella attended Little Learners at New London TVCCA, which I paid for every week. Everything seemed almost normal, until one evening I got an email from Brandon Messier telling me how sorry he was for the way he treated me and that he was on the streets and had no one to turn to. Little did I know that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Guilt overwhelmed me and flashbacks of no one but him being there to help me and my children were brought back to life. 

I agreed to allow him to stay with me until he got back on his feet, but little did I know that Mr. Messier had plans of his own. At first, the days seemed to be following a normal lifestyle routine. Gabby attended school, while Mason and Dallas came with me to be dropped off at their fathers’. Then I went to work and willingly complied with the parenting programs the state was making me do. John came around more to watch our children at my home since I was doing double night shifts. Brandon became aggressive once more. As time went on he stole money from my children’s piggybanks, stole the money I gave him to pick up medicine for my sick children, threatened to beat John’s head in if he came around. He continually emotionally and verbally abused me.  

I once again found  myself turning to God praying for away to protect my  children and myself. Brandon was  home less and less claiming he was  spending time with family. I found myself most nights sleeping on the floor in my children’s room against the door so that he could not get in if  he  tried. One night my  world changed  forever. I just worked  another late night shift as a CNA. John had been watching the children while I was working. After I got home and John left for the evening l checked on all my children to make sure they were okay and kiss them goodnight.

I was exhausted from work and I dragged my aching body into a hot shower. Time flew by and when I finally decided to get out I wrapped myself in a towel and headed to my room. I didn’t feel Brandon’s presence until he was ripping my towel away from me. The look in his eyes when I turn around to face him will haunt me forever. My body froze as he pushed me onto the sheets behind me. As he forced himself onto me I automatically started fighting back. My nails dug into the soft skin on his face and I begged him to leave me alone. The scent of his red Marvrick cigarettes mixed with the smell of beer made me feel sick and dizzy. He smiled as he leaned into me while ripping my bruised legs apart. He whispered, “ Now  Kirsten you wouldn’t want to wake up your  children now would you?” I lost my fight after that.

After he left I called up John and told him everything. He came right away and held me in his strong arms until I was able to calm down enough to shower and talk to the New London Police Department. John stayed with me that night on one side of the couch while I stayed on the other. That night the nightmares were fierce and when dawn finally came I was drenched in sweat. Still managed with John’s help to seek counseling. I somehow found the strength to move on and be a good mother to my three toddlers.  

As the days passed I became very sick and weak. The symptoms were familiar and it was confirmed by my doctor that I  was once again pregnant. There was a 75% chance it was my rapist’s baby. Flashbacks started to come rapidly to the point where I couldn’t catch my breath. Sometimes my chest felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. That night after we put the children to bed, John and I talked about the pregnancy and my fears. His words that night will always stay with me. He promised to always be there for me. He said that no matter whose DNA  flows through the baby’s blood that he would always be there for us. he said that the baby deserved to be held and loved by a family. He told me that he would be the father of this child as much as he was the father of our other 3 children. He told me that God wouldn’t have given us this child if we were unworthy. 

Month after month I continued caregiving while nurturing the growing baby inside of me. My thoughts went from thinking that I couldn’t carry   Brandon’s baby to she is mine now and I was willing to do whatever it took to make it work. A Snow storm hit us hard in the winter of 2014. John was willing to drive me to work but I was worried about having to take the children with us with all the snow on the road. At 8 months pregnant, I was prepared to walk back and forth to work if I had to. Missing work as a CNA was inexcusable and I needed to continue financially taking care of my kids.

I continued to work as a caregiver. Sometimes I even brought my children to see the residents and staff. I always believed that this type of environment teaches children at a  young age how to show compassion and helps them understand how to care for others. Holidays and birthdays have passed. My children continued to grow and play happily with no worries.  Mr. Messier’s nightmares of my rape by Mr. Messier started to retreat to the back of my mind. “We are diligently prepared for the new addition to our family,” Waterford Juvenile Court judge Michael Mack ordered DCF to leave us alone. All appointments were being met and my pregnancy was going well.

The day I went into labor with my daughter Lillyana started off like any other. I was at my Aunt Debra’s house for a picnic. Gabriella, Mason, and Dallas were all running around her backyard with their younger cousins laughing, bonding, and eating as the adults talked. For any stranger walking by on the street, the view would have been the hallmark version of a  happy family getting together on a nice summer day.  As day turned into night, my swollen body went into overdrive and the intense labor pains began. I called out to my big brothers Brian and  John. Brian offered to watch Gabriella, Mason, and Dallas, while John drove me to the hospital. I was admitted to Lawrence Memorial Hospital in New London as soon as we arrived.

While the doctor prepared me for my delivery, I whispered a prayer quietly to God.  Two hours later my sweet Lillyana was born. Her cries were as soft as the ocean, her blue eyes closed shining bright as I watched her take her first breath in this world. My baby girl weighed 8lbs and 13 oz. She was healthy and safe and I thanked God for that.

Our first night home was uneventful. We spent it playing  games  and watching movies after dinner. The children were all bathed and  in bed  for the night. John and I had kissed their  heads and said good night, sweet dreams, and  love you to the moon and back. After  leaving their  room I sat  outside the bedroom door just listening  to them breathing.  John drew  me  a  hot  bath. My  heart is still in bliss and  finally ready  to move  past my  abusive  past. I started to feel like my nightmares were finally over. When my bath was finally ready and  I was sure our children were asleep I slipped deep into the water’s warm embrace. My  body began to lose the cramping aches and  pains of  childbirth. As  the  water massaged me gently a soft  melody slowly played from my  bathroom speaker. Exhaustion swept its way into my  body and carried me off into dreamland for a visit.

Several weeks ago, through the Department of Children and Families,  social worker  Karina Klemm stopped by one last  time to see my children. She checked on all of my children including my newborn and on the condition of my home. She  finally states “ all is well and the case is closed”. My  body is still trying to heal from childbirth as I cook, clean my home  and care for my children. I along with John bring Gabriella to school every  morning  in our black jeep. After that, we head home for Mason and  Dallas’s early special needs  home services. Their education was going  well due  to our  involvement. 

On June 10th 2015 we loaded up the van we borrowed and took the  children to see Doctor Parkash in Norwich, Connecticut. When we arrived  I took Lillyana out of her car seat and placed her in the sling on my  chest. As we waited to be seen by the doctor, I filled out the paperwork for  Lillyana and Gabriella. When their names were called John agreed  to watch the boys in the playroom while I took the  girls to their  appointment. Everything seemed to be going well. Their weight and height were normal for their percentile, they were not in pain or sick. They were both healthy.

John left that night to go to Massachusetts with his mother to get some things we left up there. I begged  him not  to go, I had a bad feeling and I tried telling him I wasn’t feeling well. But after arguing with him for awhile, he left anyway.  

She sounded like a beast pounding at  my door the next day. I walked to the door feeling afraid of whoever was on the other side. Her name was Natasha Reed. She was about forty , tall , with cruel black eyes like that of a demon. She  claimed she was an investigator for the  Department  of Children and  Families. When I told her our case was closed she stated that an anonymous caller claimed I was driving  unsafely with my newborn in a  green truck.

Dallas  cried  from his  bedroom. She  offered to get him for me as  if I should not be alone with my  own child “No it’s  alright  I got  him.” I made my way back to Dallas’s room..  After  I took Dallas from his crib, I came  back into the  living  room and placed him in his walker. He  eats his food and  plays with his toy quietly, while Gabriella and  Mason laugh and play around the house. I started cleaning up around the  house while answering the  investigator’s questions. She watches me for a reaction as she picks up my one year old  son and  places him on the  floor, without  my  permission. Her eyes scanned my  home and she wrote  down her observations, which  I would  later find  out  were exaggerated  so she  could steal my  children, with  Waterford  Juvenile  Court’s permission.  She coerced me into signing a safety plan for  my children. That day I let all my children go home with my niece so John and I could comply with the safety plan.

When John came home the worker explained to him that we needed to  clean our house and that I needed to go see a doctor. The worker was concerned that I was still feeling pain from Lilyanna’s birth. She stated that they would come see our  home in the  morning and then we would have a  meeting  about my  children coming  home. No one explained what our rights were or anything, but we got right to work on making  everything perfect for their  inspection. With a spotless home and a clean  bill of  health from Lawrence  Memorial, we  met  with the  Department  of Children and Families  in Norwich, Connecticut. 

Walking into that meeting my lungs felt like they were on fire, my  heart threatened to break free of my chest. I don’t want this to go any  further. My sister  Jenny was there along with my Aunt Linda, two women that I never knew and who never knew me besides the blood we share  from my  mother. Never did I think they  would hate me so much as  to join the enemy. The  meeting started with everyone  introducing  themselves  and all of us signing  in. The investigator’s concerns were that our home wasn’t clean enough and she was concerned based on her own observation that I had  postpartum depression.

My  children first ended up first being split up into three of my relative’s homes,  also known as Kinship Care. John and I were allowed to go to their  homes everyday, whenever we wanted, as  long as it was  okay with the  foster  parents. We brought food, clothes, toys, took many  pictures and made sure we told our confused scared  children we  love them, that we will come back for them, and that everything would  be ok. I was still breastfeeding Lillyana often and I made sure she had  plenty of  breastmilk before I had to leave each visit.

I found a parenting class that complied with my work schedule as a  nursing assistant. My parenting class was a 52 hour intensive parenting  class that talked about everything from potty training  to sexuality. I took very detailed notes  (respondents evidence QQ). My notes included a fire  safety plan, a meal plan for 3 meals and 2 snacks a day for each of the kids. I also put together a routine for all of them.

While I was doing all of this the foster parents were complaining to the department asking for financial help and vouchers for my children. After two months on August 18th, 2015, everything began to get worse. Mason and  Gabriella moved to my Aunt Debra’s  (their second home since DCF took them) Lillyana was moved to my cousin Jessica’s (her second home since DCF), and Dallas stayed where he was. At first I was okay with three of my children staying with my aunt and cousin, as long as our visits continued normally. My aunt and  I were close. I used to take my children to see her all the time. So I knew they would be comfortable and feel safe until I could get them home. As for my son Dallas, I was being blocked from seeing him more and more. My cousin Crystal Magee avoided all my phone calls. I contacted the Department of Children and families to speak to my caseworker Ted Parmelee and his supervisor Doug  Howard about my concerns for my son Dallas.  

All this while my court-appointed attorney Michael Miller kept telling me to commit my kids or else face criminal charges and then I’ll never get them back, and there won’t even be a trial.   

I finally hired my own attorney by the name of  Lisa Vincent. As the weeks went by I continued my classes and visits with my children. I tried my best to stay positive around my children. My mind was with my children, especially my son Dallas. Until one day, he arrived at my Aunt Debra’s with Ted Parmelee, his body was all skin and bones, his once beautiful blue eyes dull and sad. I took one look at him and pulled him out of the social worker’s arms and held him tight.

. 

I called up my only ally, my big sister Kimberly and begged her to help Dallas because I was afraid he would die.  I explained to her everything I had seen. She said she would go over there with my aunt Linda and demand that they take him to the hospital. The next day I called my attorney Lisa Vincent to update her on everything. My son was rushed to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in New Haven and diagnosed with a broken wrist, brain damage, burns, hair loss, weight loss, and broken ribs (child advocate report available). 

I was heartbroken when my visit was over and I left him alone that night. The look on his face was a look of betrayal and abandonment. I went home and cried the tears that I had to hold in for my children’s sake. I will never get the look of “mommy don’t go, why are you leaving me” out of my mind. For three months my son Dallas was in the hospital. I made the trip up there to New Haven which was an hour both ways every day.

I began to miss a lot of work. The visitations (which my job did not let me use medical leave for) would change and I would have to take last-minute days off. But I kept my visitations with all my children. Not once did their attorney or one of the children’s attorneys contact John and me or visit our home. The guilt of the pain and the harm they were going through was eating me alive. I had no one to turn to, the  Department of  Children and Families made sure of that.

I had an evaluation through my own therapist Nora through Connecticut Behavioral Health and the results came back with clear judgment, in touch with reality, able to make sound decisions, her moods in check and understandable due to circumstances, recovering from her rape well.(Respondent evidence  R). Evidence later displayed in the trial by my attorney Lisa Vincent shows the Department of Children and Families sharing their version of exaggerated truth with my children’s biological father and family members and including foster parents who are not family. While starting a  “witch hunt” by words of family members Joyce Barrios, Debra Post, Linda Barrios, Britney Post, (respondent evidence cc and dd), evidence shows alternative motivation to steal my children for cash (title 5e funding). 

Our visitations were moved to a third party and out in the community twice a week for two hours. The provider given to us at first was through Noank Behavioral Health and was fired for stealing. The next provider they gave us was Ms. Kayla Laing, a  woman of age 22, with no children of her own and no experience with children besides babysitting. Our  visits were  moved into one of the provider’s homes for pregnant teenagers, then a  camp for  LGBT teenagers. Though it was a house the toys were  very  few and  broken.  

. During the visits no parental guidance was given. All the  provider did was sit on her  phone and computer. Even after the visits, there was no review or guidance.   She told DCF  that I was unfit and could not  recommend reunification.

The department requested in court in January 2016 that John and  I submit to physiological evaluations for our mental health and to evaluate our  interactions with our children.  John and  I both agreed  that we  had  nothing to hide. Our evaluations are set for February 18th 2016. It was a five hour test.  The test started off  with John and  I separated. When it  came to the Ink Blot Test, I told Dr. Kelly Rogers I didn’t see anything but he kept demanding that I have to see something. He  then put me on the  computer to answer  questions about the last few weeks. A lot  of the questions were about if  I was hurting emotionally. I stated yes  wouldn’t you if your children were stolen from you. I was still living  with the  guilt of  not being  able to save my  children from Crystal Magee and DCF.  

John and I did what we normally We just  enjoyed our time with our children. We took pictures and couldn’t keep the smile  off our faces. The  children smiled too, we were happy just to be together.  The last part was a joint evaluation for John and I to meet with Dr. Rogers  . He did not ask us  any questions, he just expected us to talk.  The Department of  Children and Families called him during our evaluation to speak to him about who knows what. 

I moved into my disabled mother’s home to help provide proper care for her. But my sister Jenny kept getting into fights with the nurses and home health aides. Some days were harder than others, my mother would cry for her missing grandchildren as she stared at their pictures.  And I found out I was pregnant again.

By the end of my pregnancy with my fifth child, I was scared DCF was going to take her from me too. The appointments came and went fast. And the day I went into labor with my fifth child  Zuri Emerald, I was terrified. I knew they would find a way to take my newborn away from me again. I was up to date on everything, I had a  job, I was in therapy and I was in classes. 

When Zuri finally came into this world, they placed her right into my waiting arms.  It took all my strength to focus on looking into my beautiful baby girl’s eyes. I called my attorney to let her know she was born and then the hospital put security at my door and I was told they were ordered by the Department of Children and Families to take my baby from me and not let me bond with her. I was informed that they were not going to let me take her home. I hadn’t even been served any papers yet. My attorney Lisa Vincent was ferocious and made me give her the hospital’s number and promised to handle it so I could bond with my newborn. They finally returned her to me, at least for a little while. 

I couldn’t take  Zuri home or even have her go with a family member. I felt that the department wanted to embarrass me in front of the hospital. I could feel the invisible chains tied around my throat so I couldn’t breathe, I felt my flesh get whipped by an unseen flogger, demanding that I give in to what they want to label me as, to forget who I am.  Again my body was denied the right to heal and the bonding a new mommy needs with her newborn baby. They claimed “predictive neglect.” I continued to attend all my classes and our doctor appointments. Every visit with the children was our happiness, we lived for those moments. They also gave us therapeutic family time at a  daycare in New London on top of our once-a-week visit to Mystic.  

The provider of visits, Linsey Levan, first told us that she had no concerns about us as parents, but she did when it came to how the children were arriving at visits with the foster parents, dirty and unclean.  DCF social worker Janie Spera responded by offering foster parents a cleaning service and emotional support in the home to help them bond with my children. But still, nothing like that was offered to me or John. 

As the months went on I would argue with the department over always moving my children. My children’s mental state and health were being affected. They placed my youngest child with a woman who let her older special needs child watch my newborn, and Zuri ended up falling down a flight of stairs. 

“How does a six-month-old baby fall down a  set of stairs, without anybody noticing,  she’s not even crawling yet”? Was the question that came out of my mouth in front of the social worker, Abigail Bush. Even the doctor wanted to know. The foster mother looked nervous as she replied “My daughter was watching her upstairs and left the gate open as Zuri was nearby on the ground.” My blood boiled. They left my infant alone and supervised by an eight-year-old and yet took my kids saying I couldn’t let my oldest, who was 6 at the time, help me with the other children?

The  Waterford Juvenile Court allowed me to accompany my daughter to the court-ordered DNA test to see if Brandon Messier was  Lillyana’s father. It turned out he was. I broke down. My rapist was the father of my little girl and I needed to protect her and her siblings from him at all costs. I ran down to the nearest courthouse and filed a restraining order to keep this evil man away from my children, especially Lillyana.

Judge Driscoll asked Brandon if we engaged in sexual intercourse? Brandon Patrick Messier smiled an evil grin while looking at me and licking his lips “ yes your honor. He asked me, and with tears falling down my face, staining my cheeks I stated aloud and clearly “willingly no your honor, I was raped.” The judge stated after that, “So I take that as a yes then?” I broke down even more as he deemed my rapist officially the father of my baby. As  I broke down in the courtroom, Lillyana’s attorney Ryan Ziowaski was laughing and whispering to Brandon Messier pointing at me. My attorney took me outside and pulled me in for a  hug as I cried for my baby. 

*After  trial after  the  notice  of rights taken* 

On April 16th, 2018 at 5 pm I found out I lost my rights to my children. The very next day John and I walked 3 miles to the Waterford Juvenile Courthouse and filed a notice of appeal with the court. Every free moment I  had that was not spent sleeping was working on my case even taking some classes to keep me going. Some really wonderful ladies with the Family Forward Advocacy Group helped me prepare my papers for the appellate court. I was determined to get my children back.

We filed a rebuttal brief and waited several months until January 12th, 2019 to hear back from the appellate court. They again took the side of the state as always.  But this time I did not cry or scream. I was already prepared for this. I took it higher, and now we in the Federal Courts are arguing with federal court Judge Farrish who stated  “It doesn’t matter what these attorneys, judges, or the department have done, they are protected under the 11th amendment of sovereign immunity and it doesn’t matter if your case has merit,  you can’t fight them.”  

I have looked for help everywhere. The days get harder and harder and I never sleep anymore. I still try to hold my head up and fight. I have gotten a lot of fake help offers from men. One attorney tried to get me to marry his client as a way to get my kids back.

I  am still waiting to hear back from the United States Court of Appeals in New York. Please help me.

The post Mother Being Blackmailed to Marry a Stranger To Get Her Children Returned by CPS appeared first on Fighter Cries.

I took my children and We went to cape cod after speaking to someone about sharing an apartment out there that I had known a very long time. When I had managed to get out there It had turned out that the apartment was no longer an option so I took the rest of my money and spent it on hotels while trying to figure out where to go with my children until the money ran out. I took them to the hospital in Taunton on March 8th, 2017 so we were not outside and I asked someone to help contact DCF for help. When they came I explained that

I was about to be homeless and I didn’t want my children outside and I was requesting voluntary help so they were safe and living the way they should until I was able to get back on my feet.

They waited Until ALL 3 of my children were buckled into the car and then turned to me and said: ” oh we no longer do voluntary cases”. That is when things took a turn for the worst.

I ended up making service plans with Taunton DCF and I managed to get my children into one foster home of someone Who had even fostered me as a child. Due to sexual abuse on my children from my ex they had to remove my son and place him somewhere else and separate him from his sisters, which they didn’t even ask me if I had other options for his placement, My girls remained in WORCESTER at a foster home my son went into a TAUNTON foster home. I had begun dating my boyfriend and we were stable for almost a year and they were not HAPPY about that. His entire family has mandated reporters and they know what is acceptable for DCF standards. The entire time I was with him I worked multiple Jobs and I kept in contact with my children and Tried to Attend My visits constantly. Dcf had gone from saying my issue was homeless to adding things that were untrue. They tried to say my children were filthy when they picked them up, but that was disputed because a police officer that was present at the time dcf picked up the children came in and said no they were not, they were freshly bathed that morning and the only thing wrong was their clothes were hand-me-downs.

During my time on Cape Cod, the original goal was for reunification my service plan included seeking treatment for domestic violence, getting my Mass, id, therapy, getting a job, and numerous other goals. On my first visit, they were aware that I was in Cape cod and called me only an HOUR in advance to tell me I had a visit THAT day during summertime when tourist traffic is at its highest for cape cod. They expected me to get a ride and be at the visitation in under an hour knowing I was unable to and then marked me as missing my visit. The second visit I was 5 minutes late and I caught them trying to drive off right as I pulled up and my Social worker at the time Natasha Handley said that my kids were a handful and she couldn’t handle them and didn’t want to wait, thankfully she took them out and let me have our visit. Natasha Hadley and I were never really on the same page and disagreed a lot, it had come to a point where she even went as far as saying word for word “you worked three full-time jobs you were never home enough to stop the sexual abuse you might as well of molest them yourself”. At which point I did threaten her with words. While Natasha was my worker a bunch of things went wrong she refused to help me with any services I asked for, no to referrals, no to a parent aid and no to even helping with housing. She has also threatened my new boyfriend’s mother regarding her youngest daughter by saying “Don’t use Tiffany as a baby sitter Id hate to see dcf get involved in your life.”. While Natasha was still my worker she did not call me regarding my son who had a medical emergency resulting in him needing stables in his head, I had only found out during a visit when I had felt them over a week later. When I asked her why she hadn’t informed me her excuse was she had something come up and she forgot to make the call. My case ended up being transferred to the Plymouth office where I was going to get a new worker, during the transfer she decided to put paperwork in to change the goal to adoption and didn’t even tell me the goal was changed I found out from another worker I got after the transfer Named Beatrice, She met me once and that was it, I called and emailed for 2 almost 3 months straight wondering where Beatrice was and I was then informed Beatrice was no longer with them after I had called a few times and leaving messages which included me asking about my visits because I was unable to get a hold of anyone to confirm visits. They did not inform me the visitation center changed to a different location in Fall River Ma and that resulted in me losing visits with my children for up to three months which they tried to blame me for it.

I ended up getting assigned a new worker named Tanya Hackett, who was very honest and helpful, she got me my visits back quickly once she took over. Tanya ended up giving me parent aid after a judge ordered it, DCF lied in court and said that I have been refusing help with any kind of assistance when it was on record that I had in fact been asking for help. They finally got me a parent aid, had a Plymouth housing coordinator reach out to me, and speak about housing, and gave me housing applications for cape cod. I was told that If I had a letter stating I were to get my children back I would be able to get into family housing, but DCF refused before and After the goal change. During my time with Tanya Hackett things started to escalate very badly,

My daughter told me she was threatened by Kathleen Garrity the adoption worker who said: “tell your mommy to stop fighting for you or you’ll never see her again”.

This was witnessed by the director of the supervision center When I brought this up they refused to give me her name which I later found out to be Kate Garrity and told me, that it was essentially a lie and they could do nothing about it and refused to actually investigate this matter or even get a new adoption worker for my kids when I begged them too. Kate Garrity went to my daughter and asked her “why did you tell your mommy this” which of course any small child is going to be afraid of and intimated by so she lied out of fear and said she didn’t. During my time with Tanya Hackett DCF has started to treat me like I was abusive and a drug addict, I have never been abusive and I smoke cigarettes and used to smoke marijuana, They have refused to let me even speak to my children’s doctors about family medical history when I asked and their reasoning was “we don’t feel it’s appropriate”, My children’s behavior has drastically changed for the worse while in DCF care. My son was the sweetest three-year-old when he went in, he had no anger issues, was a normal active toddler, and was very much a “mommas boy”, since he has been in DCF care he has changed into a child with violent tendencies, and anger issues, at visits he has screamed he hates me and thrown fits and says his foster mom says she is his mom now and I am no longer his mother,

They have him on high dosages of a medicine claiming he is hyperactive and the foster mother can’t even remember the name or even how many milligrams they are.

My daughter was diagnosed with autism In Indiana, and they refuse to treat her like she is and says she isn’t, she has been kicked out of multiple daycares and schools because they cannot handle her meltdowns which they just refer to as her misbehaving, they have put her on a medicine called Ritalin last I was aware I warned them NOT to because I have a history of lashing out while I was prescribed Ritalin as a child and they said I could not even explain this to her doctor because they felt it wouldn’t be appropriate.

My daughter isn’t sure what is going on and is very confused. The girl’s foster mother was my foster mother as well at one point and I believe I made a mistake in trusting her, she Has wanted another child to adopt since I was in her care, I had a pregnancy scare and she seemed almost excited and said she would adopt the baby as hers that way she isn’t forced to downgrade her public housing to a 2 bedroom. The foster mother has talked to me threw out the entire time DCF has been involved and even refers to MY DAUGHTERS as hers when they aren’t, she has posted pictures of my children online and plastered their faces all over Facebook for the world to see claiming they are hers and even videos. She calls them her babies but they aren’t, My daughters have called her mommy since day one which DCF has heard and been aware of but they choose to ignore it.

The foster mother has called me and let me speak to the girls, she has constantly complained about my autistic daughter and how she cannot handle her, but won’t say this to DCF because she has a weird fixation on adopting my oldest daughter. Claiming my oldest daughter is her twin and her mini-me. and she is now only willing to adopt both so she can get one, she has told me if she gets to adopt my children she wants to be the social security pay-e for my daughter’s disability checks and replace everything in her home my daughter has broken not even to use it for my daughter. She has told my daughters that

I do not call and has let me call them less and less,

at a visit my oldest daughter asked me upset why I don’t call them anymore where I was honest and said I try to all the time but the foster mother doesn’t answer or call me back and my daughter seemed confused.

The foster mother Has said things to me in confidence without the girls in hearing range about HER concerns and somehow my oldest daughter is now saying them which means the foster mother is filling my Childs head with things she shouldn’t be. I am married now to my husband and we have a 1-year-old son together. When I first met my husband they liked him immediately. My husband was told he was not allowed to be involved in visits, so when I had them he will stay off to the side and not involve himself, My children RUN up to him and say Hi and try and hug him, he says hi and then tells them to come to me and follows directions to not be involved, I asked my kids what they thought if I was to marry him my oldest daughter was very excited and said she liked him a lot and he treats me well. Recently, the foster mother has started to tell me my oldest is afraid of my husband due to his facial piercings, because they reminded her of my ex from Indiana and That my husband has a nose ring and it scares her, I choose to not respond to that because something seemed off that Wanda was saying that. My abusive ex never had any piercings and my husband doesn’t and never has had his nose pierced. I asked my oldest at a visit and she looked very confused and said “but your ex didn’t have piercings mommy, he only had tattoos ” and that she was not afraid of her husband.

During court, my daughter testified she was afraid of everything the foster mother had mentioned to me in confidence. HER concerns were now coming out of my daughter’s mouth which means the

foster mother and the adoption worker had coached my daughter on what to say during court.

She was suddenly not calling my mom and referred to me by my name She suddenly was terrified of my husband and his non-existing nose ring, and she suddenly only wanted to see me two times a year. My daughter has been emotionally abused to the point she doesn’t know what to say and is afraid to speak out and is doing what she is told, She has been threatened and coached into speaking against me when she has NEVER been against me. After court when my attorney made it a point in front of the judge that my daughter seemed to be coached at the last and final court trial date. Over a week later suddenly some new allegations are now being investigated and my daughter is now saying I supposedly gave her a cigarette at 5 years old and told her to “smoke this and calm down ” and that I watched my ex molest her and I supposedly knew all about it. My daughter has had 2 forensic interviews done and has stayed with the same story up until RIGHT before the judge made her choice on if my kids are to return home to me, I believe the foster mother and adoption worker is coaching her on what to say and scaring her into saying it. I no longer have Tanya Hackett as my worker, I have a newer worker named Meg Rotty through DCF. DCF has even tried to file a 51 A regarding my son with my husband and their reasoning was my furniture was not white so they can’t tell if it’s clean or not which was thrown out and dismissed almost immediately. I have multiple witnesses who have heard the unprofessional way dcf has conducted this case over the last few years and they are all willing to stand up for me.

https://www.facebook.com/cpsthehorrorstories/videos/3000860893365270/

The post Domestic Survivor Blamed and Beaten By DCF appeared first on Fighter Cries.

REUTERS ILLUSTRATION/Jason Schneider

Secretive and cozy judicial oversight systems enable judges to subvert accountability in many states. Exhibit A: Oklahoma, where not a single judge was publicly disciplined in 14 years. When the state finally did charge a judge with wrongdoing, he was allowed to resign, his record pristine and his pension intact.

By MICHAEL BERENS and JOHN SHIFFMAN in BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA

Filed July 9, 2020, 10 a.m. GMT

District Court Judge Curtis DeLapp was renowned for his hair-trigger temper. Mispronounce his name, come to court a few seconds late, fail to rise as quickly as he’d like – no slight was too small to set him off.

For almost a dozen years, DeLapp used his power to terrify people who appeared before him, pressing contempt charges against defense attorneys, prosecutors and even a prospective juror who brought children to court when she couldn’t find daycare, court records show.

Another juror was fined $340.70 after she objected to how DeLapp was treating people who appeared before him. “I never want to be a juror or ever go back to court again,” said Carolyn Duffey Love, now 68. “He treated me like a dog.”

In 2015, DeLapp grew incensed when he learned someone had dropped sunflower seeds in his courtroom, according to witnesses. After scouring footage from a courtroom security camera, the judge summoned a spectator to his chambers, charged her with contempt and ordered her jailed for four days.

Local attorneys had grown convinced that DeLapp was violating the state’s judicial conduct code by abusing his authority. But they felt it would be futile to file a complaint with the Oklahoma agency that investigates judicial misconduct, because the state hadn’t filed charges against a judge for misconduct since 2004. The lawyers also say they worried that crossing DeLapp risked retaliation against both them and their clients.

Not until 2018 – after DeLapp sentenced courtroom spectator Randa Ludlow to nearly six months in jail for talking to her boyfriend during court – did local lawyers find the courage to act.

They enlisted a lawyer from 50 miles away who seldom practiced in DeLapp’s courtroom. And they worked collectively to build a voluminous complaint alleging that DeLapp had unlawfully jailed not just Ludlow but also many dozens of people in the prior two years alone. The complaint also contained an explosive charge: that the judge may have fabricated a court document to justify jailing Ludlow. 

Had DeLapp fought the charges, he risked more than disgrace. If it could be proved that he submitted a forged document to the supreme court, he might land in prison.

Instead, DeLapp, 53, struck a deal. He resigned and agreed never again to seek office as a judge. The case against him was dismissed. His state pension and law license remained intact. And DeLapp received a written assurance that neither his departure nor the settlement constituted an admission to the “validity of any of the allegations.”

In leaving the bench, DeLapp became one of at least 341 judges across the United States to escape punishment or further investigation in the past dozen years by resigning or retiring amid misconduct allegations, Reuters found.

DeLapp, who is still practicing law in Bartlesville, declined to comment. In court documents, his attorney said the former judge denies any wrongdoing.

The DeLapp case shines a light on one of the most opaque and dormant judicial disciplinary systems in America. In Oklahoma, repercussions for wrongdoing have been so unlikely that judges could behave with impunity.

Although each U.S. state has a judicial oversight agency to screen and investigate misconduct complaints, their powers are often limited. In most states, the ultimate disciplinary authority over a judge rests with other judges.

In Oklahoma, the chief justice wields enormous discretion over judicial misconduct cases. After the state’s Council on Judicial Complaints completes a confidential investigation of a complaint about a judge, the chief justice has the power to handle discipline privately – except in rare cases serious enough to justify removing the accused judge from the bench.

During their tenures, two former state supreme court chief justices told Reuters, about one or two wayward judges a year were quietly summoned to the supreme court. There, they received a tongue-lashing behind the closed doors of the chief justice’s chambers. No official record was kept of those meetings, the justices said.

As former Chief Justice Joseph Watt put it: “I’d much rather woodshed my brethren in private and not in public.” He added: “How does that judge feel, knowing he’s being taken to the woodshed in front of God and everybody?”

Confidential justice for judges is common in America. At least 38 states – Oklahoma among them – issue private sanctions when judges misbehave. The name of the judge remains secret, and most of these states keep from the public details of the transgression and the discipline. At a minimum, most states release summary statistics of how many judges are privately disciplined each year. Oklahoma doesn’t make that information public.

This practice – law professor Stephen Gillers calls it “judges judging judges” – undermines the system’s ability to prevent misconduct on the bench.

Gillers said the killing of George Floyd, the Black man who died in May under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, has fueled concerns about how judicial misconduct is handled, too. “The public has been alerted as it never has been before to the way police misconduct is concealed,” said Gillers. “The same is true for judges.”

When judges are the ones evaluating misconduct by other judges, they “tend to be more sympathetic, more understanding, more forgiving” to their own, said Gillers, a scholar on judicial ethics who teaches at New York University.

Privacy also robs the system of a deterrent effect: Concealing the punishment fails to discourage bad conduct by other judges, who may never learn of the consequences, Gillers and other ethicists say.

That’s precisely the dynamic that played out in Oklahoma, local lawyers say. Until Chief Justice Douglas Combs petitioned for DeLapp’s removal, Oklahoma hadn’t publicly filed misconduct charges against a judge in 14 years – the longest stretch of inaction of any state in recent decades.

In its investigation into judicial misconduct across America, Reuters sought to quantify the personal toll inflicted by judges who break the law or violate their sworn oaths. Over a dozen years, Reuters found at least 5,206 people who were directly affected by a judge’s misconduct. The victims ranged from individuals who were subjected to racist, sexist and other abusive comments from judges to those illegally jailed.

“This is a broken system that absolutely empowered judges like DeLapp to operate with impunity,” said Josh Lee, the out-of-town attorney who led the effort to rein in DeLapp. “For more than a decade, not a single judge was publicly disciplined. What kind of message does that send?” Lee said that DeLapp “had no reason to fear that anyone would stop him.”

Masking misconduct

The state of Washington is among a dozen states that handle judicial discipline more openly.

In 1989, Washington voters abolished the practice of private sanctions. Since then, every case brought against a judge by the Washington judicial conduct commission is made public. Reiko Callner, the commission’s executive director, said judges should be treated the same as anyone who appears before them.

“The norm is that anything that happens in a court has the name of the participants on it – the names of a criminal defendant, the crime victim, people involved in a lawsuit,” Callner said. “Why should a judge who has been found to have violated the code that governs their conduct be allowed to keep that fact from the public?”

Many state commissions say there are sound reasons to discipline judges privately. “It’s quick, it’s inexpensive and you don’t have to hold a public hearing,” said Cynthia Gray, director of the Center for Judicial Ethics at the National Center for State Courts, an independent nonprofit research and training organization.

Often, Gray said, states see benefits to keeping matters confidential. “If it’s one-time, minor misconduct by a judge, and the judge shows remorse, you can issue a private sanction or letter and then move on,” she said. That means commissions can focus “on the judges who are out there committing patterns of misconduct and are fighting every step of the way.”

Still, a Reuters investigation found that private discipline has been used to mask significant violations of the law. For example, in 2018, state records show, a Texas judge failed to “maintain professional competence” and illegally jailed indigent defendants. And in 2017, a California judge engaged in sexual harassment and showed a “lack of candor” when accused of misconduct, records show. Neither their names nor their punishments have been made public.

In Colorado, the judicial commission has publicly disciplined four judges since 2008 but has privately sanctioned 52. Among those whose names and other identifying information remain hidden from the public: judges disciplined for sexual harassment, for drunken driving, for delayed rulings, and for demonstrating a “pattern of errors in handling trials or issuing rulings that indicate a lack of competence.”

Granting anonymity to rogue judges is routine.

A Reuters examination of judicial misconduct nationally identified 3,613 cases from 2008 through 2018 in which states disciplined judges in private, withholding from the public details of their offenses – including the identities of the judges themselves.

Over the same period, 26 state oversight councils resolved more judicial misconduct cases privately than publicly, the news agency found. In Massachusetts, for instance, reviews of judicial conduct commission annual reports show that about 9 in 10 judges disciplined were privately sanctioned.

Some judicial oversight agencies take their independence and secrecy to extremes.

California’s oversight agency went to court to try to prevent an audit of its records, a review that ultimately discovered sloppy investigations of judges. In Illinois, the agency misplaced or lost hundreds of complaints, which have not been recovered or investigated.

Kathy Twine, who directs the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board, declined to comment on the lost files. Twine also would not provide routine complaint and investigation statistics to Reuters – statistics disclosed to the news agency by almost every other state. “We’re like an island,” the official said. “We don’t have to disclose anything.”

A comparison between Oklahoma and a state of similar size highlights the discrepancies in how judges are treated.

From mid-2004 to mid-2018, Oklahoma did not file misconduct charges against any of its 600 judges, Reuters found. By contrast, the state of Mississippi – with virtually the same code of judicial conduct and almost the same number of judges – publicly sanctioned 75 judges in the same period.

“I’m sure every state would like to think it has a judiciary that is above reproach, but every profession’s going to have a few bad apples,” said Darlene Ballard, who retired last week as director of the Mississippi commission. “It sounds like other states like to keep their problems in-house so that it appears to the public that they don’t have any bad judges.”

Steve Scheckman, who investigated misconduct cases in Louisiana and New York, said states that report so few cases are failing in their primary mission: to defend, before the public, the integrity of the justice system.

“To think that there’s no misconduct in your state, you’re either really naive, in denial or protecting people,” he said.

Former Oklahoma Justice Steven Taylor disputes such characterizations. Taylor, who served on the state’s top court from 2004 through 2016, said he was proud that the state had so few cases of public discipline. To him, the small number of cases doesn’t demonstrate weak oversight. It shows “a judiciary in Oklahoma that is ethical, doing their work and highly disciplined.”

“If we had 60 or 70 cases, I would be ashamed or embarrassed,” Taylor said.

As chief justice in 2011 and 2012, Taylor recalled, he visited the Washington County courthouse in Bartlesville, where he met Judge DeLapp and others. Taylor said no one mentioned any concerns about how DeLapp ran his courtroom.

But Reuters identified scores of contempt charges issued by DeLapp in traffic and other cases before, during and after Taylor’s time leading the bench. Some dated back a decade. In 2008, for instance, DeLapp charged a defendant with contempt for “being vocal” after the man protested because he had “no money to pay towards his fines & court costs,” according to a court record.

“To think that there’s no misconduct in your state, you’re either really naive, in denial or protecting people.”Steve Scheckman, who formerly investigated misconduct cases and now represents accused judges

Taylor said he was “extremely disappointed” when he heard in 2018 that DeLapp had acted so inappropriately for so many years. He also was surprised that lawyers had remained silent for so long.

“Why didn’t someone report this?” the former justice asked.

The local lawyers who kept quiet for years offer a simple answer, rooted in the state’s desire to keep judicial misconduct secret: An unchecked judge has the ability to cow his community.David Sachar, director of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission: Without transparency, the public sees “a whitewash.”

In Bartlesville, the Washington County seat, four judges hear criminal and civil cases, with traffic infractions representing the bulk. The city of 36,000 is an hour north of Tulsa. The courthouse is convenient for visitors, who park for free just steps from the entrance. It also is an easy place for a judge to escape scrutiny.

That’s because in Washington County and thousands of other courtrooms nationally, there is no requirement to record or transcribe most proceedings. Employing a stenographer or recording the proceedings is considered too expensive and largely unnecessary for the assembly-line pace of misdemeanor cases that make up most of the court’s business.

This lack of an official and detailed record posed an obstacle to the local attorneys alarmed by DeLapp’s behavior. Absent transcripts or recordings to corroborate their concerns, six lawyers told Reuters, they worried that a complaint alleging misconduct would come down to their word against the judge’s.

The local lawyers say they felt vulnerable to reprisal. DeLapp wielded authority to appoint attorneys to cases involving indigent defendants. They say the per diem pay for this work made the difference for some lawyers between insolvency and eking out a living.

That explanation bothers Taylor, the former state high court justice. “It’s sad that the lawyers were intimidated,” Taylor said. “Part of the hallmark of being a lawyer is speaking truth to power. They should have spoken up.”

But many of those lawyers say they weren’t simply concerned about themselves. They worried that, if DeLapp got wind of a complaint, he might take it out on defendants as well. “It’s not just your livelihood at stake. It’s also clients,” said defense attorney Marty Meason, who practiced before DeLapp and once ran unsuccessfully against him for district judge. “Nobody wanted to take on the system.”

That changed in early 2018, when DeLapp ordered Randa Ludlow jailed for five months and 27 days in jail. Her alleged offense: talking during court with her boyfriend, a traffic defendant. Ludlow declined to comment.

The sentence seemed outlandish to Meason and other lawyers who had questioned DeLapp’s behavior for years. They suspected DeLapp broke the law by failing to afford Ludlow a hearing to challenge the contempt order, violating a basic constitutional right. They also believed he’d failed to properly document his reasons for jailing her. Whether DeLapp followed proper procedure in punishing Ludlow would become a key component in the misconduct complaint against him.

A few days after Ludlow was jailed, the lawyers decided to reach out to Lee, an attorney whose office was about an hour’s drive from Bartlesville – and thus had less to fear because he didn’t regularly appear before DeLapp.

Lee remembers the call his firm received from a Washington County lawyer. The message was clear: You have to help us stop this judge.

“Everyone feared retaliation,” Lee said. “I worked far enough away that I might be safe. Plus, I was the only one crazy enough to do it.”

A disputed document

About seven weeks after DeLapp had jailed Ludlow for contempt, Lee sought her release by filing a writ of habeas corpus with the state supreme court challenging her detention. The high court quickly heard the case in Oklahoma City.

At the hearing, DeLapp told the court that he had been unable to locate the specific document legally necessary to jail Ludlow. In the document, called a Contempt Court Minute, judges must lay out the rationale for the order. The document must also be time stamped and signed.

Shortly after the supreme court hearing, DeLapp notified the high court that he had located the missing record. Nonetheless, the high court voided DeLapp’s contempt order, and Ludlow was immediately released.

The case as it related to Ludlow was over. But now, Lee had grown suspicious of DeLapp, in particular the judge’s claim that he had so quickly located the missing Contempt Court Minute he used to justify jailing Ludlow. When DeLapp produced the missing Contempt Court Minute, the document seemed odd, Lee recalled.

It included a stamp that made no sense. It was dated two days before DeLapp claimed to have created the document. In other words, it appeared to be backdated, and poorly at that.

Lee wondered: Had DeLapp fabricated the document because one had never been filed in the first place? In late March, Lee received a call from Meason, the Bartlesville attorney who was quietly helping him build a misconduct case against DeLapp and harbored similar suspicions.

“I found the evidence,” Meason recalled telling Lee. “We’ve got him.”

DeLapp, Meason explained, had often used security cameras to monitor the conduct of people in the courthouse. He had used footage from one camera to identify the sloppy sunflower-seed eater.

There was also a security camera in the clerk’s office. Playing a hunch, Meason went to the sheriff’s office and requested a copy of weeks of video beginning in February 2018. To his surprise, he said, a staffer quickly handed over the footage on a flash drive.

Reuters reviewed the video, which has never been made public. It shows DeLapp leaving the clerk’s office with files. A clerk then leaves her desk. She returns later with what appears to be a single-page document. The clerk examines the page, then stamps it in two places.

Meason and Lee say they were convinced that the document shown on the security tape was the same Contempt Court Minute that DeLapp submitted later that day to the high court. The footage, they believe, showed the clerk backdating the document, apparently to make it look as though it had been filed at the time DeLapp issued his contempt order.

Lee submitted a 44-page complaint against DeLapp with the state judicial council, characterizing the contempt document as “suspect at best.” Meason mailed a copy of the unabridged footage to the oversight council. Lee captured key frames and created a video presentation, which he also submitted. “I wanted to make it simple for them,” Lee said.SECURITY FOOTAGE: Lawyer Josh Lee used frame grabs from security camera footage from inside the Washington County clerk’s office to build this presentation alleging that Judge Curtis DeLapp committed misconduct.

The state’s judicial council investigated Lee’s complaint about DeLapp. According to council director Taylor Henderson, the matter was then forwarded to Chief Justice Combs with a recommendation that DeLapp be removed from office. The council director declined further comment but records show that a short while later, Combs moved to oust DeLapp, publicly filing a 20-page petition with the Court of Judiciary, the nine-member tribunal that has the authority to remove judges.

In the petition, the chief justice accused DeLapp of “gross neglect of duty,” “oppression in office” and “complete disregard” for the law. The justice also criticized DeLapp for abusing his judicial power and declared him unfit for office.

“I’m sure every state would like to think it has a judiciary that is above reproach, but every profession’s going to have a few bad apples.”Darlene Ballard, former director of Mississippi’s judicial oversight commission

In a section titled “Falsified Court Documents and Misrepresentation,” Combs chastised DeLapp for “gross misrepresentation” of the contempt of court document. If DeLapp created the document and pretended it was “newly discovered,” it may have constituted “a grossly intentional misrepresentation to the Oklahoma Supreme Court” – one that could be construed as a felony.

This was not the first time that DeLapp had failed to properly file a contempt of court document, then produced it after the fact, Combs concluded. In the 2015 case of a woman jailed for eating sunflower seeds in court, DeLapp waited more than two years before he “drafted” a required sentencing order. DeLapp filed the missing document “only after” his misuse of contempt powers came to light in 2018 in the Ludlow case, Combs wrote.

Combs detailed more allegations against DeLapp. One involved a father and son who became lost in the hallway of DeLapp’s courthouse. The boy asked DeLapp for directions to another courtroom, and the judge yelled at him, according to witnesses. DeLapp threatened that if the boy couldn’t find his way, “he could sit his ass in jail,” Combs wrote.

And the chief justice cited evidence that DeLapp had inappropriately contacted the county attorney’s office about a deferred prosecution agreement for DeLapp’s son, who was charged with traffic violations.

Rather than fight the misconduct allegations, DeLapp resigned without admitting to any wrongdoing.

Not every state is forgiving of judges facing misconduct charges who opt to resign. California, Texas and a dozen other states have pursued disciplinary cases and impose sanctions even after judges leave the bench.

West Virginia is among them. On average, West Virginia disciplines about four or five judges each year. Often, one or two of these cases involves a judge who resigned during a misconduct investigation, said Teresa Tarr, counsel for the state’s judicial oversight commission.

“It would be very easy for us to dismiss cases if they resign,” Tarr said. “I think the right thing to do is to hold them accountable, because it gives the public the understanding that the judiciary as a whole is not going to tolerate misbehavior. It also lets the other judges know what’s acceptable conduct and what’s not.”

Not so in Oklahoma, where the focus is on protecting the judge, not informing the public. “We want to try to self-police,” said Watt, the former chief justice. Handling matters informally is “the best way to take care of” wayward judges, “and not drag them through the mud.”

Settlement agreements like the one Oklahoma approved for DeLapp do more than permit accused judges to walk away without admitting guilt. When an accused judge leaves the bench, the commission’s investigation into misdeeds ends – even if other wrongdoing is suspected. 

Because state judicial investigations are sealed, the public is left to wonder about a judge’s culpability. Potential victims of misconduct may go undiscovered. And commission officials are prohibited from discussing cases under penalty of law. That silence can empower an accused judge to declare his or her innocence without citizens ever knowing the facts of the case.

DeLapp resigned to preserve his livelihood, his wife posted on Facebook. “He could’ve fought it, which he wanted too [sic] but did not want to risk losing his retirement, pension, Bar license, etc.,” she wrote.

In one of his last acts as a judge, DeLapp issued a statement in which he praised his judicial accomplishments and said he was leaving the bench with “a heavy heart but clear conscience.”

Judges who were publicly disciplined – and what they did

In the first comprehensive accounting of judicial misconduct nationally, Reuters reviewed 1,509 cases from the last dozen years – 2008 through 2019 – in which state or local judges resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined following accusations of misconduct. Explore judges in your STATE by using the drop down menu on the left. Or, to find a specific judge, type in the judge’s LAST NAME. To read official records about the judge’s conduct, click on a judge’s name.

FIND JUDGES BY STATE

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The Teflon Robe

By Michael Berens and John Shiffman

Contributing reporting: Andrea Januta and Caroline Monahan                

Data: Michael Berens, John Shiffman and Isabella Jibilian

Graphic: Matthew Weber

Photo editing: Corinne Perkins

Video: Craig Hettich

Design: Troy Dunkley and Pete Hausler

Edited by Blake Morrison 

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