The Accused is the Victim

I found myself stumbling out of the police station one cold April morning in 1998 after going through the humiliation of being finger printed and photographed. How did I end up in this place I ask myself repeatedly? I am the typical wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to all never in trouble. Now I am being accused of embezzlement of over $25,000 from my retarded brother. A very serious crime that if convicted I would spend probably the rest of my life in prison. I was stunned practically numb yet at the same time mad my feelings were so mixed at the time I could not even think. This is my story how being the accused but actually the victim.Early days in my life

I was born in the Appalachian Mountains and at a very early age, my parents moved me to Ohio where I grew up and like all teenagers had dreams of being a movie star until later when I decided to become a teacher but my parents believed that a woman should only get an eighth grade education. I did manage to graduate high school and attended college after I was married. My parents had one other child four years after my birth a boy named David who was a special child. I loved my brother and often took care of his needs, played with him, and babied him as if I was his mom. Many people often commented that I was more his mother than our mother. My mother was a character in herself who I loved and hated all at the same time. She often would beat me and abused me with her torture tactics. My dad often gone on work assignments as he was a construction worker so he followed the crew never knew what mom was doing. He thought that providing for his family was all that he needed to do and that he did trusting solely in mom for our care. I loved my dad, as he was always good to me a very loving father. My mother I guess was lonesome missing dad and took her frustrations out on me. I really do not want to bring out the abusive things that I endured but just to relate that was what my life consisted when I was growing up and I endured. I did love my brother dearly taking care of his needs and wants. I always thought that we were very close and I would do anything for my brother. My brother born at six months with water on the brain and the rickets needed a lot of extra care, which my mom refused him but I did it all. I taught him to read and write how to walk and even how to talk. I potty trained him doing all the things that he needed because I loved him. This is a very important point that I felt you should be aware.Our marriage and beyond

I met a very handsome man who worked very hard and widowed with four children. I fell in love with him and the children immediately and we were married. I then moved to Michigan where his family all resided and fit in the community very well. I became a member of his church, did a lot of volunteer work in the community, and loved the children dearly. I am not going to deny that we had problems like all families both financially at times and personally. It is not always easy to raise teenagers but we all survived and they all gave us beautiful grandchildren. My grandchildren are beautiful people just like their parents and I am very proud that they call me grandmother. After a few years of marriage, my father passed away and my brother David married a hometown girl named Diane. My mother of course had her hay-day bossing the two around and taking control of their lives. Diane was a very sweet girl retarded and seemed just made for my brother. He seemed to be not smart enough to marry a normal girl so it seemed but too smart to be with someone who was shall we say very retarded. My mother all those years had poisoned my brother against me by telling him lies to keep him from coming to where the city where I lived. He thought that my family in Michigan was bad people who would destroy and hurt them. My husband was of Hispanic origin and a devout catholic, which made him and me, taboo in my mothers eyes. I never realized just how much my mother had brained washed my brother against me until after my mother's death. My brother loved his wife Diane and did not want to be separated from her but unfortunately, her family tried in later years to take her away from him. This in itself became a battle that I help my brother fight until the end because I knew how much they loved each other from childhood and felt that separating them would be a tragedy.The start of it all

When my mother fell very ill and no longer could take care of herself, my brother brought her to my home in the back seat of his car along with his wife Diane. My husband and I turned the spare bedroom into a special room to take good care of her. We provided hospital bed and all the necessary equipment to watch after her. All my children had left home but our youngest son who was a senior in high school and going through his own love crisis at the time. Our youngest daughter who had three children and was about to give birth to her fourth child lived in a small apartment complex that caught on fire burning everything that they had leaving them homeless. We of course could not leave them on the street so we turned our basement in too their living quarters. We put in dividers so that the boys could have their space and her then oldest daughter had a small room and giving mom and dad an area as well. We all shared the kitchen, dining room and living area. My husband and I were running out of space so my brother and his wife ended up sleeping on the floor in the living room.

My mother started getting better and meaner by the minute. She tried to over dose herself on her medications so I ended up taking all of them with me to work everyday. She would not let my daughter feed her with the other children as she claimed that my daughter was putting poison on everyone's food. That was just the tip of the icing of all the things that went down during that time. Finally, I found a very nice little cottage for my brother and his wife, which was only a mile from our home. I then set them up in their own place stopping after work to make sure they were all right and they would come back later to eat super with me. My daughter and her husband found an apartment and moved in straightway after the Christmas holidays. Meanwhile during this mess my mother went on one of her tangents called in social services telling them things that were so unbelievable not even the caseworker believed her.

They took her to the hospital and examined her finding no bruises on her body nor rope burns on her wrist. You guessed it she accused us of tying her up and beating her. This was the most outrageous thing that I ever had heard. Then in the end, she decided to go and live at the city mission because she was a Christian and would not live with heathens like us against her will. I tried to warn them about her overdosing herself but no one would listen too me. She did this is Ohio to get attention which worked for a while until they told her next time she was going to be committed. It happened one night just before Christmas mom had saved her medicine and took them all at one time. This caused her to have a heart attack, rendering her unconscious for ten days before she died. The woman at the mission was so upset because she thought that I was trying to be a "bitch" to my mother. When she finally found out the truth, it really hurt. I tried to console her as best I could. My mother left a letter admitting all the bad things she had done to me and how guilty she felt about the way she treated me over the years and how she spoke against me always to my brother making him promise never to trust in me. I did not want to keep the letter because it brought back bitter memories. I destroyed it with some other things that brought back memories of a past that I had long forgotten but now had wished I kept.

My brother in the meantime was having problems with his wife's family back in Ohio. The girls' parents had gotten a court order to take her back home. They then filed for a divorce from my brother for her claiming that she was no longer of being capable of living in a marriage. My brother and his wife would have been married twenty years that August when they separated them. It was true that Diane had gotten much worse in her mental status she was like a ten-year-old girl. She no longer could be a wife too my brother but he wanted to keep her anyway taking care of her as best as he could. He wanted to go with her to these assisted living quarters where they could get help but be together. I financed a lawyer on his behalf but nothing worked her family won in the end. The family would hear none of that and took her back to Ohio refusing to let them visit with one another. After about one year, Diane quit eating and drinking water until she finally died of grief. I know this sounds cruel but this was the cold facts of how she died. They refused to take her to the doctors or hospital saying she would eat when she got hungry. She might have been mentally incapable of being his wife but she still knew who he was and loved him I believe until her death. My brother now found himself a widow and no mother.

Five years with brother!

The next five years proved the biggest challenge in our married life while taking care of brother. My brother who loved to drive his big blue car would be gone all hours of the night going everywhere. He started picking up hookers and anyone who would sleep with him. He was getting social security check that he used for whatever purpose that he wanted. He blew it in about a week or two each month and then would come and live with us. Then he began complaining that he did not want to live with us he wanted his own place. I worked with a friend who was about to get married and her boyfriend had a nice mobile home that he wanted someone to take over for him. We got together and they agreed to let my brother live in it for a while if he became organized he could then buy it. I had another friend who was the manager of Burger King and agreed to let him to go to work there part time helping to compensate his income. I thought finally all is well freeing my husband and I finally live our lives. My brother still picking up bimbo's whenever and wherever he could was bound to get in trouble. One day I got a phone call from the police department he had been arrested and was in jail. The end conclusion he had been with this women opened up several bank accounts, writing bad checks, and ATM fraud. He would write on a piece of paper $600 use his ATM card to deposit that which was not there and with draw about $500. I could not believe that he would do this. I never thought that he was that smart! I had to believe that the woman in question was behind all this activity. She disappeared with her pimp and kids leaving my brother to hold the bag. I hired him an attorney who was able to get him put on probation with the stipulations that he pay back what he owed to the ATM machines and a percentage of the bad checks. My brother had to live with me with a curfew and he had to resume his old job or get a new job. I was lucky my friend was willing to take him back. Let me say that I had five years of pure hell while he lived with me. He disregarded his curfew several times he got involved with other women finding himself in trouble. One woman whose husband had robbed banks was trying to get him to pick up a stolen car for her so she could take off with the money had promised to meet him later. I was lucky enough to foil that plot.

Make a long story short if he could think to do it he did! I spent over the five years about $60,000 trying to help him pay off his bad checks, ATM frauds and other deeds that happened. Finally, the woman who lived three doors down from me had an older daughter who was living with her at the time who was looking for a man. The woman seemed like a nice descent woman a little slow and my brother and she hit it off very well. When my brother's probation was over, I kept them both for a few months until they got married. My son who at the time lived on the next street had just gotten married and moved to Grand Rapids with his new bride. All said and done we gave my brother and his new bride the mobile home that my son had bought. The home was nice enough it had two bedrooms, large living room with a circular counter-top and large enough kitchen. I helped them to move into the home and provided them with some furniture. I also had to continue to be his guardian for a while. The courts did not want him to be completely free on his own until he had proved that he was capable of not getting into trouble. If the courts had only knew what had happened the past five years they would never turned him loose.

During all this escapades by my dear brother, things were not exactly going well in my life either. My husband had a heart attack having to have open-heart surgery. I had a stroke causing me not to be able to use my left side and it was discovered that both my husband and myself were diabetics. We were the first home in our mobile park, which had belonged to the previous park manager, and it was built on a basement with additions that made it seem more like a house than a mobile home. We had signed an agreement not to move our home as it would leave a big whole in the ground because of the basement. The owners of the park had agreed not to ever use the concrete building that was very close to our home. In fact, they had promised within five years to have it torn down. The owners went bankrupt leaving the park to new owners, which caused us much grief. The new owners made one of the tenants the new manager and set up the building as his office. We had people using our driveway all hours of the day and night. We were often blocked so that we could not get our vehicle out of the driveway to make our doctors appointments on time. The new park manager wanted our home and minced no bones about letting us know it. He tried to make us tare down our wheel chair ramp which had been with the home for a long time. We had gotten permission from the previous owners to have it built. Did I mention that I was in a wheel chair unable to walk because I had polio? All this is very important to my case believe me. My mother had not gotten me the vaccine as a child to prevent this from happening to me. She did manage to get my brother vaccinated.

After my brother had settled in his new home with his new wife I decided to give up his guardianship and let someone else take over. This friend was a huge mistake on my part! All these years of taking care of him, I had never had a problem with the courts concerning his money. I had always showed the bills that we had paid, the clothes we bought for him, car payments (he went through a car a year) etc. Every year my paper work had been approved with no questions, ask. My brother new guardian was appointed by the county and a close friend of our park manager. The same manager who had vowed to take our home within one year. This was the man who had tried to make us tare down our ramp, stood by the bus stop to prevent our grandchildren from riding the bus to school, tried to get us fired from our newspaper delivery job, and harassed us at every turn. This same man called my six-year-old grand daughter a nappy-headed "little nigger." Black people please close your ears on this one! I am not black but white but very much ashamed of this man and his mouth. He sent a letter one week telling us that we had to pay an extra $25 a month for each grand child then the following week sent out a new letter telling us that we had to pay $50 a month. He then accused us of having the worse looking home in the park. This was an out and out lie, which we proved without a problem. Our grandchildren had their own home but mom went to work very early so she leaves them with us so they could catch the bus and not be home alone. I enjoyed having them and we would make breakfast together and often their supers too.

After the new guardian took over for my brother, she and the park manager decided to charge me with taking my brothers money. They accused me of stealing over $60,000 and my brother thought that he would be able to get a lot of money. The idea was that we would have to sell our home give my brother the money and the park manager would get our home. The social worker would get a percentage of the take. The "three thieves" had it all planned they thought. They never thought about my resistance to their lies. I never knew how hard it was to fight in court either, which made my life a living hell!

The investigating detective came to my house to question me and called me a liar and a thief. He told me that I would rot in jail. He told me," Bitches like me would should never see the light of day!" I was shocked at his attitude! I immediately got an attorney to represent me and told him how much money had put out towards my brother and his ways of doing. The attorney asks for $5,000 as a down payment and said he was sure he could get the whole thing dropped. I thought this is high but I wanted to be able to hold my head up high and prove I was innocent. The prosecuting attorney's office was dreadful to say the least to me the whole time. I was "GUILTY" no questions! I was talked to like a common criminal and not allowed to open my mouth in my own defense. The lawyer I hired called a meeting with the detective and I for the purpose I thought of letting me tell my side of the story. That was not the case! The lawyer told me in front of the detective to admit my guilt spend thirty days in jail and pay them what they were asking and I would be able to go home. I told them straight out that I was not guilty of anything, I was not going to jail and he was fired! At that point, I felt like I had been violated in the worse way. My trust had been damaged to the point I was afraid of everyone. He farther admitted that my park manager had called him telling him that I was guilty and that it be to my best interest to admit it. I ask him whom was he defending? I told him that he had better make sure that the manager paid him! Since he had believed him instead of me and that how dare he reveal to them my case!

My husband and I both went home bewildered very upset and almost in tears. I had been told that I had twenty-four hours to go to the police station to be photographed and finger printed. That I was to appear in court for a bond hearing and if I tried to run, it would go even harder on me. After a couple of days it struck me that while, I had attended college my law professor was an attorney and we had gotten along very well. I called the office asking his advice as one of his students instead of a client. I knew that as a student he would give me free advice. He was very kind as usual but he explained that in this area if I got an attorney that my goose would be cooked because whether we liked it or not all attorneys face the same judge's everyday. That they had to give in or their cases would never be won in court. The first attorney realized that my case would be hopeless and that he could not do justice by me in court. He advised me to go out of the district and get an attorney that would not be affected by any decision made by a judge. He said in a manner I could get someone that is willing to fight for me. It looked like he said, "Your really up the creek," and no way to get back. I appreciated his advice but wondered where I could find such an attorney. I got a call from him in about half an hour from our conversation and he gave me the phone number of a very good law firm who worked out of the area and told me that he had recommended me to them.

The law firm was very far away but had a working attorney in Grand Rapids who was glad to come to court on my behalf. I had to get together all my records and a check for $10,000 and he would begin procedures on my behalf. I swallowed very hard at this point with only $500 in my bank account and way of gathering that kind of money my heart sank to its lowest point. My dear sweet husband called everyone in the family together for a family meeting on that Friday. My husband declared a family emergency on my behalf. I was amazed all my kids, his sisters and brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins everyone was there at our home. The place was so crowded that we ended up going to the play park in the mobile home park. Everyone had brought lawn chairs so we all had a place to set down. My nephews made a sign that said, "Private Family Meeting." My husband explained my situation and my choices then he explained what I needed in order to survive. He also told them how my brother was a scoundrel and the many things that he had done. Then he went on to explain that in order for me to avoid a gross injustice I needed an attorney from out of the area. That in order to hire one I needed $10,000 to start and would need to make payments to cover the rest. That at the present time we had collectively spent about $8,000 on a lawyer not worth his salt and how our illness had caused us to use up all our reserve money. That to be honest we did not have a nickel to our name and were not sure what to do. I spoke a little bit and answered questions as best I could to all those who wanted more information. Then my youngest son made a motion that anyone who really does not want to be involved should leave and no hard feelings by anyone towards them. I spoke up and said that yes, I did understand that we would have a ten minute break several people got up and left then returned with bottles of water and pop for everyone to drink. At that point, we began again with the information I had from reporting on my brother at the court on his income and all the bad checks etc. I had made copies of everything and we had placed them on a card table in front of us for anyone to view.

My youngest son love to weather this leather black hat that look like the one crocodile Dundee wore with a wide brim and deep insides. He took off his hat, placed it on the table in front of everyone, and said folks the only answer is money! You can drop cash or a check in my hat or make a written pledge telling us when you can bring it. You can also make a note letting us know how much you are giving so we can pay you back later. I was amazed at all the people who started hugging me and talking to me telling me they were behind me 100%! My son's large hat could not hold all the money and checks that I got. I did not get one note of promise to bring back later nor did I get a note requesting payback. This lovely family rose over $12,000 on that day! I knew from then on that I would have to win for all of them. This was the family that my mother said was no good! The family she warned my brother about had readily come to my aid! The family she had said disgusted her! This was my family who I loved very dearly and they loved me.

After this much happened over the next three years in and out of courtroom that caused the onset of my poor health. The wife of the park manager actually pulled my frail husband out of his van striking him and pulling his arm out of socket. We called the police, which the nephew of the detective came and called me a liar. He told me when he stepped in the doorway, "I don't want to hear none of your lies." It took him three days to file his report and then he issued a warrant for our arrest on trumped up charges! We had to flee to my son's house for a week until my lawyer returned from vacation. My lawyer got us bonded so we would not have to go to jail and then he pulled the hospital records to prove what had happened to my husband. He also found that the neighbor across the street saw the whole thing so the judge dismissed the case returning our bond money. See how the law itself even worked against us the sheriff who made the report lied on his report.

We had a trial against the park manager getting a restraining warrant to keep him and his wife from doing bodily harm against us. Our attorney at the time was in the middle of another court case so he sent in some other lawyer from the firm. This lawyer was a tall black man who had three children of his own and very up-to-date in our problems. Remember at every turn we had lost in court with our pleas etc. The issues came up about all the piety things that had been done to us by this man and the things that he had done to prevent our grandchildren from going to school. The principal of the school even testified on our behalf telling that he had to stop the manager from his daily calls and complaints. The judge decided on our behalf and instructed the manager that he was not to come near us or our family or he would go to jail. He also gave him a hefty fine and instructed him that he would be paying court costs.

I had never seen a man as mad as he got that day. He had bragged that this was a shoe in before he was done I would be in jail! When we left the courtroom, just before he stepped out of the area he called our attorney the "N" word! The judge heard, yes, he spent time in jail and his fine became even stiffer. The whole family apologized to our lawyer but of course, he told us not too that he had dealt with rednecks like him before. "They only show their ignorance!" A smart man would have composed himself until at least he was not in the ear shot of the judge, he said." We went home with a victory that day!

In Conclusion

My brother testified that I was the biggest crook in the county and that I had cheated him out of everything all his life. The pain I felt from hearing this out of his lips almost caused me to have another stroke. I took a polygraph test previously and had passed it with no problems. My brother had refused to take the test, which I guess was just as well. My granddaughter drove my husband and me back to Ohio so that we could get important information and statements from people who were vital in our case. My girl friend Debbie had taken me back previously and helps me to search the courthouse records that I brought to the attention of my attorneys. My father had left part of his property to my brother and the other half to me, as we were the only two children that he and mom had ever had. My brother had sold my property for $150,000 to a couple telling them that I had died and no one was left but him. He had scratched out my name on the will but not enough sense to scratch out what my dad had left. He also at one point had someone sign my name on the property deed in order to get a clear title. Farther, he had been receiving payments on the property in a post office box the whole five years that he lived with me. The court had already ruled that I was too making him payments each month on the money that I owed. They did not believe me that I had spent more on him than I could have ever taken. I had appealed and we were going back to court with all the new evidence in order to prove my innocents. The prosecuting attorney's office simply told me I was guilty and they did not even want me to testify. The whole court thing was a total sham. My brother accused me, the park manager verified and the investigating detective clarified it and his new guardian sanctified it and I was crucified. I was the "VICTIM!" Justice was truly blind, deaf and in my case stupid. The lawyer had enough and he told me that we were going to get this taken to a higher court!

In final conclusion, I did finally win because I was at last able to present all my evidence. The park manager was fired, went to jail for extortion not only on me but also on others in the park. The social worker lost her job and the arresting sheriff was put on a desk job for a year loosing his squad car. The investigating detective also was penalized for his part in the whole thing. The prosecuting attorney ran for a political office and got off without even a warning. The other attorney kept my $5,000 without even saying he was sorry. My brother well the new prosecutor's office declared that justice had been served and that he would have to live with himself as he had spent all the money on drugs and booze and cheap women. The wife he now had been about too leaves him when she found out all that he had done. Every time I would meet my brother out in public, he would say to me, "Are you going to die soon?" I hope so then I won't be going to court and I am going to take everything you got for me." He was so cruel too me that I would go home and cry. My family would try to console me and tell me not to listen too him. You see I loved my brother and I watched over him from a baby. I do not and still cannot understand his cruelty towards me. Two years ago the first week of October my brother and I met at the local Wal-Mart store and again he asks," when I thought I was going to die remarking, I hope it is before Christmas." I manage to muster up all I had within me and replied I am sure your death is more likely to happen before mine and the way you are going it will be soon." The new park manager came to my home two weeks later to tell me that my brother stood up had a massive heart attack and died instantly. The ambulance was taking his body out as we spoke did I want to go down there and see him? I was shocked; he had never seen a sick day in his life always in perfect health. He was only fifty-three years of age and planning on going on a trip with his wife to make amends and promise to behave. When I said what I did, too him I never realized just how soon he would die and I never really wanted him to die that young. I pondered his death for a long time before I concluded within my self that this was his final punishment. My son commented to me that it was not fair since he caused all the trouble he was the only one who did not have to face any sort of punishment. I told him not so my son, he is facing the worst punishment of them all. My brother is facing the biggest judge and cannot lie his way out of his doings. God knows everything and he is our final judge. The others got off easy, I am afraid my brother for his hard-heart is facing a much worse punishment.

I love and appreciate all my family and friends who stood beside me and never gave up on me. I especially appreciate my attorney who stuck by me through thick and thin. He even forgave me part of my debt because of the unusual circumstances that I faced. I most of all want to thank my brave husband Fermin who never gave up on me and who stood by my side not only in this crisis but also during my poor health. I would have never survived if it were not for his faith and constant love he showed that he had for me.

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