The Mother-Child Reunion
was only a motion away ... by the court, that is
I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you the good news but didn’t dare until the danger was over. Yesterday, my neighbor saw her 16-yr-old daughter for the first time in 11 years, after she and her brother were kidnapped in 2012 by the dad and his mom. Her 6-yr-old daughter (with a different dad) met her sister for the first time. She’s sent me photos and I’ve never seen anyone more radiant. Today she met her grandmother for the first time since she was small.
The national office of Child Protective Services, who FINALLY got involved, flew the daughter home, there’s an internal investigation of the police, and the free legal assistance of three different states have worked together to change the jurisdiction to the mom’s home. Her own county’s legal defense drafted a restraining order so that the dad or evil step can’t try to find out where they live or come within 500 miles. The dad has signed it.
But the dad has no idea what’s going to hit him. At the same time the daughter was flying home, I was at the Solano County Courthouse picking up a copy of the case file, which I went through with a fine tooth comb. I’m trying to get the transcripts. What I’m seeing has holes big enough to drive a truck through, preferably a paddy wagon with the dad, the grandmother, the abusive step, the corrupt lawyer and the crooked judge all in it.
To remember how desperate and hopeless this situation was, I’ll link my original article at the end, Pedo-Sadists & a Call for Help. In June I wrote:
In this episode I tell a personal and urgent story of a 16 year old girl, whose mom is my neighbor, who is in a dangerous and abusive situation where every avenue to go to an authority has been blocked. There is corroborating evidence that the dad, with a history of extreme violence, may be drugging her, going into her room (which only has a lock on the outside to lock her in), forcing her to keep her curtains open for the registered ‘pedophile’ and his adult male guests next door, and may even be trafficking her.
I transcribe the mom’s list of injuries the dad inflicted on her, culminating in caving in part of her skull where it protects the spine in 2011. When she got out of the hospital she took the kids and went to a women’s shelter in Washington State, and then lived with her mom who moved there. But she called the dad every day so the kids could say good night. In July 2012 she agreed to the dad’s mother taking the kids to stay with the dad for a month and come back in time for the start of school. At the end of that month he broke off all contact and never brought them back.
Unbeknownst to the mom, the dad filed for dissolution of the marriage and full custody of the children in November of 2012. The judge in this case, Cynda Riggins-Unger, has retired but I’ve copied 15,000 words of complaints before they disappear from the Wayback Machine. This is one responding to a rare positive comment:
The Litigant below, I am glad your case was listened to. After all, it only took launching a Recall Petition, protests, and complaints into the Commission on Judicial Performance to force her to start looking at the facts, instead of … her own emotions. I have witnessed her in certain cases be very kind and speak in a normal tone of voice, then in the same breath scream at the top of her lungs over some misunderstanding. Your case may not have had these situations in it: 1. Child Abuse case where abuser wants Primary custody. 2. Domestic Violence where the victim is blamed. 3. Convicted Felon awarded joint custody. 4. Modification for the sole purposes to reduce child support despite child endangerment and abuse. …
Judge Unger has name-called, hit the bench violently, and knew her spouse was making money taking cases from her courtroom. … In Solano County, lawyers tell litigants she's biased against women. If you're in her court “You're screwed.”
court jurisdiction or kidnapping?
The first question I want to look at is whether the Fairfield, California court had jurisdiction to decide custody. According to RightLawyer.com:
The basic requirement for jurisdiction is residency. In a divorce, child custody or family law matter the court requires six weeks of residency to have jurisdiction over a divorce and six months to have jurisdiction over child custody or child support issues. Residency is not defined by your drivers license or voter registration. To the Family Law Court residency is all about where you and children physically resided.
On the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Declaration, the dad states the kids have lived with him in California since the end of July, which is less than four months from when he filed in November.
The lawyer also fails to check the box that the petitioner has been a county resident for at least six months. The lawyer signs the form for the dad because he is “absent from the county where such attorneys have their offices.” This office is listed as 1500 Webster, an ugly office building painted bright red. If the husband doesn’t reside in the county, why would he be filing in this court with the judge notorious for favoring abusive dads?
The attorney has nothing online except a one-star Yelp review that says:
Very rude and impolite, very aggressive, at the end of the day I would never recommend this attorney, his exact words, "this is not a priority." Not being very familiar with attorneys I was referred by another attorney, immediately spoke over me and did not consider that I had just lost someone which was the main concern for the call. Remember it's how you speak to people that have no practice of the law, remember we are spending money.
oh the many lies you weave once you practice to deceive
In the initial filing, the date of marriage to separation is listed as 2002-2009 or seven years. However the UCC declaration lists 2006 as the last year the kids lived with both parents in California—before the daughter’s birth! It then skips three years and has them living with the mother in Washington in 2009, and then with the mom in Oregon until July 2012.
In another place the dad says the mom lives in Washington with no residence and moves frequently. It also says she’s a flight risk as a citizen of Canada and Mexico, which was news to her. And it specifies that any change in the kids residence must give the address to the other parent by certified mail with return receipt requested, which would have saved the mom 11 years of grief.
Is that all a dad has to do to legally abduct kids, say that the mom is living on the streets, God knows where? There is a summons and petition giving the mom 30 days to respond or else “the court may make orders affecting … custody of your children.” It tells her how to get legal advice. But there’s no document saying the summons was served. And by his statement, the kids had been with him for less than four months out of the previous five years.
In addition, the dad signed that he’d read the restraining orders and understands that they apply to him when the petition is filed. These include removing children from the state without the prior written consent of the other party. So the court should never have accepted the case AND he was in violation as soon as he filed, having already removed the children from their state of residence.
valentine day massacre
Then we have the first time the dad contacts the mom to meet at a McDonald’s. She runs to buy the kids Valentine candy, believing they’re coming back and the dad laughs at her. Instead of him, a strange man says her name and pulls some papers a couple inches out of a manila envelope, stating, “Your husband is suing for divorce.”
When she falls sobbing to her knees and calls her husband, he says, “You stupid bitch, we’re nowhere even near Washington. We’re not coming, I just wanted to get you in a place my lawyer could find you.” The guy says, “I’ll be in touch” and leaves, taking the papers with him.
This threw me because the proof of service registered by the clerk on Feb 22nd looks legit. It has a stamp that says “Unlimited Process Service” with a Des Moines, WA address. Bob Woodland has a phone number and seven-digit registration number. Why wouldn’t he give her the papers?
Then I looked at another proof of service by Bob Woodland and thought the signature looked too exact. The stamp was tilted exactly the same. Why, the whole thing was a copy with the same date served and everything! … except the lawyer had handwritten in five new documents. And this was stamped by the clerk on March 13th. Did Bob go back in time to that crushing McMoment and say, hey, here’s five more I forgot?
And registered by the clerk also on March 13th is another from Unlimited Process Service for the same McDonald’s on Feb 26th. This is by James M Seyler, who curiously only has six digits in his registration number as a process server. He delivered the same documents Bob did in his time-travel but he adds a declaration page for the Superior Court, County of Solando (sic). He writes:
I SERVED [respondent] custody papers for the Law office of Daniel R. Long. … She was happy and coherent in my opinion. She had a backpack and looked unkept. (sic) She stated that she was glad to receive the custody papers, so at least she knows whats was going on at tomorrows hearing. I pointed to the section where she could call in for the hearing.
And this is declared under penalty of perjury. Is that a normal thing that process servers do, get all chatty about the state of mind of the person they served? Maybe examine their papers ahead of time so they know when the hearing is and how they can call in? Such a helpful guy.
Oh and that address for Unlimited Process Service? It’s a residential ranch home that sold in 2021. Glad Bob and James could shack up and operate a business there before it sold. Along with their time machine.
meet the judge
Not only did our buddy James let the happy and coherent mom know when the court was deciding to permanently take away her kids but the dad texted her and his lawyer left a voicemail. All good!
I’ve asked for the transcripts to see what this voice on the phone said. I’ve also asked the court reporter how they verify it’s the correct person and if they record the number they’re calling from. Whatever was said, the court took jurisdiction over the kids, gave the father physical custody and gave the voice on the phone a set time to call the kids no more than once a day.
Mediation is required before or during a child custody hearing so the voice on the phone is cordially invited to participate on March 26th. This is an emergency hearing for sole legal and physical custody to the dad, who attached the following:
[Respondent] agreed to give me the children because she was moving from place to place and has a drug problem … I believe she uses cocaine, meth and or heroine (sic) and abused prescription drugs. I believe she is suffering from delusions due to her abuse of drugs. On Jan 24, 2013, I received a text from her stating she was dropped off in the woods at night and trying to escape from the Mexican mob.
[Respondent] currently lives on and off at a assisted living residence. This residence is located at 3925 B South Cloverdale Street in the worst part of Seattle and drug deals occur routinely. She is unable to care for herself much less our children. I live in a four bedroom, 2.5 bath house in Vallejo.
[Respondent] is a drug addict and lives on the streets of Seattle. Her behavior is erratic and delusional due to the drug use.
The husband misspells his wife’s name 4 out of 8 times. I’ve looked up this house which sells for $800K in what looks like a nice housing complex. But since the wife was escaping horrific abuse, she never let him know her address so this is as fictitious as everything else.
meet the wicked grand-witch
In addition to Bob the time-traveling Valentine, and James the snoopy server, the grandmother who took her kids away also gave a declaration under penalty of perjury:
[Respondent] had moved to Vancouver, WA in May 2011. The children have chronic head lice; we treat them every time we have them and they continued to suffer from head lice until [our son] gained custody in July 2012.
We never receive toothbrushes or hairbrushes … we have received [the five-year-old daughter] in a diaper which smelled as though she had worn it for days. The children have cried every time they have to leave.
[Respondent] has admitted to having to”be in protective mode” due to the number of people who come over for parties at their house, and for having people live there that have just gotten out of prison, and for living with people who “spank their children with belts.” She’s admitted to exposing them to a gentleman who is not allowed to be around children as he is a known drug user and dealer. The children have asked to take bar soap home telling me they don’t have soap or toilet paper.
[When I picked up the kids, respondent] looked the worst I have ever seen her. She was approximately 80 pounds, her clothes were dirty. She had one tooth left in her mouth and it looked as though her gums were gray. The children were dirty and their clothes looked like rags. They hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch. When we stopped at McDonald’s they ate two cheeseburgers.
When I asked where they were living, [the son] said “under the stars, which is okay unless it rains and then everything gets wet and it gets cold.” Sometimes they stay with Grandma Doreen and her boyfriend in their trailer and he likes to call the son “piss ant” because he’s always bothering them. When we got home, I threw their filthy clothes in the garbage and they returned to California July 23, 2012.
Well that sure seems like a truthful unbiased report to me, doesn’t it to you? And when the mother calls in to the hearing, after all these friendly notices, she informs the court that she’ll agree to the father having custody through the end of the school year. It makes it so much easier to do ‘heroine’ without the little ‘piss ant’ around.
BTW the mom’s dad, who is deceased, was a minister. He was the love of her mom’s life who never dated again. ‘Grandma Doreen’ isn’t her mom’s name, who also lives next door to me. And I could sooner imagine my mom shacking up with a trailer thug who calls her grandson ‘piss ant’ than I could for this sweet woman.
meet the slimy lawyer
That time-travel machine is sure coming in handy! On March 19th the lawyer declared under penalty of perjury that he served the respondent with the grandmother’s declaration for Solono (sic) County Court. Both the county name and the respondent’s are misspelled. As he stated, he was readily familiar with the business practice of collecting and processing mail. However, he put the address of the respondent as simply “B” South Cloverdale. Was he not familiar with the need for a number? Fortunately he also sent it by email. I’m sure that space between the first and last name wouldn’t be a problem. He signed and filed it on March 20th.
Then on April 9th the lawyer was able to go back in time to March 19th and add two new documents—the mediation report and supplemental report that, it states, are filed on March 26th! Going backwards and forwards in time, what a wizard!
The county and respondent names are still misspelled. It still says that it was sent by email but then lists ‘first class mail’ as the email address. This time the mailing address is YMCA. The city of Seattle and zip seem to have been typed in later in a different font. It’s a lazy-man’s forgery because all the lawyer had to do was retype it with a new date. But why bother when you’re already in so deep?
This is filed with the clerk on April 16th. However there is no mediation or supplemental report filed March 26th. The court hearing summary says that “the mediation did not take place with mother’s participation due to miscommunication with the mediator.” The case is sent back for mediation since a custody decision can’t happen without it and the court will review the mediator’s comments on May 28th.
the kidnapping cabal
The FINAL hearing to determine this as uncontested happens on May 28th. ON THAT SAME DAY an amended summons is registered with the clerk notifying the Respondent that she is being sued and giving her 30 days to respond. Like the original summons on Nov 2012, there is no proof of service claiming it was sent.
There is also no mediation report ever filed or mentioned. An amended petition is filed but still doesn’t check that the petitioner or respondent is a resident of the state or county. This time they get separated 19 mos. sooner, thanks to the time machine. Is that because of her drug use or the 401K split by the timerule?
Based on his story, he had nothing to do with his kids while his wife lived with them on the streets for four years, from the time his daughter was one. Now he wants full custody? Nothing fishy about that. According to his mother, the wife moved to Washington in May 2011, which correlates to the hospital records when he bashed in her skull. So all three accounts from the husband have different dates of separation.
The summary of the hearing states:
the mother is not present.
court finds service on mother is effective.
father shall have sole legal and physical custody.
mother shall have visitation supervised by the father.
his attorney can write up the order and submit directly to the court for signing.
return of the snoopy server
James Seyler of Unlimited Process Service wraps this all up with a bright red bow. On Aug 10th he serves the respondent with the amended summons that had given her 30 days from May 28th to respond. Although with the hearing that same day, 40 or 70 days too late doesn’t make much difference. That and the amended petition are handwritten in, along with the handwritten lawyer’s address. But the Superior Court of Salano County is titled in bold with a different creative spelling, along with the respondent’s misspelled name.
It also lists fifteen more documents that were served at an address that turns out to have been a McDonald’s. He declares under penalty of perjury that he delivered these to her and left them with her after she read and signed another set of the same documents in front of him. I hope he was buying the coffee!
Typed into the proof of service above his own signature is “Signed at Des Moines, WA on Sept 13th, 2013.” Over a month later? Then her name is signed to the agreement that it’s uncontested and waiver of appeal, and to the waiver of disclosure. They are dated Aug 10th in a different handwriting, which also dates the husband and his attorney’s signatures as Sept 18th. The marital settlement agreement is also signed in her name although it’s missing 2-4 pages. This is then signed by the husband, the lawyer, the judge and then filed.
Here’s what I know from my own divorce: a week or more is required after receiving the documents before signing, to read and consult a lawyer. Every page needs to be numbered and initialed so that extra pages can’t be slipped in later. Even with both people present, it must be notarized. Process servers are not notaries; they throw the summons and run. Nothing has been notarized showing the signatures are hers.
malice and misery
Is this all a dad needs to do in the Solano Court, say “My wife lives in the dump, she’ll probably get this,” and throw the summons in the trash?
Only a judge with malice against mothers could have believed the over-the-top fabrication by the dad’s mother that the kids cry when they have to leave and beg for soap and toilet paper. It’s a completely idiotic made-up story. From the date of filing, this was in violation of the Uniform Custody Act and the police should have been notified in both Washington and Oregon States, listed as the mother’s last residences, to find out if Missing Children reports had been filed.
The blatant falsification of proof of service, the use of obviously bogus mail and email addresses, and the nonsensical acts performed by process servers; all were clanging alarm bells ignored by the judge. She gave away custody of a mother’s children with zero verification that the mother even knew where they were. It’s beyond gross negligence and is an accessory to kidnapping. From the consistency in the complaints against her, I think every ruling by her against a mother should be a mistrial.
The grandmother should be charged with kidnapping, perjury and defamation. The lawyer adds fraud to that list. And the evil step, who likely pretended to be the mom on the phone, is also implicated although the daughter has charges of her own against her. On the income and expense declaration, she’s listed as the ‘financee’ which probably meant fiance but was a Freudian slip.
And as for the husband I’ll add one extra cherry on top. The mom was doing some research at Veterans Affairs and found he had taken out life insurance on her three days before he bashed in her skull: premeditated attempted murder.
For the beginning of this story, here’s Pedo-Sadists & a Call for Help:
In this video I ask the viewer, "Where do you go when the authorities are corrupt?" I tell the story of a girl whose mom I know, whose extremely violent ex- took custody of their kids a decade ago and hid their location. I look for advice from the viewer on keeping the girl safe while the legal questions can be investigated.
And I followed up with the FBI’s War on Moms:
What is the FBI good for? Cringe-worthy Taylor Swift knockoffs, banning journalists from Twitter, and staging J6 false flags certainly. But protecting a 16 yr old girl kidnapped and abused by a violent dad making death threats? Not so much. I look at the FBI's history in parental kidnap cases and the criminalization of moms.
Tereza, thank you for sharing this heartwarming turn of events and for all you did on behalf of this daughter and her mother
This is incredible news.
I'm trilled to hear this.
Wishing you and them both well!