From Checkbook to Unalived

 

Where the hell was my checkbook?  I had misplaced it on occasion.  Sometimes I’d leave it on my desk at work.  Sometimes it fell under the seat in my car.  But…it vanished.  This was stupid, I know, but I’d keep it in an open console in my car.  A 2001 Toyota Echo.  Again, stupid.  But I never really felt unsafe doing that.  Look, it was a 15-year-old hail damaged Echo with baby seats in the back.  A crappy cd player.  And just my backpack.  All I kept in the backpack were clicky pens I’d lifted from any business I patronized.  And pocketknives.  Pocketknives my Opa had given me the past several years.  Come to think of it, my backpack was missing too.

At least I was smart and only had my first initial on the checks, not my whole name.  Whoever would steal them wouldn’t be able to forge my signature.  Wait…where was my press pass?  My employee ID had my full name (and my signature!) on it.  Oh my gosh.

I logged onto my bank’s website to make sure that nothing had happened yet, maybe I still had time.  Shit.  I hadn’t over-drafted yet but was close.  And apparently, I wrote a check to [redacted] for $400 for “services”.

I felt like an idiot.  See, sometimes when I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t even lock my car door when I’d rush into a store.  It didn’t have keyless entry, so I was just lazy and stupid.  I thought back the last few days and figured it must have happened at either a Walmart or a Walgreens after work, so about 11PM.

Oklahoma has a website, OSCN.NET, where you can look up people’s court records free and easily.  I looked up [redacted] and sure enough, she was in there.  Besides an eviction four years before, she, in the past few months was convicted with…”uttering forged instrument, falsely impersonating to create liability”.  Bang. Case closed.  Was she really that stupid?  That last charge was deferred, probably because she pled guilty to forgery. 

I called my bank, and it took a week but I got my money back.  From there I also got a brand-new account.  It is such a hassle when you pay everything online (most of which is automated) and you have to go in and change everything. Invariably you’d forget stuff and get a nasty letter or rude phone call about missed or failed payments.

Well, anyway… This evil person.  She entered my car.  An Echo with 300,000 miles and two baby seats in the back.  Severe hail damage that never got fixed.  The front passenger seat forever stained with barbecue sauce I spilled months prior doing a catering delivery at my third, yes, my third job.  She stole from me and my family.  A stranger that’s obviously not raking in the big bucks.  Look, I know how that sounds.  Don’t steal from anybody. The well-to-do can feel victimized too. Of course.  I don’t dispute that, but stealing $400 from me was personal, so obviously I took it as such.  I’m sure she just saw it as shitty luck for me, but it was just business.

I went to one of my local police precincts to file a report.  I filled out the paperwork. I came ready and provided a copy of the canceled check with her name and freaking handwriting on it.  I told the detective about [redacted]’s recent conviction. She told me it was going to be my word against hers and basically, they weren’t going to do anything.  That was it.  I never heard back.  I gave her, the detective, a slam dunk case I thought, and she passed.  No second thought.

I looked [redacted] up on Facebook.  Found her easily. The profile picture matched the mugshot.  She had a bunch of Christian platitudes. God is good.  Life is great. But also mixed in with her empty shows of Christianity and “don’t be a hater” memes, she was a proud mom.  She proudly shared photos of her baby boy.  The most heartbreaking one was a picture of Mom and baby visiting daddy on Father’s Day.  In prison.  On the other side of a plexiglass divider.

I felt so bad for her kid.  I’m not trying to virtue signal here. I still wanted justice for what she did to my family.  But I was kind of rooting for her to clean herself up.  At this point I was probably most upset by the lack of action or even interest from the police.

Every few weeks, because I’m an obsessive type, I’d check back on her court records.  I’d see that she’d keep getting called back to the courts for not making payments on her fines and fees.  She’d made arguments that she’d lose her job if she had a felony conviction. To please withdraw her guilty plea. The judge accepted the request.  She then agreed to re-plea guilty and the judge suspended the sentence.  Which, I guess was a lesser misdemeanor?  I guess she was free and clear as long as she kept up with   her payments to the courts.  Sounds great.  Just keep your nose clean for the next five years of probation and your life can turn around.

So…as I write this, let's look her up in the courts.  First time I’ve done this in years, I promise.

She violated parole.  Sent to prison for two years.  Let’s look up the details.

Oh boy.

I have to take a break before falling down this rabbit hole. 

Ok, I’m back.

Shit just got complicated. And juicy.

Ok. Alright. Ok.

[redacted] violated terms of probation by not notifying the courts that he had been arrested for a felony.  What was she arrested for?  Conspiracy.  Sounds vague.  Conspiring to do what?

Now up to this point I haven’t identified our villain here because I didn’t want to, um, dox her.  She has a kid, the real victim here, and I don’t want to put his business all out there publicly.    

Here I’ll say this…an arrest is not a conviction.  Everything I say will be “alleged” to have happened, according to police.  Not for legal reasons, but for my family’s safety.  Yeah, it’s that serious.

[redacted] was arrested for… conspiring with a guy to possess contraband in a correctional facility by delivering meth to the jail and did commit the overt act by getting electrical tape and making the meth “b***hole ready” and delivering it to the trash compactor area of the jail.

The DA then revoked the suspended sentence and had her arrested.  Ok, with that, I’m done with [redacted]. 

Is that not insane?  Wait…there’s more.  Who is the co-conspirator (let’s call him [excon])?

Glad you asked.

Remember, this is all allegedly.  I’m not stating these crimes as having happened.  But the police do.

Well, police arrested [excon] in connection to a fatal shooting.  He was arrested for 1^st degree homicide.  Three men showed up at the victim’s house, kicked down the door, shot him, then fled.  Police spotted him not far from the crime scene the next day in a stolen car and gave chase.  He was arrested.  Just two-months prior he had gotten out of prison. 

Well, within 3 months of his arrest for homicide, the DA dismissed the case.

But this wasn’t because of innocence or lack of evidence.  It was due to lack of jurisdiction.

Why no jurisdiction?  That’s a whole can of worms.  It’s because of the Supreme Court McGirt decision.  I’ll link to more information here.

The one sentence gist is this: 

                In McGirt v Oklahoma, the Supreme Court finds that the State of Oklahoma cannot prosecute

                Crimes committed by Tribal members in the Creek Nation.

And literally two days ago as I write this, he was booked in Pawnee County as a courtesy to Osage County.   See, he’s a member of the Osage Nation and is now charged in Osage County, which is within the Osage Nation.

And that case is going to go to trial.  He in fact, waived a jury trial, so I’m guessing it probably doesn’t look good for him.

I hope justice gets served. And I hope that little boy, who is at least ten-years-old by now, somehow got out of this nightmare and found somebody to raise him in a loving home away from that terrible world.  That’s it, no wistful or faux bit of knowledge to end this on.  Just hope.