Note: Although in my opinion, the teenager involved in this had culpability I will not use her name or the man's name here - however I'm sure that many of the law enforcement and court personnel in Crawford County will easily recognize what case this was. If someone wants their names, please email me and tell me why and I will consider giving them.
These are the bare facts:
In 1999, Judge Pete Rogers of Crawford County, AR, awarded custody of an unrelated 15-year-old girl to a 44-year-old man, who had known each other barely 90 days.
Judge Rogers made his decision without benefit of home studies or the completion of an investigation by the Family Protection Unit of a claim of sexual activity between them. It was also in spite of objections by the girl's mother and the man's wife of 20 years (me).
When the custody petition was first filed, both my husband and myself filed it. However, after my husband threw me out of the house (so he could openly pursue his relationship with the girl within the home) I withdrew my name from the petition and contacted the girl's DHS worker to request that she tell the judge that I objected to marital assets being used to support this girl. I also contacted the attorney's office that was representing my husband and I told them the same thing.
At that time our 15-year-old daughter was living with him. However she was so disgusted by the relation ship between her father and the other 15-year-old girl that she came to me.
The results of this were catastrophic for my family.in an argument over this girl my hand was broken and I was unable to work. He refused to help us in any way because he was too busy supporting the other girl. He took my car and gave it to his 'girlfriend' and I couldn't even qualify for assistance from the state (I'd moved to OK to try to avoid being around them) as I had to be capable of looking for work). I lost over 50 pounds due to literal starvation. I had to lie to my daughter and tell her that a 'friend' had fed me to get her to eat a hamburger that I paid for by walking US69 Hwy picking up aluminum cans. (My daughter would refuse to eat if she knew that I hadn't eaten.)
Because he'd lost his job after getting custody of the girl (his employer was NOT impressed by this girl coming to a company function and telling everyone that she was going to marry my husband) the home we were buying was foreclosed on and he ran up almost 17k in credit card debt that was not paid.
My husband stayed with this girl for approximately 9 months after being given custody. When he left her she was 5 months pregnant.
Today, the teenager is 21 years old with a 5-year-old son, who has never even been in the presence of his father. Child support was established by the courts, however it goes unpaid as I have a prior support order from our divorce and have a garnishment on his paycheck. He's attempted several times to contact the girl to try to make some kind of arrangement that would benefit the child however she refuses to cooperate and/or permit him to see his child.
I'm divorced and living in the South. I'm still struggling trying to deal with all of the fallout from this. Creditors hound me and I still ache for my husband. Since leaving the girl he has consistently begged me to reunite with him. However, I simply can't do that. I mourn for him, our daughter, the 5 year old and myself. It's difficult for me to have sympathy for the girl when I believe that she 'went after' my husband because she thought that we had money.
I truly believe what occurred with my husband was 'mid-life crisis' that would not have amounted to much of anything if the oh so honorable Pete Rogers had not given this girl to him on a silver platter! I also choke on the name of the Family Protection Unit as I fail to see how or where they protected the girl OR my family.
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