“Eight hundred dollars in cash for groceries? At the exact time your sister was in chemistry class?”
Silence.
When Jolene took the stand, she finally broke her silence. Under oath, she admitted she had seen Karen enter my room empty-handed and leave without the hair tie she claimed to need. She admitted hearing Karen on the phone with Trent, laughing and saying, “Everything is in place.”
Then, the judge turned to my father.
“Mr. Walls,” Judge Morrison said, looking over her spectacles. “You expelled a minor child into a dangerous storm based on unverified accusations. You made no attempt to investigate. You chose the daughter who flattered you over the daughter who needed you.”
My father wept. It didn’t move me.
“That is not parenting,” the judge said. “That is abandonment.”
The Outcome:
Karen pled guilty to fraud, theft, and child endangerment to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. She got two years suspended, five years probation, and a felony conviction on her permanent record. No more finance jobs. No more trust. The scarlet letter was hers to keep.
My father lost all guardianship rights. He was ordered to pay restitution and fund my education until I turned twenty-one.
Grandma Dorothy was granted permanent sole custody.
