Got this idea from Bullfrog's "I have WHAT" thread...wondering if anyone has been accused of something they didn't do and had to go to court to prove your innocence?
I have a pretty weird story:
One day my roommate told me I got a call from a police detective with the Violent Crimes Division. Since I had been carjacked a few months before I just assumed that he was calling about the punk that tried to take my car and clubbed me over the head. He asked me a couple questions, but never really elaborated why he was calling. He asked if I knew "so-and-so" and I was trying hard to figure out two things: 1) how would I know someone associated to a punk that attacked me; and 2) why was he even asking me that question.
When I stumbled through my answers, trying to be helpful, he finally asked me if I knew Delores ________. I said, "no, can't say that I do". That's when all hell broke loose.
The detective then told me that Delores was accusing me of harassing her, and calling her making threats in the middle of the night. I stopped him, "wait...WHAT?!? I thought you were calling about the car jacking a few months ago?!?!?" He acted like he didn't care, he just "knew" that I was guilty of what Delores was accusing me of. He went on to tell me that I was lucky she wasn't pressing formal charges and that he's have me in a cell, etc. I was baffled, I was confused, I was shocked, but more importantly I was NOT they guy they should have been after!
I remember that the detective mentioned that they set a phone trap with the phone company and my number showed up calling her twice within a half hour, and that was all they needed to file charges...had she wanted to. That call was merely a formality following up on a complaint, and for some reason the detective felt that I was the culprit, and read me the riot act. My head was spinning for a couple days on that one.
A week or so went by and there was a subpoena on my desk, opened by my HR department. It was apparently delivered by US Marshall, HR read it, and then put it on my desk. When I opened it, it was from Delores, and she was suing me for harassment in small claims court, for a mere $200. I called the police department and asked for desk sergent or someone in charge, and I was ballistic!! The detective I spoke to was no help whatsoever, and gave me zero information regarding the incident. I got angry with him and gave him a little attitude and he decided that's why the other detective didn't help me, because of my attitude. He "knew" I was guilty too, and shared that with me and also told me I was "lucky" she didn't press formal charges. Holy cow!
I remembered the date that the phone trap was set, and it happened to be a day when I was at work, and the calls were at 11:00 & 11:30 AM, not PM, which was odd because she claimed the calls were in the middle of the night, not the middle of the day. So I spoke to my roommate, who was a political advocate and campaign manager for a local incumbent. He spent most of his day calling voters and when I gave him her name he checked and she was indeed a registered voter...and one who would have likely voted for his candidate. So that's where the calls were made, and he volunteered to go to court with me and explain, but I figured, "I'm innocent, why bother?".
So I rushed around the day of my court case and from a computer store across the street from the courthouse I had our receptionist fax my time card for that week, showing I was at work at the time the calls were made, then I rushed into the building. Wouldn't you know it, my case was the last one of the day...so I had to sit there for a few hours until we were called. To make matters worse, the judge was a woman, and Delores was a frantic woman who used the judge's gender to try to coerce her to see her plight...that I was a pervert and a deviant and that I was lucky she didn't have me behind bars. The case went on, and on, and Delores went ballistic. I stood there and actually shed a couple tears because it was so unlike me to have done what I was being accused of.
Are you ready for this? Delores, apparently, witnessed a crime and testified in court and shortly afterward was getting threatening phone calls that were threatening in nature, and suggestive of sexual violence!! Furthermore, Delores told the judge she recognized me right away and saw me tampering with her car! The funny thing is that I haven't ever gone anywhere near her town because there's nothing there that interests me, so the closest I may have ever been was about 15 miles away!
Finally, the judge realized that I wasn't the one, and Delores when crazy claiming I could have forged my timecard, and all sorts of things. She went so crazy that the judge told her if she didn't calm down the Marshall was going to put her in handcuffs and in a cell until she calms down. Delores was furious, but fortunately for her she bit her tongue and remained silent until the decision was made and I prevailed. The just excused Delores and then asked me to stay, and that the Marshall remain in the courtroom as well.
"Okay, now what??", I thought. I stood there, shaking, and anticipating a tongue lashing or lecture or something when the judge looked up from her paperwork and apologized to me. "I'm sorry," she said, "I wanted you to wait here while Delores had time to get in her car and leave and I would like the Marshall to escort you to your car to make sure you can leave safely. She seemed a bit unstable, and I am concerned for your safety". WHEW!!! I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who saw how mental Delores was getting!
So all in all, I had to take a couple days vacation to get facts and go to court on this, and to put a dollar amount on the paperwork and time it cost me by taking days off of work, it cost me about $300 to defend myself against a small claims suit for $200. That was about 14 years ago and I can almost remember it like it was yesterday...or the day before maybe, but still....what an experience!
So how about you?