As if time stood still I knew I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. I knew I had to right my response. I just made a mistake, they'd understand. So I decided to pull Rebecca Stauton aside and tell her my error in thinking that stuff was left by a previous tenant that no longer wanted it. I offered to get in the dumpster and remove everything that was in there. Anything that was damaged I'd pay for. I told her I thought I was just doing my job and that I lied because I was afraid of losing my job. I swear I meant no harm. Rebecca understood how the mistake was made and told me not to worry about it. I immediately went to retrieve the items from the dumpster. Ten minutes into my recovery efforts a man leans over the rails of the dumpster and calls for me to come out. He asks me, "Are you Jade?" "Yes I am", I replied. "You're under arrest" he said. "For what", I asked. "Burglary", he proclaimed. "WHAT, but she said it was o.k.", I said in total confusion. "Well, she changed her mind", he said, seemingly with some delight. Just like that my world crashed. Cuffed in the back seat of a squad car headed to jail where I was finger printed, strip searched, dressed out in orange, and booked into population. I faced 3 counts of felony burglary charges. I spent 2 days in jail waiting to see a judge. My parents hired a lawyer by the name of Charles Floyd. His only effort in helping me was getting me out of jail by getting me a signature bond. After that he was useless. He immediately tried to get me to settle on a plea agreement, telling me I'd probably only do 6 months. W.T.F. I mean plea for what? Doing my job!? My only crime was not telling the truth when initially asked. Needless to say he was fired after our first meeting. Mean while of course I was fired from my job. Heck they even kept my last check. I had a little money saved and was able to hire another attorney. His name was Dallas Ryle. I felt I'd be in safe hands with him. Now he was good...well at least at doing one thing...which was getting the trial delayed. Of course all that meant was more money for him. Being that I now had a pending burglary charge on my record, I couldn't find a job anywhere. I applied everywhere, but come on....would YOU have hired me? Naturally my funds dried up I couldn't afford to pay attorney fees any longer. I remember going to court one time and my lawyer told the judge he was going to have to drop me due to non-payment. Somewhat lucky for me Judge Clarence Siliger ordered him to stay on the case as pro-bono. Now that was good because it meant at least I'd have an attorney. Yet in his eyes this was a waste of time for him. For 2 years my case kept getting delayed. Finally June 1, 10:45am. I was sitting in the back of the court room with my girlfriend. My attorney walking toward me seemingly in slow motion. Finally reaching me he says, "The D.A just made an offer and you need to take it". As if I could read his mind, I knew he wasn't going to put anymore effort into defending me. So I excepted the plea agreement. 3 counts misdemeanor theft by taking. 12 months probation for each count. Restoration of $6754.00 to be paid out on a monthly basis. All under nolo contendra. Once I completed probation my record would be clean as long as I stayed out of trouble. Finally an end was in sight to this nightmare I'd been living for the past 3 years. Well at least I thought......
To be continued...
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