Well here is the story. I met Gerald in October of 1996. He was working at the 7-11 down the street from where I lived. He was the assistant manager. He was so handsome and friendly. I knew that there was something special about him from the first time I saw him. He always smiled and prattle ran to wait on me. It was so sweet. I thought he couldn’t be more then about 22 or 23. I was almost thirty so I never really thought it could amount to anything.
We flirted and talked chitchat for several months. Finally he asked me to watch his children for him. He has two beautiful kids. Arrianna who was about 5 at the time and Orion who must have been 3. He and his wife at the time were going skiing. I agreed. He came over to my house on April 10, 1997 and we talked till about 3A.M. Well I wont go into details but needles to say; we both realized that it was meant to be him and I.
I met Sandra, his x-wife, for the first time on April 15 1997. She walked in and stood 6’ 3”. I was shocked by her height but the ring in her nose didn’t help. Don’t get me wrong, to each his own, but Gerald is so "clean cut" looking and they just didn’t fit.
She proceeded to tell me about the incident that occurred the evening before. She said that she and Gerald were out at a nightclub and a man was beating on his wife/ girlfriend. She said that she stepped in and that the man threw the woman into her. Sandra said that she fell and hit her head on the curb and split her head open and that she had to get stitches. She then showed them to me.
Gerald and Sandra had been having very rocky times for several years. She was very jealous and they voth had a bit of a temper. It was never physical between them. Only verbal. Well that is except for the fact that when they would fight and Gerald would try to walk away, she would follow him and literally rip his clothes off of his back to get him to not leave. He even walked across the city of Topeka, Kansas while she followed behind him in the car. The entire time she yelled at him and demanded that he get into the car. Every time he stopped to talk, she would verbally and physically attack him, so he continued walking. Sandra also had a habit of bring home “stray” women. Gerald would wake up in the middle of the night and Sandra and her “new friend” would be (well you can only imagine) in bed next to him.
In July, Gerald left her for good. We wanted to go and get his things. We called the sheriff to go with us to “keep the peace” we arrived first and Sandra wouldn’t allow him to get anything. When the sheriff arrived, he allowed Gerald to get a few articles of clothing and his day-runner. Other then that he couldn’t retrieve anything. The two of them, Gerald and Sandra, got into an argument and they were both charged with harassment. And a restraining order was issued against Gerald. About a week later, Sandra started calling and taunting Gerald because she had his car. We drove over to the street adjacent to theirs and observed Sandra and her friend, getting out of Gerald’s car with two men. They were odiously intoxicated. Gerald got out of the car and Sandra began to yell obscenities at him. We left. On the way home, we were pulled over and Gerald was arrested for violation of a restraining order. We were never within the 100 ft. I of course bailed him out and we went home. Gerald was still confused at this point as to what he wanted, Sandra and his children or me. So he and Sandra were trying to see if they could work this out between them. He was back and forth between the two of us.
There were several confrontations between he and her and myself over the next two months. She never really knew that there was anything but friendship between the two of us but she suspected. I know that we went about our relationship wrong but you will not believe what this woman did to him.
On October 27, 1997, Gerald met Sandra and her lover, friend at a local pool hall. They played pool and drank until approximately 2:00am. After returning home, her friend wanted to go four wheeling. Gerald was tired and didn’t want to go. He wanted to go to sleep. He and Sandra had not gotten along through out the evening and he just wanted to go to bed. The friend left and Gerald laid down on the futon tin the living room. Sandra was upset that Gerald wouldn’t go four wheeling but she decided that instead of fighting, she would try to get them to have sex and “kiss and makeup”. She climbed onto him and strattled his stomach. They began to kiss and then she took off her shirt. At this point, she made the comment. “To bad my breasts are not as big as Andrea.” At this, Gerald told her to get off and leave him alone. She refused and continued to grope him and attempt to kiss him and made several advances towards him. Gerald wanted no part of it. He told her several times to get off of him and she refused. Then he pushed her off. She fell back onto the floor. They then began to argue. He attempted to leave the residence. She became violent and tried to keep him from leaving. She stood in the door way and he had to push past her to go. She threatened to call the police if he left. She said she would say he hit her. This was a trick she had played many times in the past when he left an argument. She has had him arrested at least three other times for “hitting her”, after she sobered up though, she always admitted to the police that she had lied and all charges had been dropped. Gerald then managed to leave and he decided that since he had the next two or three days off that he would go visit his parents in Kansas. On his way out of town, he received a call from an El Paso County Police Officer. The officer asked him to return home but Gerald knew that they would only arrest him. He also knew that Sandra would get his car again and so he called me and explained to me what had happened. I met him and we dropped off his car. We then called the police and told them that we would meet them at the Criminal Justice Center (the county jail). Gerald explained the he knew he was going to be arrested and that we would just go there. They insisted that we meet them so we met them at a 7-11 down the street from Sandra’s home. When we got there they immediately took him into custody. At that time they noticed Gerald had scratches on his neck. Gerald was asked where they came from and he explained that Sandra had scratched him while he was trying to get her off of him. They then sent officers over to arrest Sandra.
I followed the police car to the station and called the bail bonds man on my cell phone. We placed the bond and began the long wait. Several hours later I asked what was going on. I was at the window and I heard Sandra screaming in the back room. She was saying something about me and how I had bailed him out. A few more hours passed and then an officer said that things had changed and that more charges had been added. I was confused and so was the bail bonds man. We were then told that the bond had been raised from $800.00 to $10,000.00. The original charge was 3rd degree assault domestic violence to 2nd degree assault and 1st degree attempted sexual assault. I was in shock. Sandra found out from the deputy that I was bailing him out and she suddenly said that Gerald tried to rape her and when she wouldn’t let him have sex, he tried to kill her by means strangulation. Gerald was interrogated and his clothes were taken and his fingernails were clipped to the quick and they took hair samples. Gerald was scared and confused. Finally a few hours later, after I had to strip in the car and have my sister bring him in my shirt and shorts to wear so he could leave, Gerald was released.
Life went on. Gerald was not allowed to see his children because of the restraining order issued by the court. Sandra went to a hearing on November 11, 1997. She was granted the order. It became permanent. Gerald was devastated. He missed his children very much and even though he did love me, he still loved Sandra. He was hoping that the two of them could at least be friends. He knew he didn’t dare contact her but he still felt he needed to talk to her. She then went to a hearing on November 19, 1997 in this hearing, she, Sandra, admitted that she lied about everything and what her motivation was in lying.
Sandra called our house after these hearings and asked Gerald to meet her. He was nervous but he agreed. Bobby, Geralds brother went with him. They met at a resterant and talked for a couple of hours. Sandra was very upset about all the trouble she had gotten Gerald into. She asked him what she could do.
Gerald told her to keep on telling the truth and that she could go and tell the DA and Gerald’s attorney what had happened that night. Sandra was scared because the DA had dropped all charges against her and they had threatened to reinstate them plus add others like perjury and false reporting to the list. They told her that she could be facing 5-7 years for this.
Sandra and Gerald continued to see each other for the month of December. They spent Christmas and even New Years Eve together. (Coming soon, a photo of a beer coaster that Gerald and Sandra both signed on New Years Eve, 1998/1998. it was entered into evidence for Gerald’s 35B “reconsideration of sentence” hearing.) I have several photos of Christmas 1997 that will appear soon on this page.
At the end of December, Sandra decided she wanted to buy a car. She decided that she needed a car more then she needed to pay the rent at the motel she had been staying. She bought the car and then she ended up sleeping in it. Sandra slept in her car in front of our home for three to four months. I called the police and filed a complaint against her doing this but I was told that it is not against the law to sleep in your car and it was a public street and there was nothing they could do about it. She and her two small children would sleep in the car and remember it was January in Colorado.
The department of social services became involved with the situation in November because it was a domestic violence. They had a court order drawn up so that Gerald was to have no contact with the children. Gerald couldn’t get the kids and bring them to our home. Sandra stayed at a few friends homes occasionally. Sandra was working at a topless bar called Baby Dolls and she was also working at a sex toy/ lingerie store called Alluring Lace. She worked most evenings so finally she asked me to watch the kids at night and for several days in a row. Gerald would have to leave the home so his kids could stay with me. It was pitiful!
One evening, Sandra came to my home to get the kids. She was very drunk and wanted to take the kids out of bed to sleep in the car with her. I refused to let her have them. She yelled and raised such a fit that the neighbor called the police. She tried to have me arrested for kidnapping. (For more details on this night, read the report labeled, CHILDREN TAKEN FROM SANDRA. ) |
