Imagine a world where a father honorably serves his country by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps and then he is punished and abused by the judicial system for learning a trade and trying to raise a family when he comes home.  Can you see the 5 years of legal hell that begins with a judge stating, “I don’t care if you are a disabled veteran.  You abandoned your children by enlisting. 
 
Imagine a court that takes an ex-wife’s sanctimonious word of being a dutiful housewife, over a father’s documented proof of income, where the ex-wife is allowed to lie about her financial need while she lives with a new spouse who makes nearly a quarter million dollars a year, raises foster children, and uses the child support she receives from the father to care for other children via a previous marriage and the foster children. 

Is the mother truly in financial need when she buys a new Nissan Envoy and Hyundai Elantra – owning a total of 3 new vehicles, takes several vacations and trips to Europe while leaving the children with inlaws or friends, and then denies her son (my almost step son) a pair of sneakers?  Yep – you heard this correctly, the mother told her son Dylan to go buy a pair with his own money, after she received a child support check from the John Crowley and spent it on the foster kids that she is getting paid for (under the table).

Imagine a Judge who will disregard not one, but three, Guardian Ad Litem statements that recommend the children not be allowed to live full time with the mother and stepfather, after the mother admits to emotionally abusing the children, they neglect the children and punish them by making them stand in an unheated porch for hours on end without coat or shoes when the temperature drops below zero, and starve the children during their religious “fasts.” 

Imagine child protective services (DHHS) finding nothing wrong with the step-father openly admitting to physically abusing the children; leading one of the children to run away and experience failing grades in school.  Is it legal for them to investigate this and find nothing wrong, then have the judge close the file so that no one else, including the father (my boyfriend), can see it?

And finally, imagine a world where the judge and the ex-wife’s attorney now are subpoenaing MY income that I use to support my children and household, simply because I am John’s girlfriend.  Welcome to my world!  I am Nichole Moore and I am tired of this ultra-religious and “devout” Christian woman using the system and a judge to screw my boyfriend every way possible (now that she is no longer married to him), and now she is coming after me.  I make minimum wage and support my children, I do not need to support her children from multiple partners as well. 

Where does this happen?  Why, in the kangaroo court of Machias, Maine under the Honorable Judge David Mitchell, presiding.  After looking at his rulings, people who know the law may wonder why he is still on the bench, as he seems to rule based on bias, friendships, and closed door dealings. 

And in the case of WANNAMACHER VS CROWLEY, DOCKET NO:  MACDC-FM-07-44, in the Machias District Court of Washington County, Maine, this is readily apparent.   Mr. Mitchell has ruled inappropriately on multiple issues including custody, child support, and child protection; all biased against my boyfriend who has fought tenaciously to be a part of his children’s lives.  He has endured her games, acts of contempt of court, and repeated attempts to take what little he has left – while she lives high on the hog and vacations around the world.

Sadly, the litigation between Mr. Crowley and his former spouse, the mother is NOT unusual in the national perspective of military service members, veterans, and their families.  This happens all over the country to both veteran mothers and fathers when the other spouse gets a taste of money and power.  Since the time of John’s enlistment and service, and before his honorable discharge, this custodial issue of “abandonment” has occurred numerous times; so much so, that national legislation has been created and is enacted in multiple states, to afford our servicemen and servicewomen legal protections.  This legislation is called the Uniformed Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act (2012). 

Based on the court records, it appears that the Honorable Justice Mitchell did NOT consider this existing legislation, nor the rationale for the creation of such legislation, in 2013 when John made a motion to restore his parental rights upon discharge from the United States Marine Corps.  When other organizations tried to work with the judge to educate about this issue, Mr. Mitchell laughed and threw the information out – citing that family court doesn’t revisit old cases.

a.       Maine Statutes   http://ptla.org/parents-active-duty-legal-considerations#guardian

b.      The Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, by Mark E. Sullivan, G. Brentley Tanner and Ashley L. Oldham

 retrieved from: http://www.aaml.org/sites/default/files/MAT203_4.pdf  and http://www.uniformlaws.org/shared/docs/deployed_parents/2012am_dpcva_approvedtext.pdf

c.       Silent Partner, retrieved from: http://www.nclamp.gov/media/425637/s-custodysingle.pdf

d.      US Military Enlistment Standards - Single Parents, retrieved from: https://www.thebalance.com/us-military-enlistment-standards-single-parents-3354014

Justice Mitchell also acted with bias when he determined child support.  When he was figuring the amount my boyfriend owed and what the ex-spouse owed, he took her statements at face value and ignored John’s documented income.

First, the contributions of Mrs. Wannemacher are grossly under-reported with reference to the last modification to the Divorce Decree.  At the time of her employment, her reported salary was $32,000; this breaks down to approximately $15.00 hourly for a dental assistant.  Using the standards of imputement , the technical knowledge she had previously gained as a professional dental assistant, her former employer’s well known reputation of being a premier dentist and provision of continuing education, and the labor standards for Dental Assistants and Radiographers in the state of Maine; the median wage according to http://www.dentalcareersedu.org/maine/maine-salary/ is approximately $38,000 or $18.00 hourly.  Based on the court records, it is clear that the court did not consider information for her skills and the wage progression according to the nationally recognized labor standards.   It is reasonable and prudent for the court to reconsider that according to present labor standards, Mrs. Wannemacher could potentially be earning $22.00 an hour or $45,760.00 per annum, not inclusive of cash benefits in excess of $3600.00 which she has already applied to her family’s care when she was employed.

The mother in being a dutiful wife to her new spouse, gave up her employment so that she could be a housewife and “raise their children.”  Remember, this is the man who earns in excess of $232,000 a year (dodges taxes by saying he only makes $32,000) and pays for yearly vacations for his “trophy wife” to exotic locations while leaving all the kids with relatives and church people.  The sad fact is, this woman works from home, being a foster parent, and gets paid under the table by her church as well as the Arise Addiction Recovery Program, for her services. How come the court does not consider the income from her new "work from home" scheme? 

Conversely, the  Court’s computations for John’s wages also contains two significant errors.  The first is the issue that his earning capacity is greatly overvalued.  My boyfriend is a disabled veteran with a documented 90% disability rating.  The court used the Department of Labor as a resource to determine that he was able to earn in excess of $40,000 per year based on the knowledge and skills of his industry, not his actual employment status which was far less.  The error that the court made is that it did not adjust this perceived income by applying this disability ratio of 90% disabled.  The actual amount according to the Department of Labor should have effectively been reduced by 90% when the court made the assumption that John’s disability benefits were “extra” income.  The second error is that the court used John’s disability benefits as a standard of “extra” or supplementary income when computing his ability to pay child support. 

An accredited and trained post service officer through the American Legion, confirmed that the basis of the Veteran’s Administration’s disability determination uses the rationale that John can function professionally 10% of the time; hence, the disability benefits which the court imputes to be additional income is meant to replace, not supplement John’s total ability to earn income in the process of computing child support.  His disability benefits are meant to help him live and recover from the injuries he sustained during military service.  The fact that he has a lengthy history of under-employment and unemployment  is a clear example of his inability to function at the Department of Labor’s threshold of earning capacity that the court erroneously used.

The third issue on this case is the issue of Child Protection.  Throughout the litigation process, the situation has escalated to the point of documented child abuse, as noted by two state police reports (including photographs of hand prints on the children) and both Guardians Ad Litem’s reports.  Mr. Crotteau noted a case of child abuse in his report to the court and detailed that if another substantial incident occurred, he would recommend to the court that the custodial placement be changed if abuse occurred on a second occasion.  Mrs. Lewis in her report mentions that another incident of alleged abuse with the step father has occurred by the elder child’s narrative to her. Even after a year, the court is presently engaged in this case and determining if a formal hearing needs to occur to discuss placement, after Dylan ran away last year, from the known abuser in his mother’s household.  

This is a total travesty of what is right and wrong.  I am scared for these kids and I am truly scared for my boyfriend.  The court and his ex wife are pushing him to his breaking point, where he needs more help from the VA now.  He is a good man and father, and I will stick by him, no matter what – he only wants to be a dad, share custody of his children, have his oldest son live with him since the boy ran away last year, and have the child support refigured appropriately back to the date of the first error when the judge stated he didn’t care that John was a disabled veteran and then demanded that John pay child support on an inflated and imaginary income that the ex-wife and Judge fabricated.

Please help us by contacting the judge, the attorney general, the governor who appointed the judge, and finally the ex-wife to see if she will exercise her faith and not exorcise my pocketbook to do what is right for her children.

Thank you,

Nichole Moore

The Telephone to the Machias District Court is (207) 255-3044

Judge David Mitchell is (207) 454 -7587

Governor Paul LePage is (207) 287-3539

Attorney General Janet Mills is (207) 626-8800.