TANDY RINEHART, TANDEM JUSTICE AND THE TWO JUDGE COURTROOM

Tandy B Rinehart Leibowitz

My experiences with Substitute Judge Tandy B. Rinehart & the Stafford County, Virginia, courts began in 2002. Sub-judge Rinehart was hired by my now ex husband, Timothy Stohler, to represent him in our divorce. He hired her after consulting with every good attorney in the area to prevent me from hiring them. She is a waste of oxygen. She did however manage to get my ex full custody of my daughter leaving me with "reasonable visitation". Whatever that means. After our separation we had joint custody with almost equal time. She wrote to my attorney it seemed almost everyday with flimsy complaints & false allegations I suspect to financially break me. My daughter adjusted well & was still excelling in school. When it came time for the actual divorce hearing Sub-judge Rinehart was able to convince Circuit Court Judge Ann Hunter Simpson

Retired Ann Hunter Simpson
Currently employed by
Judicial Soloutions

 that I was unable to care for my daughter, that I wasn't getting her to school, that I had never taken her to a doctor, that I wasn't helping her complete her homework, that I was leaving her with a sitter, etc. The truth is I was completely capable of caring for my children mentally & financially. I was their primary caregiver & stayed at home for 6 years. I was a successful self-employed real estate agent at the time & had the flexibility of making my own schedule. My daughter was in school everyday on time with all of her homework. She was a good student with good grades. She hadn't been to a doctor over that time because she wasn't sick or due for any immunizations. If the judge had ever bothered to ask for proof she would have seen the truth. Instead, in a 20 minute hearing, Judge Simpson (currently with Judicial Solutions ) ruled that the father would have full primary custody & I would have visitation every other weekend & on Wednesday afternoon. She also said any further filings would be heard in the juvenile court.

I immediately filed to get my daughter back with the help of my lawyer, J. Bruce Strickland. At the very least I wanted joint custody. The judge at the next hearing was J. Martin Bass. My child was also given a guardian ad litem, Julian Johnson. Mr. Johnson spoke with me for about 10 minutes. When my court date finally came, rather than speaking for my daughter, he only said that there had not been a "change in circumstance" therefore the order should remain the same, custody with the father.

Now keep in mind I had never been charged with any crime nor had I ever neglected or abused my children. (The people testifying against me on the other hand did! Including a Fairfax county cop Julie Fletcher, my new spouses ex wife) 

 I didn't understand "material change in circumstance". I mistakenly thought the juvenile court would really look out for my daughter’s best interest, with both parents.

I remarried in July 2004. I hired another attorney to help me get her back. We never actually went to court because I didn't want to risk losing more time with my child. We settled with joint custody. The visitation remained the same except that I would have our daughter every other week during the summer. My attorney at that time, Melanie Rice, advised me that a judge may not give me that. So I just took what I could get.

Every summer we take a family vacation. In 2004 we went to Orlando. But it wasn't until 2 days before our already booked departure that my ex finally agreed to let our daughter go. What kind of parent wouldn't allow their child a trip to Disney? Our attorneys argued for weeks before I finally got a memo from Sub-judge Tandy Rinehart stating that her client, the father, would allow my daughter to go to Disney World with me. Our court order at the time gave me 2 weeks for vacation.

In the summer of 2005 we went to Mexico. In the summer of 2006 we were to go to the Dominican Republic. But 2 days before we were scheduled to leave I received a call from Tim telling me I couldn't take her. First he said she was sick, then he was afraid of terrorist, then he finally admitted the truth. My new husband’s ex wife, Julie Jenkins Fletcher,

Ex Cop Julie Jenkins Fletcher

who was at that time ‘Officer Fletcher’ of the Fairfax County Police Department, had gone out of her way to find & contact my ex to slander me at an attempt to get even with her ex who I am currently married to. This is where it gets really confusing. My current husband was married previously & had 2 children. He was divorced long before I met him. His ex has constantly battled with him since they had divorced. She has used their children as pawns just as my ex is doing. On 2 prior occasions, before I married him, she had lied under oath and tried to have him charged with child abuse. She even got their son to lie by promising expensive gifts. (Yes, one of the richest counties, Fairfax county employed a completely dishonest and vengeful individual to serve and protect their communities.) My husband’s son one evening went into my purse & took a key to a fire box off my key ring. He went into the fire box & took the keys to my husband’s gun safe. He then took a 45 out & began playing with it. He went into another location of the house & pried open a locked door which held the ammunition. He ended up loading the gun & accidentally shot himself. He was taken by ambulance to MWH & released that same night. Luckily the bullet went straight through & didn't do any permanent damage. He told the police how he had gotten the gun. They of course investigated & could see the pry marks on the door. They ruled the shooting an accident & no charges were filed. After he spent a few days with his mother, Julie Ann Jenkins Fletcher my husband’s ex, he completely changed his story. He said his father allowed him to play with loaded weapons. He said he lied at the hospital because he was afraid of his dad. His supposed mother took this near tragedy and used it to her own sick and twisted advantage. Well, having been charged with abuse 3 times by his son, he has decided to just walk away & let his ex keep the kids. Of course this doesn't help my situation. After finding out she had contacted my ex & started another custody battle costing me not only thousands but threatened my youngest child's happiness and wllbeing I called her & threatened her life. On July 4th, 2006, when I picked up my daughter she began crying. She told me her dad wouldn't be letting her come over anymore because ‘Julie Ann Jenkins Fletcher’, my husband’s ex, had called him & told a lot of lies about me. That's when I called her & threatened her. First of all he should have never had this conversation with a 10-year-old. Julie Fletcher alleged that we had left our children alone while vacationing in Mexico, again on a weekend trip to Virginia Beach, that we allowed all of the children to play with guns, that we were asleep when the shooting accident happened & the neighbors had to call the police. This was all so far from the truth. Julie Jenkins Fletcher had once again fabricated a huge story! She waited until August 16, the night before I was scheduled to leave the country, to go to magistrate shop & have a warrant put on me. I ended up only being convicted of a misdemeanor since my attorney explained to the prosecutor what the real deal was. She of course was present at my last court appearance, testifying on my ex husband’s behalf. He had decided as a result of the summer accident that he would use this to take away all of my visitation. While she testified she was caught lying more than once. Did I mention that she is a Fairfax County police officer? Yes & not only lying in court but making false police reports. Not just lying but being caught while she was on the stand and under oath! The investigating officer thankfully was present & testified clearing up all of her gross fabrications.

His other witness, his 6th babysitter in 2 years, Bernadette Brewer, also was caught perjuring herself on the stand. She says she had a conversation with me regarding the care of my daughter on a Friday evening when I picked her up for my weekend. She said this after she said she always leaves at 4. My daughter doesn't get picked up ‘til 6 & my husband picks her up every Friday. Not only that but the Friday that she says she had this conversation with me at the front door I was actually broken down on I-95 near Quantico, & yes I had the tow receipt for proof. He had several other witnesses, none that we couldn't handle.

My daughter’s grades had also been dropping. Since he was taking me to court I decided to file for full custody. We also had several witnesses to testify on our behalf. With all of our witnesses & documentation we had proven that my daughter is not doing well in the current situation. Dropping grades being the biggest proof. She has also become very withdrawn in school per her teacher & not focused anymore.

We were also able to prove the several times he had denied me visitation, violating the court’s order, our planned & agreed-to vacation, the Thanksgiving holiday when he just took her out of town, many Wednesdays & some weekends.

My daughter is also being neglected by her father & the babysitter he hired. He left her unattended in his truck, a Toyota Tacoma 4X4, while he went into a CVS pharmacy after dark & waited for a prescription. People say Stafford, Virginia, is a pedophile’s paradise! The CVS is also down the street from “crack central”! The truck & our daughter were completely out of his view. A Mercedes ran a traffic light & went airborne through the intersection of 610 & Onville Road & hit the truck my daughter was in so hard all the fuel & oil leaked out. My daughter by some miracle only got some scrapes & bruises. Her father is still unaware of what was going on. My daughter got out of the truck & began wandering around when a man approached her & asked where her parents were. She told him in the CVS. He went inside & shouted that there was an accident & a little girl was involved. That's when her dad came out. They had to end up totaling the truck due to so much damage. That's negligent parenting.

Well Guardian Ad Litem Shana Gertner 

GAL Shana Gertner

& Stafford County Judge Gerald Daltan didn't think it was a big deal! The sitter is also incredibly neglectful. My ex Timothy Stohler left our daughter with babysitter Bernadette while she was sick. For 3 days my 10-year-old daughter was medicating herself with antibiotics, Motrin & cough medicine. Her sitter never checked on her even once. My daughter saw her only when she went downstairs from her room to get her medications & some chips. During my last court hearing Judge Daltan decided that her grades are dropping because I spend Wednesday evenings with her. The judge was obviously wrong since grades didn't improve after he cut me off from my child even more than I already was & she was recommended for summer school. He also decided that if I wanted to continue my every other week visitation during the summer that I must quit my job! Then he increased my child support from $137 per month to $477 per month, based on my W-2 of 29K last year! Unbelievable! How can I pay any amount of support when I’ve been forced from my job? Judge Gerald Daltan has caused an incredible amount of stress to me & my family. He has financially ruined us. I've had to use credit cards & take out a 2nd on my house. Well now DCSE is reporting delinquencies on my credit & sending letters threatening to suspend my driver’s license. I of course appealed the decision & had to pay 3K to the court to do so. My appeal hearing is set for September 18th. After everything that's happened I really don't have much faith that this court will do the right thing.

Contact Sherry Hayward at:
Cell 703.655.2223 or Email shaywardkw@gmail.com
ADDENDA
[SHERRY IN MESSAGE DATED SEPTEMBER 26, 2007] . . . I had my appeal on the 18th, in front of Stafford County Judge Gordon Willis. He was a little better to me than the rest but not much. I am permitted to go back to work & still have my daughter over the summer. A lot of good that does me now that summer is over & I'm behind on all of my bills including my child support which has ruined my credit. I also got back Wednesday afternoon for 3 hours. So now that schools back I have her every other weekend & Wednesday afternoons. Even though my daughter has had to go to summer school to pass on to the next grade her father still has primary physical custody. Imagine that! He also testified that he can't even count the number of times he had denied visitation. What the . . . He also couldn't give any facts or reasons of why he claims that I am a bad mother. For this whole time, 4 years now, I have done exactly what these courts have asked of me. He on the other hand has violated the court’s order numerous times with no consequences, which is why he will continue to do so . . . This system we have here is a joke.