The bank is very much on the hook for their own fuckup. They may try to deny wrongdoing, but they have a paper trail with which they can hang themselves.
I’m so glad things worked out for her. Back in the early 70s, she and my mother decided to go into politics together. My mother did miserably. Slaughter did great.
If he can stand the situation, it sounds like this is story deserving of the local news. Imagine the public uproar…
I was wondering about that. I don’t believe that he can’t press charges. Perhaps he should talk to the district attorney?
Oh man, that’s like cutting off your head to treat a headache.
For the love of all that’s loveable, don’t go that route.
At the very least, passing a bad check (which is what the mother did) is certainly a crime.
I think it’s something along the lines of “Thou shalt not kill,” but I feel certain that we could petition the court for an exemption in this case. I don’t think nails are enough, actually. Can we use spikes adulterated with botulin? Hypothetically speaking, of course; in reality, the one venue of legal recourse I can see is the fact that she issued checks in reimbursement (indicating culpability with regard to the action in question) and then cancelled payment on them (presumably) without cause. I’d view this as flighting bad checks and I suspect a good lawyer could make a case not only for the stolen money but all damages and expenses occured in recovery thereof. I don’t know if your son is eligible, but you might start by checking with Armed Forces Legal Assistance.
I went through a very similar circumstance; owing to the fact that I was a minor and my mother was a co-holder of the account and never admitted to any guilt in the matter, there was nothing I could do about it. Thousands of dollars, saved from when I was a wee lad and contributed by the grandparents for college tuition, all gone.
No, a board–even one with nails–isn’t good enough.
Anyway, good luck with any efforts to recover the money.
Stranger
Thre’ve been a lot of alarming stories posted on the dope, but I think this one wins. Jesus christ, what a monster! My sincere sympathies.
let me add my voice to the chorus urging you to get a competent lawyer. Don’t just take the cop’s word on this.
Sorry to hear about your experience too, Stranger.
Definitely keep after the police or the sheriff’s office. Even if they’re so pigheaded that they won’t file charges for the theft of the money, have him make a complaint for identity theft. She used his financial institution account number to harm or defraud another, which in my jurisdiction gets you between 6 and 24 months in a state jail.
If the police will not help, perhaps you could try the district attorney’s office directly. They’re the ones that actually institute charges, not the police. It might help if they were contacted by a lawyer.
You might also try the state Attorney General’s office ( http://www.oag.state.ny.us/ ). It may not be directly in Spitzer’s jurisdiction (though it might if it involved the NY National Guard), but he can assert pressure (and since he is running for Govenor, he is always looking for good publicity, particularly upstate).
Good luck.
Even if the military is so lame they can’t switch from direct deposit to plain old checks immediately, can’t your son close the damn account? The bank can certainly close it right away. Then, he might not get it for months, but at least while the National Guard tried to figure out what was going on, it would be “in escrow,” in effect, without her having access.
Isn’t that what started all the trouble 18+ years ago?
Seriously, good luck to your son, and what a horrible mother.
It seems to me (no lawyer, admittedly) that his mother withdrew her offer to repay him by stopping payment on the checks.
That happened to me too…my parent wasn’t crazy, but did feel arbitrarily entitled to a very large portion (more than twice your son’s, I think) of my money from my bank account, and took it, spent it, has nothing to show for it, and had the nerve to ask me for rent on top of it.
I’m too chickenshit-family-oriented (for now) to do anything about it but what i have (move out and make sure none of the rest of my money is available). But my advice is to do not as I have done - clinch this. Or help your son do it. He definitely needs a lawyer. Plus I believe he can press charges as the repayment terms he agreed upon have not been honored.
He does appear to have you on his side, though, so that’s something. Help him how you can.
Sounds like you were an adult living rent free with a parent while socking money away. For how long? Perhaps that was the reason your parent felt entitled.
This kid was on an army base while his Mom was taking his money.
:rolleyes:
Yeah, helping yourself to your kid’s bank account without asking is cool, right?
And maybe you missed the part you quoted where it said she was paying rent.
Then the bank is accountable for dispensing funds without authorization. That’s very bad mojo.
Then the bank is in the clear, if that’s the case. And the mom is probably, sadly, in the clear too.
Agreed.
That bank’s on the skids! One definitely needs more than that to muck around with someone’s bank account.
Good on him and bad on the lame pay clerk. It doesn’t take several months for a change in direct deposit to process. It takes less than two weeks nowadays. There’s no necessary channels. It’s a one stop shop: you can either submit the 1199 at the bank or at the pay office.
That’s an excellent idea!
Thanks for pointing that out. And indeed, I was pulling my own weight, paying for my own ass, and had asked for absolutely nothing since I entered high school, and it wasn’t money I was ‘stockpiling.’ Some people need to be less presumptuous, and less assholish at the same time.
How awful for your son. My husband had a similar (but smaller scale) occurance with his manic-depressive mother so I think I have an inkling as to how you are feeling right now.
IANA lawyer and so have no advice to give, but the suggestion to get some legal advice sounds good.
How is your son bearing up with this?
This woman is a sociopath:
When is this rEdiculous story going to get off the news!!!