Posted on 09/21/2004 6:18:39 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - When Leo Plascencia found out he was going to Iraq, the Marine from Palmdale gave his sister access to his bank account. With his power of attorney, Sheila Sandoval was trusted to pay any bills that came for Plascencia while he was in the Middle East.
When the 22-year-old Marine returned home from duty, more than $5,000 was missing from his bank account. Sandoval told him she lent the money to her ex-boyfriend, Erick Jimenez, who said his father was sick.
A check allegedly written by Jimenez for $4,610 was returned by the bank for insufficient funds. The check may have been written by Sandoval.
To sort the matter out, Plascencia appeared in the court of Judge Joe Brown, a judge turned television star whose program appears daily at 10 and 10:30 a.m. on KCAL, Channel 9.
The episode, featuring Plascencia in uniform, aired at 10:30 a.m. Monday. Plascencia appeared as the plaintiff with his sister, Sandoval, as his witness. Jimenez appeared as a defendant, with his father as a witness.
While Plascencia sued for almost $5,000 to cover the loss of the check, Jimenez only was ordered to pay $800 for a check he wrote to Sandoval rather than Plascencia. He admitted to writing that check in order to let Sandoval borrow money.
Sandoval said that check was repayment for money borrowed, also. The check, however, was written to Sandoval and not to Plascencia.
That was because a handwriting analyst on the show, whom Brown called Miss Roth, said the check for $4,610 did not match Jimenez's signature.
The handwriting analyst, who said she has been a forensic document examiner since 1989, said the "Erick Jimenez" signature on the $4,610 check matched the handwriting of Sheila Sandoval, Plascencia's sister.
Brown also found some doubt in the check numbers. The $800 check written by Jimenez to Sandoval, who have a child together, was numbered 96. The number on the bounced $4,610 check was 1021. Both of the checks were written within a month of each other.
Brown said the check was removed from the back of the checkbook and called it an "old trick."
"I think you need to have a serious conversation with yourself," Brown told Sandoval. "I think what's going on here is a mess."
Even after Brown accused her of writing the checks and presented the handwriting analyst, Sandoval said she did not steal any money from her brother and denied fraudulently writing her ex-boyfriend's checks.
When interviewed on the show after they left the courtroom, a somber Plascencia said, "There is a lot we have to talk about."
Sounds like Sis is a scumbag.
The real point of the tale, however IMO has to do with the Powers of Attorney which many GIs execute as they are being deployed.
Please everybody be real careful with those things!
Yup.
The real point of the tale, however IMO has to do with the Powers of Attorney which many GIs execute as they are being deployed.
I concur
Please everybody be real careful with those things!
Good advice.
Sis is still a scumbag.
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