CT Family Court Lawyers Collude to Sell Son to Dentist Father, Frank Tiberi — the Story of a Mother’s Loss
The Tiberi divorce and custody case in CT Family Court is now in its third year. The husband is an affluent dentist, Dr. Frank Tiberi. The wife, Joriz Tiberi, was a stay-at-home mother. They have one child, Leo. He is seven years old. The husband controlled the marital assets, around $2 million.
Need I say more?
The court actors are the usual suspects: Judge Jane Grossman.
Dad’s attorney, Lisa Knopf.
The guardian ad litem [GAL] is Janis M. Laliberte.
The custody evaluator Dr. Jessica Biren Caverly.
The mother, Joriz Tiberi had a succession of attorneys. The two most significant in the collusion that reaped the result of a no-contact order for the mother and child are Debra B. Marino and Shawna Hamilton Doster.
The following is an edited version of a more extended interview with Joriz Tiberi, another CT mother who lost her child.
You are presently embroiled in a family court dispute in Connecticut. How long has this been going on?
It’s been going on for three years.
Do you ever feel that the lawyers and the other players make it more complicated than it needs to be?
Absolutely. The lawyers create all the drama. I think the lawyers made him angrier than he was.
Why was he angry in the first place?
The fact that I left him and that I reported abuse. My son was disclosing that his father was molesting him.
What did your son say he did?
My son would say that he was playing with his penis. So, one day, I bathed him. And I asked him how his visit was with his father. And he said, ‘bad. Daddy poked me.’ I said, ‘what do you mean?’ And he pokes himself in his bottom, showing me what daddy does. Because he said it so many times, I turned the camera on because nobody would believe me.
And your son was saying that his father was doing what?
He says Daddy poke me. And I’d say with what? And he would say the ‘mommy finger’ and the ‘daddy finger.’ And at that age, that’s how they describe their fingers.
In your son’s mind, do you know which finger is the daddy finger and the mommy finger?
The daddy finger is the thumb, and the mommy is the index finger.
And he would use those two fingers to—
To poke him.
To poke the child.
Yes. My son said it playfully. It was almost like, you know, he’s like he didn’t like it. His father wasn’t forcefully poking him. So, he was describing to me what his father does, but he wasn’t showing me that he was hurt by it. It hurt him, but he wasn’t scared of his father.
He’s a dentist, right?
He is.
You don’t get to see your child. Is that correct?
No, I do not.
Who was the judge?
Judge Jane Grossman.
Judge Jane Grossman
And who is Tiberi’s lawyer?
His lawyer is Lisa Knopf.
And who’s the guardian ad litem?
Janice Laliberte.
Attorney Janis Laliberte, Guardian Ad Litem for Leo.
Who is the custody evaluator?
Jessica Biren-Caverly.
Dr. Jessica Biren-Caverly has taken children away from their protective parents more times than she cares to recount.
Alright, so you’ve got the full artillery against you. Grossman, Caverly, Laliberte, and Knopf. That’s a pretty potent team. Who did you have for your lawyer?
Well, the most recent one who withdrew from my case was attorney Shawa Hamilton Doster. The one before that was Vacilipi Filipacos. And the one before that was Debra Marino, and the first one was Karen Fisher.
Attorney #2 Debra Marino, grinning after selling Leonardo for $15,000
Now, why do you have this changing of attorneys?
Frank keeps buying them off. I realized that after the second attorney when I saw $15,000 written into the court-ordered agreement to pay my lawyer while custody of my son was taken from me. She spoke very fast, and I trusted her.
Who had the money, you or him?
He does.
Did he control marital assets?
He controlled everything.
Did you get a share of your marital assets?
Absolutely not. There are interim orders that say Frank keeps 100% of everything, and I only get to keep the debt of anything that Frank was court-ordered to pay.
Okay, he gets the money; you pay the debt. And what would you say your combined net worth was when you filed for divorce?
I would say maybe $2 million.
How much do you think was paid in legal fees, guardian fees, and so forth?
I would say $500,000 to $700,000. Frank doesn’t disclose what he’s paying out.
Who paid for your lawyers?
I paid the first two, and then Frank paid $15,000 to my lawyer Deborah Marino to turn custody over to him.
He purchased your child.
Yes. Because Marino coerced me into signing a court-ordered agreement, making me believe that the custody evaluation by Jessica Biren-Caverly] was it. Jessica Biren-Caverly said I’m crazy. So, I must be crazy. So, Marino said, if I do not want this in my permanent file and want 50-50 of my son, I better sign our son’s temporary sole and legal custody to Frank.
I didn’t even know what that meant at that time. Marino said it’s just temporary. It’s just for now.
Dr. Jessica Biren-Caverly paid to play.
So, Deborah Marino, your lawyer, wanted to be paid, and you didn’t have the money. And the deal was, if you signed temporary custody to Frank, then Marino would get an immediate payment of $15,000 from Frank?
She had wanted an initial retainer of $10,000. I did not have that. And before retaining her, she recommended that I file a restraining order against Frank. Because my son was still acting out. We were still living in the marital home together.
Get Frank thrown out of the house?
Yeah, this is what she said. She said, ‘you know, to keep your son safe, this is what we’ll do.’
Did you file this restraining order?
I did. After I filed it, I needed to appear in court. I’m going to need an attorney for it. So, I told Marino I filed it. She said, ‘Well, you know what? You’ll need $10,000 for a retainer for your dissolution. And $4,000 for me to appear for the restraining order.’ So now she wants $14,000.
So, I tell her. ‘Well, I don’t have the money.’ She said, ‘Well, could you ask someone for it? Is there anything that you could sell?’ I had a $30,000 centerpiece solitaire diamond. She told me where to sell it, Valentine’s Jewelers in Milford. I went there, and I sold it for just the amount she needed. And I gave her the money.
Attorney Debra Marino couldn’t secure her client access to marital funds. Instead, she told her to sell her diamond and give her money.
So you gave her $14,000, which is what she needed for the divorce and the restraining order.
Yeah. But when we got there for the restraining order, Marino struck the deal with the opposing counsel.
What happened?
She said, ‘You know what? It’s not good to go on with the restraining order.’
The restraining order Marino took the four-thousand to represent you? First, she told you to do it. Then she told you it’s a bad idea. Did she refund the four thousand?
No, she did not. Instead, she said, let’s bring in Janis Laliberte.
A guardian?
Yes.
Attorney Marino wanted $14,000 – $10,000 to represent you and $4,000 for the restraining order. You sold your diamond. Got her $14,000. She then told you, ‘No, it’s a bad idea to do the restraining order. I’ll just keep the four for doing nothing. Let’s bring in Janis Laliberte, the guardian.
She says, ‘Oh, Janice, Laliberte, she’ll protect your son. If she smells anything that Frank may be doing.’
According to Deb Marino, Laliberte was like a hound dog.
Yep.
She could smell from a mile away. So, you agreed to do this. So, who’s to pay this hound dog to sniff this out?
Frank.
So, Frank paid the guardian?
Yes.
Did Marino tell you that since Frank was paying her, she might favor the man who paid her, or it doesn’t work that way?
I didn’t know.
Did you think that Laliberte, the guardian paid by the father maybe to encourage more payments, favored him? Or do you think she was an unbiased hound dog as she was described by Marino to be?
No, she’s a biased hound dog. She was bought over and over again.
How much did she bill on this case so far?
I believe about $80,000.
Paid by Frank?
Paid by Frank.
Do you think that that money would influence Laliberte?
Oh, absolutely.
When did you first notice that she was not unbiased?
Well, I’ve always kind of felt that way. But then, you know, it’s kind of that thing where everybody’s speaking the same language, my attorney that’s supposed to be advocating for me, opposing counsel. And then the custody evaluator, and there’s a supervisor, and I didn’t realize they’re all working together.
Do you think they knew each other?
Oh, absolutely. The supervisor was Lisa Kerin, and I’ve spoken to mothers that have had the same situation, the same opposing counsel, the same guardian ad litem, and the same evaluator.
Lisa Kerin, Supervisor of visits between Joriz and Leo, insists she drives Joriz’s car with Frank Tiberi’s $5,000 retainer in her pocket.
Okay, so they all figured out pretty early that Frank had the money and he would pay everybody.
He would be angry and stupid enough to keep dishing it out because he hated me so much.
Why did he hate you?
For leaving him and showing all his secrets. I never thought he liked children, or I hate to believe that. I hate to think that. I did not see it, but it can’t be a coincidence to have two kids behaving in such a manner… But he also tends to like men.
How do you know that?
I went to California and came back. I saw male clothing, and he would tell me the story of why someone wore this and sweated it out. And there’s, you know, different coats of other men.
Couldn’t that be innocent, just having a friend over?
I’ve seen on his phone male pornography. But he liked a lot of women as well. He admitted that he cheated on me while I was pregnant. He brought me to some of the women to show he was sorry, and he wouldn’t do it again.
What’d he do, slip them in the house while you were asleep?
When I was pregnant, I decided to leave him because he was taking drugs. My husband is a recovering heroin addict—[CT Dept of Health Disciplinary Action re: fraudulent prescriptions, drug abuse].
Frank Tiberi was cited for using narcotics while performing dentistry, writing his own prescriptions, and working with his brother Thomas at Tiberi Family Dental.
Oh, I see.
When I was pregnant and we were planning our wedding. I don’t know; maybe Frank, he felt the pressure. I caught him taking sleeping pills and muscle relaxants and things like that, and I thought for me to have a more peaceful end of my pregnancy, I’d go back to California.
Were you going to come back after you had the child?
I planned to come back. Things were very emotional. We weren’t married yet. And we were supposed to be married. And he didn’t want me to leave, and I didn’t want to leave, but I couldn’t be in that environment, knowing his past. And now I have a child.
Has he been using heroin since you married him?
Not that I know, but he drinks exceptionally heavily. He takes a lot of anabolic steroids. I don’t know what kind of pills he’s into now
Is he a weightlifter?
Yeah. He likes to think that he is. So he goes to the gym, lifts weights, and takes a lot of steroids.
I see, so he takes steroids, drinks a lot, and possibly molests his child, maybe not. On the other hand, he may have molested his daughter.
You went to California. You weren’t married. Did you feel that that was wrong that he was dating other women when you left him and went to California?
He admitted it to me when he came to California to come and get me, I had to forgive him because we were going to have a child. So, I forgave him for everything he’d done because it meant more for my son to have a father and mother.
So, you went back with him? And how old is Leo now?
My son is now seven years old. I missed his seventh birthday on March 31st.
Let’s go back a little bit. You paid a woman, attorney Marino $14,000 for a restraining order and to represent you. She changed her mind about getting a restraining order but chose to keep the money you paid her for that. She said to you, ‘Let’s get a hound dog, a woman who could smell out a pervert.’ But she couldn’t smell Marino, but she could smell a pervert a mile away. And she would protect your son, and now you don’t have a relationship with your son. Did Marino suggest you were molesting your son?
No, never.
Did she find that the father was not molesting the son?
She kept saying, ‘Dr. Caverly never saw that he was doing anything. Oh, no, he’s been checked by Dr. Caverly. He’s okay.’
Is Tiberi Caverly’s patient?
No.
How many times did Caverly meet with Tiberi?
I think she met with Frank maybe twice; she met with me twice.
So, Caverly has an even greater ability to smell than Laliberte because she ascertained that he’s a perfect father in just two meetings with Tiberi.
Dr. Jessica Biren-Caverly has her marching orders before sitting down with the parents to do her custody evaluation.
Mmm-hmm.
And then, so you went from Laliberte, and then they told you to get Calverly. And who paid Caverly?
My husband, Frank, did.
So, he’s paying everybody. You agree to it because you trusted this lady shyster, Marino.
Well, because it was Laliberte. It was her suggestion to use Caverly
You still had custody of the boy, you were in the house, Frank was out, and Frank was paying, and he purchased his way back in?
Yes, absolutely.
So, what happened?
DCF had an open case because of what I reported. DCF wanted Leo to be in therapy. I wanted him to be in therapy, but my husband wouldn’t agree.
Mm-hmm.
So, I couldn’t bring him to therapy. DCF would come to visit us every week. This guy Simon would come. And he’d say, ‘Is there anything you’d like to report? Is there anything that he did?’ I said, ‘Yeah, well, this is what he did this week.’
Leo would tell me, ‘Daddy grabbed me right here. And I didn’t like it.’ You know, things like that. He started doing things to him that were — I guess maybe he was mad at Leo for disclosing what he was doing to him.
So, every time he visited with his father, Leo would tell me he didn’t want to go, and ‘Daddy hurts me.’ And so, I would report this to Simon, the DCF caseworker. Simon would say he needs to be in therapy. So, it escalated. There were so many reports that I made.
They said, ‘You know what, we’re going to take this child because dad is saying that mom is crazy. And if mom is crazy, why is dad letting Leo stay with her?’ So, then GAL Laliberte said, ‘Oh, you know what? I don’t want you to take my word. So, what we’re going to do is we’re just going to have a custody evaluation.’
When Laliberte said this, was she seemingly on your side?
No, she was furious that I was reporting Frank’s abuse.
The fact that you were reporting things.
That I was reporting what Leo said Frank was doing to him.
You were reporting to the DCF, Simon.
Yes.
And Simon was threatening to have the child removed altogether?
Simon’s supervisor, yes.
So, was Simon in contact with Laliberte?
Well, they barely knew each other. But Laliberte would call DCF and speak for the minor child since she’s the guardian. She’d say, ‘Oh, Simon, you’re a good guy. You know, we’re trying to get this stuff done. But you know, something is going on with mom and dad, and you know, the divorce, but I’m in it for the child, and I want to get him help. So, we’re going to get to the bottom of this, and we will get a custody evaluation. And Dr. Caverly, she knows what she’s looking for.’
Have you seen your custody evaluation report?
I have.
And was one of the ‘findings’ was that you’re alienating the child from his dad?
That was one of the allegations made against me.
And some kind of mental illness she diagnosed?
Yes, that I was delusional.
And what were your delusions?
Delusional about the behavior that my son was displaying.
Caverly said it was all a delusion. How many times did she meet with your son?
Once.
Alone or with you?
I was there, but then she pulled him out of the room to speak to him by herself.
How long did they speak?
It can’t be more than 30 minutes.
So, in 30 minutes, she figured out that it was all your doing and your son didn’t have a valid complaint.
Mmm-hmm.
She figured that out quickly, didn’t she?
Yes.
I don’t know that I could, or anybody could, make such a quick evaluation that there’s no child abuse going on in one 30-minute meeting. But Caverly is supreme. She knows all. Sees all. Understands all. And hers is the last word in any case where she’s retained.
When she finally testified in front of Judge Jane Grossman, she spoke as if she had just done the custody evaluation that day or that week. However, her custody evaluation was over two years old when she testified.
The last time she saw Leo was two years earlier?
Yes. But Caverly testified as if she had just written the custody evaluation report.
Who was your lawyer then? Was it Marino?
No, by this time, it was Shawna Hamilton Doster.
Let’s go back to Marino. She helped get your child removed from your life by getting that hound dog of a guardian ad litem, Laliberte, who could smell abuse. And then Laliberte arranged for you to have a custody evaluation done by Dr. Jessica Biren-Caverly, Dr. Know-All. Papa paid for it all. So, they knew papa was paying for it. And then there was a custody evaluation report that said you were alienating the children and you were delusional, so the recommendation of Dr. Caverly was what?
For Frank to have sole custody and I was to have only supervised visitation and some sort of reunification therapy.
So, she recommended a complete flip. Take the boy away from you.
Completely.
And give him to Frank.
Yes.
What about the house?
I had to leave the house because he would be with the child, and they didn’t want to disrupt his life. So, in two weeks, I had to go. [January 3, 2020 court-ordered ‘agreement’ from ex-parte status conference.]
So, they didn’t want to disrupt the child’s life, so they kicked the mother out of the house where the child was living and substituted the father so as not to disrupt him because the house would be the primary attachment, not the mother. Was your child upset by losing his mother?
Oh absolutely. Leo couldn’t understand why mommy dropped him off at school that morning. And I didn’t pick him back up. You know, for a long time, he would tell me, ‘Mommy, you forgot. You forgot to pick me up. Why did you forget to pick me up?’ And how do you explain that to your son?
Why don’t you say jackals stole him? Hyenas and jackals came into your life, and they stole this child.
Absolutely.
Thieves.
You know I was so wrong. My husband did a lot of things. He cheated. He did a lot of things that were emotionally abusive toward me. And the only reason why I left him was Leo told me what his father was doing to him.
And everything went full circle. And I realized what happened to Isabella [his daughter from a previous marriage]. And now he was doing it to Leo. So, I started to put it all together. And this was the only reason I filed for divorce, to protect my son, not thinking that the court system would deliver him to the abuser. But, I mean, even now that’s happening. I mean, why would anybody think that it would be right for a little boy not to see his mother, not even a visit? Why would that be okay?
How much is Frank paying now? Is he still paying everybody?
Yeah.
Is he paying you anything?
No. He owes a tremendous amount of back support from Judge Jane Grossman, all the court-ordered agreements and bills he was supposed to pay, and rent and things like that. But no, nothing has been paid. In the interim order that Judge Grossman just completed, she said that he didn’t have to pay anything that she previously ordered him to pay to me.
Why?
I don’t know.
So, he pays you nothing. He walked away with everything. You got kicked out. To protect your child, you went to Connecticut Family Court. You lost your child; the child lost his mother. When was the last time you and Leo were alone together?
In 2021, Frank felt okay for me to have unsupervised visits until I reported him for neglect of our son’s teeth. Frank’s a dentist, and our son had rotten teeth.
You could see the boy from time to time.
He let me see him twice a week for like 10 hours a week.
Then you noticed the dentist Tiberi allowed his son’s teeth to rot?
Absolutely.
These were baby teeth?
Yes, he complained about his mouth hurting, and when I’d bring up the issue with Frank, he’d say no, they’re fine. So, one day, it happened to be my visitation and my son’s birthday, March 31st, 2021. He couldn’t eat his birthday cake.
Why?
His mouth was hurting, so I brought him to the dentist.
And what did the dentist say?
The pediatric dentist said that he has rotten molars and rotting teeth that need to be extracted.
Do you have a report of that?
I do.
But you reported this to who?
I reported it to Laliberte, and I also filed a motion in court, and it was heard in front of Grossman. And Grossman said that you know what, since dad is a professional, he’s a dentist, and he said that there’s nothing wrong, well, we’re just going to trust what he says. And he’s going to decide what’s going to happen to the child’s teeth.
Who was paying your lawyers then?
I had Shawna Hamilton Doster, and she was not being paid.
I see, so she left. She split.
She split. She split during the trial.
Right in the middle of trial?
Right in the middle of trial.
Is that because she wasn’t paid?
Because I told her, ‘Hey, you know, I see what you guys are doing. You guys are gaming me; you guys are conspiring. I see what you’re doing with Laliberte, with Knopf.’ You know, they tried to defeat the court order for my spousal support, by passing around a check in front of me.
By passing a check, what kind of a check?
Lisa Knopf was cross-examining me, and she said something about, ‘Oh, and you’ve been refusing to accept Frank’s checks’. I said, ‘ Why would I refuse them? I need them.’ I was like, ‘I’d be happy to receive a check from Frank. It’s court-ordered.’
What happened?
Knopf says, ‘ Oh, I’m glad you said that,’ and she hands a check over to my attorney, Hamilton Doster, while I’m sitting on the witness stand. And later, I learned the check from Frank was made out to my attorney for $25,000.
Who pocketed that?
After a tremendous amount of emails to attorney Hamilton Doster, she finally gave the money to me. I don’t believe they had any intention for that money to go to me.
Is that when she quit? Did you offer to use some of the $25,000 to pay her?
No. No, I did not.
Why?
But Judge Grossman made that recommendation.
Grossman recommended you use the $25,000 to pay Doster, but you didn’t do it, and then you got punished.
I got punished because I asked why Lisa Knopf was sending a check to my attorney, Hamilton Doster, when the court order says explicitly to deposit the money into my account? The $25,000 was for back payments of what Frank owed. It was supposed to be deposited in my account.
Let me see if I have this straight. You were right in the middle of the trial. That was $25,000, which was money your husband owed you, and Knopf, your husband’s attorney, arranged to have that check paid to your lawyer instead of you. And then there was some anger. The judge told you if you want to be a good little girl, you make sure that your lawyer gets that $25,000 and not you. You refused. And then what happened?
And Shawna Hamilton Doster withdrew from my case.
Did you agree to have her withdrawn?
Yeah, because at that point, I knew. Doster was supposed to file all kinds of motions for me. She wasn’t advocating for me.
What about the argument someone could make by saying, ‘Well, you didn’t even pay your lawyer. Why should she not withdraw?’
She was pro bono. She knew she wasn’t getting paid when I met her through an advocacy program.
Oh, she stepped in pro bono.
Oh, absolutely. She’s stepped in pro bono. She knew.
Then when a $25,000 check was floating about, she stopped being Bono. She just became Pro.
Mmm-hmm.
There was a fateful day when you had to drop your kid off, your child who you had raised and been with every day of your life. Frank Tiberi was never a stay-at-home papa, right? You were the one that took care of the child.
Yes.
And then one day you had to leave the house. Was the house in your name also, or just in his?
Joriz and her son Leo at their Fairfield County home.
Just his.
So, you had to leave the house and leave your child at school, and then daddy would pick the child up, and you were not to see the child again, right?
Yes.
What day was that?
January 3, 2020.
So, January 3rd, 2020. That’s more than two years ago. So, your child was but five years old?
Yes.
And does he still remember you?
Of course. Yes, he does. But he hesitates. When I have seen him recently, you know, I showed up for [a] soccer game he was playing. He hesitates to run to me. He looks over at his father first.
He’s been alienated?
Yes.
Do you talk to him on the phone? Are you allowed any contact with him at all?
No. My husband recently filed a restraining order against me [March 30, 2022 Order of Protection]
He claims he is in fear that I will harm him and that he’s in fear that I will harm our son as well.
What is he worried that you might do? Do you have any record of violence?
No.
Have you ever been arrested for violence? Attacking somebody?
No.
Kidnapping, shooting anyone?
No.
Does he have any violent tendencies?
I believe so.
But he never struck you? Did he?
No.
I see. Is Frank a tiny, slightly built person?
No, he’s a huge guy. He’s about 230 pounds.
How tall is he approximately?
Like maybe 5′ 11″.
And he’s muscular?
Yes.
He takes steroids. How tall are you?
I’m five-two, about 115-120 pounds.
I see. So, Frank’s not worried that you’re going to attack him physically, is he?
Well, that’s what he claims that he is in fear that I will harm him.
I see, all right. So, according to the order, Judge Grossman did not want you to come within 100 yards of your son, and she said that you’re delusional. I guess that Judge Grossman herself can diagnose people’s mental conditions.
Yes.
Is she a psychiatrist as well as a judge? I saw something I had never seen before, and it was an astonishing thing. Judge Grossman said that your husband was capable of diagnosing you. He knew when you were delusional and when you were not. And so, he could therefore decide when you could talk to your child on the phone, I believe. Do I have this correct?
Yes.
Your husband’s a dentist. Is he also a psychiatrist?
No.
How would Dr. Grossman, we’ll call her Dr. Grossman, know that Dr. Tiberi could diagnose you from a distance? What was that about?
I don’t know. Other than my husband’s wallet, I don’t know.
Other than the wallet. But we buy a psychiatrist’s degree with the wallet. Judge Grossman, is she nice or hostile?
Oh, she is not nice to me. She is hostile.
What’s she like on the bench? Is she calm or angry?
She chastised me a couple of times to answer Lisa Knopf directly as she was asking me something that had nothing to do with my dissolution.
Give me an example.
An example would be what support groups I belong to? What we talk about in the support groups? What day do I get on my support groups? Was I just there on Monday? Okay, what was the topic, and what did I share? And I looked up at Judge Grossman, and I said, ‘What does this have to do with my divorce?’
And, of course, attorney Shawna Hamilton Doster was letting them. She wasn’t objecting because, at this point, she was at the mercy of the court. She’s either going to join them, or be eaten alive in court the next time she shows up with somebody else. So, she sold me out.
How old is this Doster woman?
She’s in her 50s.
Has she been in the family court racket for a while?
No. She wants to be. She’s dying to be accepted. Shawna Hamilton Doster is barely an accomplished lawyer. At one time, I was her paralegal for my case. So I saw communication between Knopf, Laliberte, and her and I also saw other cases and how she communicated with them.
She was trying to get in with the Rat Pack.
At that time, she was still trying to be a good lawyer. Until her back was pushed against the wall, and they scared the shit out of her. They told her she would be disbarred.
Who told her that?
Knopf and Laliberte because attorney Hamilton Doster drafted a complaint against Jessica Biren-Caverly. We were going to file a complaint against Dr. Jessica Biren-Calverly. And Hamilton Doster mailed Biren-Caverly’s attorney advising him.
So, my intended complaint against Biren-Caverly was brought up at my trial, and Biren-Caverly’s attorney, Charles Gura, showed up.
So, Charles Gura showed up at your trial.
Yeah. And Gura made an appearance saying, ‘Oh, I want to project my client. I know there was a threat that a complaint was to be filed against Dr. Biren Caverly.’ And so, Shawna broke up into pieces crying to this attorney, saying, ‘Oh no…no.’
Crying with tears rolling down her eyes? In court?
Mascara all over her eyes.
In court, in front of everyone?
Yes.
And when she was crying, what did she say?
Well, she spoke to him on the side. She was nervous, so she talked to him on the side.
Did she withdraw the complaint?
She told me that she wouldn’t represent me with this complaint.
I see what happened. You got into the middle. Shawna was trying to get in with the Rat Pack. And you had asked her to file a complaint against Dr. Jessica Calverly, one of their sacred cows.
And Laliberte, Calverly, Grossman, and little Doster were aligned. Everyone was pissed at you, including Knopf, who was handling the money. So, when Knopf tried to get a check for $25,000 paid to Doster to show her that if she was a good girl, she could get in with the gravy, at that point, you objected. So, you were entitled to the $25,000?
Yeah.
Doster was supposed to be your pro bono attorney. And then everything fell apart, and you’ve been punished successively harsher and harsher, and now you can’t even be 100 yards away from your child. Is that right?
Yep. I believe it’s 100 yards, and now I could be arrested.
If you go near anywhere around him?
Yes. Around Leo or Frank.
Timid Frank?
Yes.
Scaredy, Frank?
Yes.
What is the basis of your being mentally ill?
Either I have to be delusional, or the molesting is real.
I see.
They’re claiming I’m coaching my son. So, there’s got to be something wrong with me, or this abuse is happening.
It was a choice between the abuse is happening, and the guy paying for the whole caboodle would then be unwilling to pay, or it’s not happening, and you’re insane, and the payments continue.
If I were insane, I wouldn’t be a preschool teacher.
Wait a second. Wait a minute. Now, Joriz. According to the people that your husband pays, you can’t see your child because you’re dangerously insane. But did you just say that you’re a preschool teacher?
Yes.
Are you with children?
Yes. Twenty children all day.
And any of them? Has anybody raised any complaints about your delusions?
Absolutely not. You know, my employer is one of my biggest supporters.
So, you can take care of 20 children of your son’s age.
Yes.
But you’re not permitted to be with your son because you’re delusional. Didn’t Jane Grossman, the psychiatrist, Judge Jane, the psychiatrist. Didn’t she say that you’re okay with other people’s children, you only have a delusion about your child?
Mmm-hmm.
I wonder if that’s unique in the annals of psychiatry. A person who just gets delusional about her kid but can fondly take care of others’ children.
Their mind was made up. It didn’t matter that I saw another psychologist after Biren-Caverly.
Wait a second. You got a second opinion?
[Evaluation from Dr. Beth Karassik of Comprehensive Neuropsychological Services].
Yeah, for myself. Janis Laliberte was so upset about that.
Why?
Because Dr. Karassik was more qualified than Dr. Biren-Caverly.
Did Dr. Karassik, [did] she confirm your insanity?
No, she said she saw no psychopathology that would be interfering with me being a parent to Leo. She thinks that it would be beneficial for Leo for me to be in his life. So, she wrote up a letter for me to give to Janis Laliberte, but-
And Janis welcomed it.
No, absolutely not.
What did she say when she got it?
Nothing. This is what they do. They say nothing. They ignore me as if I don’t exist. To this day, I send emails asking questions, and they say nothing.
Laliberti took the Fifth. So, where it stands now is that your ex-heroin, potentially child molesting, but affluent dentist husband has complete custody of the child. He lives with the child. You’re not allowed to see the child based on the opinion of Dr. Jessica Biren-Caverly, that you’re delusional. And conversely, a psychologist who evaluated you said you’re not delusional. And when you were unable to pay or unwilling to pay your lawyer, she dropped out.
What about Marino? How did she drop out? How did she happen to drop out of the case? Was it a monetary thing or not?
No, I fired her. I told her ‘You’re not advocating for me. You sold my son from under my feet.’
How did she sell your son? Was there an actual bill of sale?
On January 3rd, when she advised me to sign an agreement for Frank to have temporary custody, there was also written into that agreement that Frank would pay her a retainer of $15,000.
Who paid that?
Frank.
So that’s how they purchased your child. They bought the child from your attorney for only $15,000. What was the technicality that got $15,000 into Marino’s paws?
I was sitting in the hallway the entire time. I wasn’t involved in any of this. And I didn’t even know what was going on while Frank’s attorney and my attorney were in the conference room pow-wowing.
Okay, but how did Marino get fifteen thousand dollars? What did they tell you was the reason your attorney Debra Marino got $15,000 from the opposing party, Frank Tiberi?
Nothing. The reason was that Marino needed to replenish her retainer.
Oh, and so Frank was required to pay for it. Was this the day your son was removed from your custody?
Yes.
Marino got her $15,000 bonus for good legal services. You lost the child.
Yes.
On the day that custody of Leo was transferred to Frank, he was generous enough to tender Marino a $15,000 check to replenish her account.
Yes. I would have to move out of the house in two weeks. I’d lose custody of our son. I have to have supervised visitation for 10 hours a week.
And your attorney, Marino, got $15,000.
Marino got $15,000.
Do you want to know something? She works cheaply. That’s a low price to sell a kid. But we’re dealing with some pretty lowly creatures here, aren’t we?
I agree.
My goodness, what a story. A real story for the record. Your mistake was you were fighting for your kid. You’re protecting your child. And the result was the jackals surrounded, and they tore you apart and your son too.
And they continue to.
They’ll continue until they’re in jail for racketeering.
That’s right.
This is a typical story. Family court actors work in their best interest.
Lawyers for both sides in collusion and with the guardian ad litem. The guardian schemes with a custody evaluator such as Jessica Biren Caverly. She, in turn, will make a highly subjective custody report that custody should go to whoever it must to ensure that the attorneys and GAL will make the most money.
This usually requires a finding of parental alienation and that the parent who is to lose custody is insane or delusional.
No second opinions are permitted by the GAL, for, after all, she is only serving the child’s best interest.
Most judges quietly go along with whatever recommendations the GAL and custody evaluator say. Some judges, like Grossman, will fight tooth and nail for the best interest of the attorneys.
Arranging to hand custody of children to a parent based on a collusive agreement between the actors to bill the most money is a racketeering enterprise.
Like the man in The Godfather said, “This is the business that we have chosen.”
And the business they’ve chosen is to sell kids.