Paul Brooks called me tonight.
Mr. Brooks, you may recall, was the real estate salesman who came into our house on a Tuesday, then tried to show it to a client on a Wednesday, but was refused permission. And then someone called in a false report to the Department of Human Services about us.
I had not had any contact from Paul Brooks from that time until this night. Tonight he called to say it was not him. If he’s telling the truth, then this is a heckuva plot.
In my account of the events, I never once explicitly said that Paul Brooks made the false report. But I certainly left the implication that he did, because, logically, he was the only one who could have! The allegations themselves (false though they were) could only have come from someone who had been in our house and spoken with us. The dishes in our sink, the fact that we homeschool, these were not the sorts of things one can see through the windows. Except for Phoebe’s family and a couple dear friends who are above suspicion, nobody has been in our house except Paul Brooks, in months! The timing, and the specific allegations, combined with his motive of retribution, clearly pointed to him.
They still do. And he admits that he did make a report, of sorts. But it turns out there was a flaw in our logic. The report did have to come from Paul Brooks, but not necessarily directly from Paul Brooks.
He says that he called the owners of our house, not DHS. He told the owners that he could not show the house with us in it, because of “the condition of the property.” He theorizes that they made the false report to the state, embellishing his frankly negative assessment with many false details.
We have never met the owners of our house. We do not know their names, and they’ve never come to see us. We lease the home through a property management company. Whether or not Paul Brooks told me the truth tonight, he has pointed out a plausible scenario which absolves him of guilt, which had not occurred to me previously.
In light of this, I am making some edits to my previous posts. I am not changing the chronology or the facts of the events described, which are all the plain truth. But I am changing the tone of those parts which describe Paul Brooks.
The Gleeson report
KFOR-TV sent a News Babe to talk to Sean and Phoebe Gleeson, and in the absence of any fresh Brad-and-Angelina updates, it rated a couple of minutes during the 10-pm…
Bless your hearts! I completely understand the fear and anxiety you must of felt. About 4 1/2 years ago, while my husband was in the hospital, practically bleeding to death during a relapse of his bleeding disorder, we were in the midst of a foreclosure. The owner did want to go through a LEGAL course (having already cut our electricity and tampered with our vehicles). He called DHS to report that our son was being abused, house was filthy, trash piled everywhere, RATS! and no heat. True, we had no heat for two hole days after he had the propane people come and remove our tank (illegally), BUT we were at the hospital anyhow. I am disabled, too, so there was a messy NOT dirty house. Anyhow, the woman came knocking from DHS after my husband had come home from the hospital, the same need to speak to us and see our house. I made her wait a few minutes, so he could wake up and get dressed. She told us the date of the anonymous report and all the allegations (none pertained to our homeschooling, oddly enough). The date of the report coincided with the date of the filing. Thing is, she could see we were trying to pack to move, there was a new propane tank in the yard, etc. NO RATS! Although this was in the country. She apologized, explaining they need to investigate all allegations. The owner had claimed he could see all this from the street (no way, the house was set up on a hill and about 3/4 of an acre back from the road.) We had evidence that he had broken in, as well as the aforementioned meddling. During his depostion from my attorney, he admitted that he made the false accusations to scare us out. That is SICK! Sounds like the same is true from the owners of your house, to scare you into submission. I am glad all turned out so well for you and the family, but it is a fear that will linger for a long time to come….
OOPS, obviously I meant he did NOT want to go a legal route……
It’s still clear that someone is not above using the system to get the results they want.
I have always believed that a good portion of our social existence is oriented around hurting other people whenever an opportunity or a perceived justification presents itself. Thus, I have to say, I didn’t really learn anything from your story. But we all like having our perceptions reinforced, so I certainly enjoyed reading it. Thanks.