Maybe it’s something in the water. I don’t mean to single out New Hampshire, but this case bears a striking resemblance to that of Jeffrey Ruggiero and his ex-wife Kristen. That too took place in the Granite State.
As most will recall, Kristen sent herself fake email messages that she claimed were from Jeffrey. They threatened dire harm to her and Jeffrey was duly arrested and charged.
He also had a TRO issued against him which, as most of them do, prohibited him from carrying a firearm. For most people that wouldn’t cause much of a problem, but Jeffrey’s an officer in the United States Coast Guard and, if he’s unable to carry a sidearm, he’s out of a job.
Fully aware of that, Kristen forced him to give up his parental rights to their daughter in exchange for lifting the TRO.
Soon enough, the police figured out that it was all a set-up job by Kristen. They dropped all charges against Jeffrey and charged Kristen with a dozen felonies on all of which she was recently convicted. She’s now got 21 more charges pending against her based on her alleged perjury in the preceding cases.
All of that is fine except that Jeffrey still doesn’t have his parental rights back. Yes, they were taken from him fraudulently. No, his record as a father hasn’t a blemish on it. Still, he has to fight for his child in family court.
Now it’s Samantha Morrison’s turn. Read about it here (Nashua Telegraph, 2/28/11).
She’s a Rochester, New Hampshire resident and it seems she got ticked off at her boyfriend. Did she take a leaf out of Kristen Ruggiero’s book? If she did, has she noticed how badly that’s worked out for Kristen who’s currently doing a 7-14 year bit in New Hampshire prison and likely facing still more time after the additional charges are ruled on?
I guess we’ll know in time, but Morrison apparently told police that her boyfriend sent her threatening text messages on her phone. That got him arrested on February 18th and slapped with a TRO. Sound familiar?
Well, police thought something was amiss, so they investigated further and found that Morrison had sent the messages herself utilizing “a software program on her cell phone to fabricate a fake threatening text message on her phone, which led to her boyfriend’s arrest.”
Morrison was charged Saturday with giving false reports to law enforcement and falsifying physical evidence for providing the fake text as evidence, police said, adding that the charge against the boyfriend will not be prosecuted by the Strafford County Attorney’s office.
The restraining order also has been vacated, police said.
By the way, you have to like the headline on the Telegrapharticle that reads “Bogus Evidence? There’s an app for that.” Maybe soon there’ll be one for issuing TROs.
All of which leads me to wonder if great minds think alike. Or is it something in the water?