Delores O’Brien Heffernan, a still-attractive former model who was once married to a federal prosecutor, has seen better days. She’s currently in jail in Clarksburg, Md., awaiting sentencing after a Montgomery County jury found her guilty of bouncing two rent checks worth about $1,900.
But how can that be when, according to the Maryland District Court website, “payments under a contract, such as checks for rent, utilities, or car payments are not bad check violations. Debtors must be pursued through civil litigation in these instances.” (Emphasis added).
So Maryland taxpayers are paying to incarcerate a 64-year-old grandmother for what the court itself says is a civil matter. Montgomery District Judge Joseph Dugan Jr. and Assistant State’s Attorney Karen McNeeley, who prosecuted Heffernan, must have been aware of this.
Heffernan’s dilemma began when a former landlady in Montgomery County accused her of burglarizing her home before fleeing to Florida with her 10-year-old granddaughter, whom she has raised since infancy.
The jury acquitted Heffernan on both criminal counts of theft and malicious destruction of property. But Judge Dugan then ordered her bond revoked until her Aug. 16 sentencing — even though she had turned herself in, had never missed a court appearance and had no outstanding bench warrants against her.
This virtually guarantees that she will miss two critical hearings before Arlington Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge George Varoutsos, who will decide the fate of her young granddaughter. The girl has been in foster care since Arlington social workers snatched her in Stafford County last July.
Varoutsos ordered the “courtroom closed” during her June 30 hearing, telling the court reporter to “send transcripts only to Clerk of Court” and forbidding the presence of any “non lawyer,” thus creating a kind of Star Chamber proceeding from which the public was barred.
This is the same judge who found Heffernan guilty of child neglect and abuse — in absentia. She complained — in court — that she had never been served Varoutsos’ 2009 removal order and saw it for the first time four days after her granddaughter was taken from her.
In a bizarre twist, Montgomery County Det. Sarit Scott confirmed to The Washington Examiner that she had subpoenaed hundreds of pages of the granddaughter’s school records while investigating the criminal case against her grandmother, but denied she was investigating the child.
When asked the relevance, she replied: “I can’t explain. I have my reasons.” During discovery, Heffernan’s lawyer could not recall receiving any record of Scott’s interrogation of the little girl in Arlington, which the officer also would not discuss.
Summing it all up: Heffernan is being held without bond for bouncing two rent checks, which the Maryland court says should be handled as a civil matter. A Montgomery County detective also admits subpoenaing Heffernan’s granddaughter’s school records and questioning the child without her consent.
Meanwhile, Varoutsos plans to rule on the fate of Heffernan’s granddaughter, who was taken by Arlington social workers although Heffernan and her grandchild were statutorily legal residents of Maryland at the time and Heffernan was not served with the emergency court order authorizing them to do so.
The decision will be made without Heffernan or her chosen representative present in the courtroom — for the second time.
Hello? Anybody ever hear of due process?
Rejecting Heffernan’s desperate plea to be allowed to attend the JDR hearings in Arlington, Judge Dugan snapped: “I’m not so sure that this child belongs in your care anyway.” I’m not so sure these two judges belong on the bench.
Barbara F. Hollingsworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.
