Thirteen months ago, after a "run" of only two days and three posts, I stopped publishing anything on this blog because its mere existence seemed to have accomplished its purpose.
Susan Stanton and I had a brief email exchange that I interpreted as an uneasy truce, then I went on with my life because she stopped making outrageous statements and threats about me and my family. I never stopped believing that she privately wished us harm, nor did I stop suspecting that she was trying to figure out a way to harm us, but since she laid down her arms in public, I did the same.
Unfortunately, using her twin sister Erin Budinscak as her proxy, she broke the peace three days ago in a federal courthouse in downtown Tampa -- so here I am to call her out.
The venue was my father's sentencing on charges of failing to file tax returns (a misdemeanor of which he is guilty) and obstructing an IRS investigation (a felony of which I believe he is innocent, but that's another topic for another blog). The attack that Susan unleashed against me and my family came in the form of a letter to the judge. Rather than appear in court herself, she had Erin read it in her stead.
Susan's letter contained many falsehoods and I will deal with them one post at a time. The one I am mentioning today is this: Her letter stated that my father's "family and friends harbored him" when he was a fugitive. Perhaps he stayed with a friend when he was wanted by the law, and since I don't know I won't comment on the "friends" portion of her comment, but my father did not stay with me and I can say with absolute certainty that he did not stay with any other member of my family.
For that matter, he did not even receive any assistance from me, and I can again say with absolute certainty that this is also true for everyone else in my family. We did not know where he was until we read of his arrest in the newspapers, at which point his whereabouts were "in custody."
This past Thursday was not the first time Susan has leveled her false allegation that we conspired with my father while he was on the run. However, all of her previous alleging was done in some version of privacy, like the time she left a rambling message on my uncle's answering machine. If she thinks that by leveling her allegation in public she is going to take me into waters I haven't swum before, she is wrong because I have already been questioned by none other than the FBI. And I will tell you, Susan Stanton, that being asked questions in the car of an FBI Special Agent is far more intimidating than watching your pathetic attempts to stir a pot that doesn't even exist.
The bottom line, however, is that when this past Thursday came, Susan Stanon made sure to air her false accusations not only in public, but in front of a federal judge, while providing testimony for a federal prosecutor, with reporters from two major newspapers on hand. This was an act of malice. What she accused us of is a crime for which people have gone to prison.
I am not a lawyer, but as far as I am concerned, the stakes involved in her falsehood make her letter itself a crime. Even if the law does not back me up on that, there is no doubt that her falsehood was a threat. It will be treated as such if the authorities come knocking on my door again.
