The Truth Unveiled

I couldn’t believe that I was actually sitting in the office of a defense attorney. An attorney who had agreed to represent me in court. I certainly didn’t have money for representation, so when I found out he would take my case pro bono, I was grateful.

Of course, getting arrested and charged with multiple counts of theft was not how I envisioned spending my summer break from college. My parents weren’t too thrilled either. Especially since they were paying for that summer break – as well as the lawyer’s fees associated with it.

The charges were bogus, at least in my mind. Yes, I took items from other dorm rooms – but only because my roommate seemed to get an awful lot of nice things without ever having to pay for them.

I wasn’t stealing, per se; just “borrowing” for a while.

She always seemed to notice when something went missing and then would magically find it again later. So really, no harm or foul being done here.

I should’ve known better than to go into her closet looking for a shirt one day while she wasn’t there. She always acted so snooty about her wardrobe and never let me borrow anything from it.

So when she got back from wherever she was and walked into our room just as I was leaving her closet wearing one of her shirts – well, let’s just say she wasn’t very happy about it.

Is that what this is all about? She’s trying to get back at me by having me charged with stealing?

My attorney said that since nothing was reported stolen until after I had taken items from other rooms, we could make a case for that being true. But he also warned me that we’d be better off if we could prove my theory wrong by providing some sort of evidence of hers doing something illegal first.

Great! Now not only do I have charges against me and angry parents to deal with but also the added pressure of trying to find dirt on my roommate!

How in the world am I going to be able to prove that she’s doing something illegal?

I had absolutely no idea. But I was determined to try. So, while working at the restaurant a few nights later, I told a fellow co-worker about my predicament and asked for ideas.

“That’s easy!” he said as he busily wiped down the countertop in front of me. “Just put a small, hidden video camera in your room.”

Okay, maybe not so easy after all.

“Where do I get one of those?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re pretty expensive,” he replied.

Yeah, figured as much. This whole thing just keeps getting better and better – now it’s costing me money too?

“But we sell them here,” he continued.

“What!?”

“I own this place and we sell security cameras.”

“Okay.” My mind was reeling with thoughts that were not appropriate for sharing with him at this point.

“I’ll give you one at cost if you want. They’re only around fifty bucks or so.”

Only? That was still quite a bit for me since work hours were cut during the summer months due to it being more of a tourist town.

But what choice did I really have? None that I could think of. So, after work that night, we went over to look at the cameras and find out how they worked.

We decided on one that was small enough to hide somewhere in my dorm room but still provided clear video images. And before we left the store, my friend showed me how to set it up and then access it remotely from my phone or computer.

As soon as I had enough money saved up from working extra shifts (and stopped taking time off each week for court appearances), I would buy the camera from him and hopefully catch my roommate doing something illegal – or at least something incriminating enough to get her off my back.

It took a few weeks, but I finally had the funds to buy the camera. So we set it up in my room one afternoon while my roommate was out and then tested it to make sure that everything worked as it should.

I could see my bed and about half of the rest of the room, depending on where I moved things around after she left for class or work.

We decided that having a camera hidden inside a teddy bear sitting on top of my bed would be the best option. Since there were other stuffed animals all over our room (hers, not mine – I didn’t have any), it would just look like another one among many.

Now we just needed some action.

And eventually, we got plenty of it. My plan was to let things go until closer to the time I had to appear in court, so that’s what I did. And each time something went missing from our room, I made sure to move things around just enough so that they’d show up in the camera’s view.

That way, she couldn’t deny taking them – at least not with me being able to prove otherwise!

After she had been charged with theft but before she had appeared before a judge, my lawyer advised me against going this far. He said that even though these items were technically “stolen” from me or taken without permission which makes them fair game for using as evidence there is still a question of their involvement in other cases.

Other cases? How many are there?

So now not only do we need more evidence against her for our case but also more evidence tying her to other cases? This is getting ridiculous!

But he assured me that he could get his charges dropped if we could at least prove her guilt in this particular case by showing how these items ended up in my possession.

Okay then; no pressure here or anything!

And then one night, she came home very late and quite drunk. And with a guy I didn’t recognize.

And let’s just say that things got a little bit crazy – and more than I had bargained for; or hoped to see, for that matter.

I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that they did some things in our room that I really wish they hadn’t. But the good news was that it was all caught on video!

Not so fast, my attorney warned me when I told him about it.

“What do you mean?” I asked incredulously.

“There are still privacy laws to consider here,” he explained.

Privacy? Seriously?

“Yes, seriously. We can use what we have already gathered as evidence against her in our case but not introduce any more at this point.”

“You mean she gets off scot-free for not only stealing from me but also doing (a bunch of words he used that I don’t even want to repeat here) in our room?”

“Yes, pretty much.”

Wow! Just wow!

But I couldn’t argue with him since he was working pro bono here – and had gotten his charges dropped already while mine were still pending.

So we made copies of what we had on video so far and sent them along to the authorities handling her case as well as my own – just in case they could help out at all.

A few weeks later, she appeared before a judge and pled guilty to all charges against her: multiple counts of theft, trespassing, breaking and entering (she took items from other dorm rooms too), destruction of property (mainly mine by trashing our room one night while drunk), possession of illegal drugs (also taken from others) and public lewdness due to the video evidence provided by yours truly.

She was sentenced to a year in jail followed by three years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution for damages caused during her rampage.

I never did get to testify in court – since she pled guilty, there was no need for it. A fact I was actually grateful for since that would’ve been quite nerve-wracking, I’m sure.

And as for me? My attorney got my charges dropped (well, not really dropped but more like suspended or something) with the understanding that if I stay out of trouble and don’t do anything to screw up during the next year, they will be officially dropped from my record.

Not quite the outcome I was hoping for when all this started but one that I am more than happy to accept at this point. Sometimes justice is strange and takes a while but it eventually does prevail – at least in some ways.

I can only hope and pray that this will be a lesson learned (albeit a hard one) for both of us so that neither of us ends up in court again someday – for any reason!

As always, only time will tell. And until then, all I can do is move on and put this whole mess behind me as best as possible.

In a world where truth is obscure, I don't know what's real or unreal. All I know is that God is love and to love him means I love all people