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00:00She had you falsely arrested.
00:03She knows if she calls the police and say I did anything,
00:05I have to get my son up.
00:07And your son was with you at that time?
00:09Yes.
00:10He, like, slapped me, like...
00:12She told the police I had, uh, choked her.
00:15No.
00:16I want you to know I don't believe that.
00:19This is Judy Justice.
00:40Marcus Vega-Tatum is suing the mother of his child,
00:44Javiana West, for false arrests, defamation,
00:48and destruction of property.
00:50Court come to order.
00:51All rise.
00:53Have a seat, please.
00:56Judge, case 4094, Vega-Tatum v. West.
01:00You're welcome.
01:01Mr. Tatum, you and the defendant had a very, very brief
01:06physical relationship, and as a result of that,
01:09you have a child together, a boy.
01:11Yes.
01:11How old is that child?
01:13He's five.
01:14And you and the defendant never lived together.
01:17No.
01:17Do you have other children?
01:19With someone else, yes.
01:20How many?
01:21I have two.
01:22How old are they?
01:23Uh, my oldest is, uh, ten,
01:25and then the youngest is also five.
01:27And do you live together with that person?
01:30No.
01:30Do you visit with those children?
01:32Yes.
01:33How often?
01:33I have joint custody, so...
01:35Do you have joint legal and physical custody?
01:37So how much time did they spend with you?
01:39It's, it's divided, it's 50-50.
01:41So you live close to their mother?
01:43Yes.
01:44Okay.
01:44Now, this child, what is his name?
01:47Sakani.
01:48Do you have a court order with regard to his custody?
01:52Yes.
01:52And what is that?
01:54Uh, we alternate every Monday through school.
01:56We block schedules, seven days on, seven days off.
01:59So you alternate weeks?
02:00Yes.
02:01Do you live close to his mother?
02:02Yes.
02:03And when did that order start?
02:05Uh, it started maybe like a year or so ago,
02:08but ever since he was born, we always had a custody order.
02:11And how old are you, sir?
02:12I'm 29.
02:13What do you do for a living?
02:14I coach.
02:15I coach baseball.
02:17I have travel teams.
02:18Mr. Tatum, you're 29 years old.
02:21Yeah.
02:21Other than your contacts with the police
02:24that you say the defendant has initiated,
02:27have you had independent trouble with the police?
02:30When I was younger, like 20.
02:32You remember what that was about?
02:33I had my firearm.
02:34It was like carrying a firearm.
02:36It was the wrong way.
02:37It was an informal probation.
02:39I had a firearm.
02:40Let's run by that again.
02:41It was a gun, non-registered owner.
02:43What happened with that case?
02:45Informal probation, three years, and that was it.
02:48Was that the only instance?
02:50Yes.
02:50Okay.
02:51Ms. West, you have other children?
02:53Yes.
02:54How many others?
02:55Six.
02:56How old are they?
02:57Nine, five, three, two.
03:01I have a set of twins, that's one,
03:02and I have a baby, that's one month.
03:04The other six children, they have one father?
03:07The oldest one has their own dad,
03:08and then the last five, sheer dad.
03:10And you live with him?
03:11No.
03:12Who do you live with, just the children?
03:14Mm-hmm.
03:14So yourself and seven children?
03:16Yes.
03:17Do you have a current boyfriend that you live with?
03:19No.
03:19When was the last time that you lived with
03:21the father of the youngest five children?
03:23It's like June of last year.
03:25Now, there have been some difficulties surrounding
03:30visitation, custody arrangements,
03:32transfer of children,
03:33and it is your claim, Mr. Tatum,
03:36that the defendant did several things.
03:38She had you falsely arrested,
03:40she destroyed some of your property,
03:43and then you have an allegation of defamation.
03:46You want to start with when this occurred, sir?
03:48Well, it started probably when he was,
03:50when he was born, we have always had problems,
03:52but then it's like,
03:53the judge ended up giving me joint custody.
03:56So as I get him,
03:57she knows, like,
03:58if she calls the police and says anything,
04:01they'll come out and issue what's a,
04:02an EPO, a seven-day restraining order.
04:04And then, then it'll go,
04:06either the DA will either pick it up
04:07or they will drop it.
04:08So...
04:09Now, tell me about this false arrest.
04:11When was it?
04:12It happened in November,
04:14I think almost like right before Thanksgiving in 2023.
04:18I had my son,
04:19and before that I had a temporary full custody.
04:22And then I had my...
04:23You had temporary full custody, sir.
04:25And was that the incident that I read about
04:29when you alleged that the child was hit?
04:32Yes.
04:32Just so that I put that in context,
04:34sometime in 2023,
04:36you had your custody week.
04:38You noticed a bruise on the child's back.
04:40Yes.
04:41Child was at that time three and a half or four.
04:44You took the child to an emergency room?
04:46Correct.
04:47Do you have any report from that emergency room?
04:49They just, uh, they didn't give me...
04:51Don't tell me what they just...
04:51Do you have any sort of report?
04:53Do you have any photograph?
04:54Of his back, yes.
04:56At the time that you took him to the emergency room.
04:58I'd like to see it.
05:01How old are you, Miss West?
05:0325.
05:13You're talking about the two long welts.
05:16Yes.
05:16That you see in this photograph.
05:19Here and here.
05:20Yes.
05:21Do you remember the date of this?
05:23Not the exact date, no.
05:24Month.
05:25It would have been September.
05:27September of 2023.
05:29Yes.
05:29And based upon this, the court changed the alternate week custody to temporary custody in you.
05:38Yes.
05:39And I assume that they called Child Protective Services.
05:43Is that correct?
05:45Yes.
05:46Stop bobbing up and down.
05:51These are linear marks on the child's back, which clearly suggest that he was hit with
05:58something and he's not crazy enough to hit the child on the back and then take him to an emergency
06:06room.
06:16Marcus Vega-Tatum claims the mother of his child, Javiana West, made false accusations leading to his arrest.
06:25Javiana is countersuing Marcus for filing a false CPS report and an assault.
06:31Now, Child Protective Services came out and saw you and your other children.
06:36Yes.
06:37My son was with me when they came.
06:38What?
06:38My son was with me when they came.
06:40Do you remember the date that they came?
06:42Mm-hmm.
06:43It was like towards the end of September.
06:45I don't remember the exact date.
06:47And is that time when they came, they removed him from your custody?
06:51No.
06:51What did they do?
06:52First, he had contacted me.
06:54He had told me he had needed to basically come out and speak with me.
06:59Well, this before or after the plaintiff had gotten a temporary custody?
07:04No, this was before.
07:05This is before?
07:06Yes.
07:07So this is when, I guess, he had taken him to the hospital.
07:10He took him to the hospital.
07:12Yes.
07:12So my son had came back that following Monday.
07:15He asked me what was a good day for him to come.
07:17I let him know what day he could come.
07:20He came out.
07:21He asked me if he could speak with my son alone.
07:24I asked him what was it regarding.
07:26He explained to me the situation.
07:28He asked me, do I whip my kids, basically, with the belt?
07:33Mm-hmm.
07:33Just a second.
07:34He asked you that.
07:36Mm-hmm.
07:36Because clearly, these are linear marks on the child's back,
07:41which clearly suggests that he was hit with something.
07:46You understand that?
07:47Yes, I understand that.
07:48Yeah.
07:49So the question is, he didn't do it to himself,
07:54so somebody else did it, right?
07:57Yes.
07:57And he's not crazy enough to hit the child on the back with a something
08:04and then take him to an emergency room.
08:08I want you to know, I don't believe that, just so that you know.
08:13Now, when they did their investigation, what did they do?
08:18Um, be...
08:19Um, it's not an answer.
08:20After they did their investigation,
08:22was your child immediately returned to your custody?
08:25Uh, we went to court.
08:27Just so the answer is no.
08:29Um, our court order was put back into place
08:31for our seven-day block for joint custody.
08:34On what date?
08:36Um, November 1st.
08:37So between September and November, where was the child?
08:41He was with his dad.
08:43Who helps you take care of these children?
08:45He helps take care of his son,
08:47and my other kids' dads help take care of them.
08:49Now, how do you support your children?
08:52I work.
08:53For whom?
08:53I do security, and I work at...
08:56Doing what?
08:57A warehouse associate.
08:59How many days a week?
09:00Four.
09:01Now, do you get any other assistance for the children?
09:03No.
09:04Nothing?
09:05No food stamps, no nothing?
09:07No.
09:08Do you live in an apartment?
09:09No, I live in a duplex.
09:11Is it a rental, or do you own it?
09:12I rent.
09:13How long have you lived there?
09:15Um, I just moved there in October.
09:18And how much rent do you pay?
09:19$2,700.
09:20Where do you get the money from?
09:22I work.
09:23I'm just...
09:24Do you know how she makes a living?
09:26I don't know.
09:27I mean, do you know how she feeds six children?
09:29I couldn't tell you.
09:30She'd be...
09:31Okay, so tell me when you were arrested, sir.
09:33Now we have the history.
09:34On what date were you arrested?
09:36Because that's what...
09:38I got arrested probably like a week before Thanksgiving.
09:41Tell me about it.
09:42I had my son.
09:43I assumed I still have full custody, because when we went to court on the 1st, we didn't
09:47see a judge.
09:48Something that happened, she was in there, I had left, came back.
09:52I guess I had to refile, they dropped our case.
09:54So instead of me having full custody, it went back to week on, week off.
09:58What do you mean you left?
09:59We were at the courthouse and it was full and the judge told everybody to go out.
10:03So when we went out, I went to the bathroom and they called our case, but I wasn't in
10:07there.
10:08I didn't know what happened.
10:09And you didn't ask?
10:10I did, as they said, you have to refile or you're going to have to just come back and
10:14wait.
10:14Okay, and your son was with you at that time?
10:16Yes.
10:17Okay, so what happened?
10:18All right, so I'm back home.
10:19It's my week, I have my son, but she knows if she calls the police and say I did anything,
10:24they'll come out and issue like a seven-day restraining order where I have to get my son
10:28up and I can't contact her or my son.
10:30Okay, I got that.
10:31I do understand that that can happen.
10:33So you left the courthouse.
10:35Your son was with whom when you were in court?
10:37I believe he was at school while he was in court.
10:39Okay, and when were you arrested?
10:41I was arrested, like, the week or two weeks before Thanksgiving.
10:45You told me that.
10:46Yes.
10:46But I need to know the circumstances.
10:48Oh, she came to my house and she told the police I had choked her.
10:52So she came to your house?
10:54Yes.
10:55Do you remember going to his house?
10:56I did go to his house.
10:58And you went to his house, tell me why.
11:00Actually, I went because in our court order, his address is listed.
11:04Pretty much, my son was supposed to be returned back to me, I think, November 5th.
11:09Or November 4th.
11:11I can't remember exactly what day it was.
11:13But I know this is at the time we were switching off on Sundays.
11:16The judge had told me, basically, I could get my son back that Sunday.
11:20He told me to just wait until, basically, the day that we're supposed to switch back.
11:25I told him, I was like, that was fine.
11:26I will have my aunt, basically, go me to pick my son up.
11:30I went to the police department that Sunday.
11:32Why did you go to the police department?
11:33Because that was our drop-off and pick-up location.
11:35Oh, so the drop-off and pick-up was not at your homes due to try and trouble.
11:40It was at a police station.
11:42Yes.
11:42So you went to a police station and?
11:45So I had went, technically, we were supposed to wait, like, 15 minutes, I believe.
11:50Well, did you wait for the day that was the ordinary transfer?
11:52Yeah, I waited for the day and the time that, basically, I was supposed to pick my son up.
11:57He never showed up.
11:59I texted him.
12:00I called him.
12:01Actually, where he was with my son, he just kept telling me, like, I wasn't getting him.
12:05He was like, you could get visitation with him.
12:06And I was like, my son is supposed to be returned back to me today.
12:10I contacted the police.
12:13I had made a report, and they had told me to, basically, just keep trying to get my son.
12:17Can I see the police report you filed?
12:19These two is from, I think one of them is from when he went to jail, and the other one,
12:24I think, is the day that I tried to get him back the first time.
12:30At what point did he hit you?
12:32So he was telling me he wasn't giving me my son because it was court papers that he needed
12:36to serve me with.
12:37So, basically, in the midst of him talking to me, he, like, slapped me, like, his hand,
12:42like, basically, it was like, he cut me, like, not, like, cut me, but, like, stretched me,
12:46like, under my, not never really under my eye, but, like, right here.
12:58Marcus Vega-Tatum is accusing the mother of his child, Javiana West,
13:04of filing a false abuse report.
13:07Javiana is countersuing for filing a false CBS report and an assault.
13:12Okay.
13:13This is November the 6th, and it says she arrived at the exchange location.
13:19It says that you waited and he never showed up.
13:22Okay.
13:23So let's get to when you were arrested, sir.
13:25Yeah, she, uh, told the police I...
13:27She came to your house.
13:29She came to my house.
13:29And she agrees she came to your house.
13:31That was on the 6th of November.
13:33Is that right?
13:33No.
13:34What date?
13:34It was the following Sunday after that, so probably, like, the 12th.
13:38Okay.
13:39Or the 11th.
13:40Okay, so he remained with his father that week.
13:42You went to the courthouse.
13:43You got copies of orders that you needed.
13:46And then you went to his house.
13:48Yeah.
13:49Well, that was not to drop off and pick up location.
13:52No, but since his address is in the court order and pretty much since he was already in contempt of
13:58court, pretty much they told me I can go to an address where I think that my son is and
14:04pretty much have the police come out to try to enforce my order.
14:07That's what I did.
14:08And pretty much I went.
14:10I waited for the police.
14:11Well, I called them once I made it there because they told me to contact them once I got to
14:15the address, which I was doing everything that they told me to do.
14:18And then in the midst of me waiting on them, my sister was with me.
14:24And we had seen, no, he had left and then he came back and then my sister had seen my
14:30son.
14:30And she was like, there go basically my son.
14:33She said his name.
14:34When she said his name, he, like, pushed him in the house.
14:37And I had called them back and I had let them know, like, basically, pretty much I know that my
14:42son is here now.
14:43Like, my son is actually here.
14:44Okay, so you called the police and you let them know that your son was there now.
14:48Yes.
14:48And you had a history with the police because they documented when you were there on the 5th of November,
14:54on the 6th of November.
14:56And we're talking about almost a week later, on the 12th of November.
14:59So you go to his house on the 12th and verify that he's there with the child.
15:07And you call the police and let them know.
15:10About what time of the day is this?
15:12It was probably, like, close to, like, 8 or 9.
15:15Morning or evening?
15:17Evening.
15:17Okay.
15:18So now you drove there with your sister?
15:20Yes.
15:21She drove?
15:22No, I drove.
15:22You drove.
15:23Okay.
15:24Now, you're there with your sister, 8 o'clock at night.
15:27You see the child is actually there.
15:30You notify the police, which is what you were told to do.
15:33And then what happened?
15:34So then after that, he had, I guess, like, he...
15:39No, no, just a second.
15:39So you saw him in the house.
15:41Police aren't there yet.
15:42No, they weren't there yet.
15:43But they were coming because...
15:45And?
15:46So then, probably, like, a couple minutes later, my son was coming down the stairs.
15:51He was walking behind my son.
15:52He put my son in a car.
15:53And so when I seen that he was trying to get ready to leave, like, I had, like, pulled right
15:57there.
15:57And I had asked him, like...
15:58Pulled right where?
15:59Like, I was sitting, like, on the corner.
16:01And I had pulled, like, around the corner.
16:03In front of him.
16:03So you blocked the car.
16:04Not really, but, like, technically, yeah.
16:08Okay, so you blocked his car so he couldn't leave, and...
16:12And I had told him, I'm like, can you just basically give me my son?
16:15I'm like, my son was supposed to be in return back to me a week ago.
16:18He, like, drove around.
16:19The way, like, his house is, it's like in a court.
16:21So, like, he went around the car.
16:24He had, like, started, like, driving reckless, like, through, like, the neighborhood that he's staying in.
16:28At first I was going to chase him, but then I had my sister with me.
16:32My son was in the car with him.
16:34So I had just turned around and went and parked back where I already had told the police I was
16:38parked at.
16:38Okay.
16:39He came back, and he came up the street, and then he, like, bust a U-turn, like, kind of
16:44like where I was parked.
16:46And I was...
16:46Now the police are there now.
16:48No, they still weren't there yet.
16:49They weren't there yet.
16:50Okay.
16:51Go ahead.
16:52And then, so, I was talking to him, and then I was telling him, like...
16:56No.
16:56Are you both in your cars, or did you get out of the car?
16:59He got out the car, because he claimed he didn't know who.
17:02Just a second.
17:02He got out of the car?
17:03Mm-hmm.
17:04And what did he do when he came out of the car?
17:06I got out the car, and...
17:07And you got out of the car?
17:08Yes.
17:09Now you're both out of the car.
17:11Yes.
17:11And...
17:11I was asking him if he could just give me my son.
17:14He was telling me he wasn't giving me my son because it was court papers that he needed to serve
17:18me with.
17:19So, basically, in the midst of him talking to me, he, like, slapped me.
17:22Like, his hand, like, basically, it was like, he cut me, like, not, like, cut me, but, like, scratched me,
17:28like, under my...
17:28Not really under my eye, but, like, right here.
17:31And so my little sister, she had called the police again.
17:34She let the police know what was going on.
17:36He went and parked in front of his house and went in the house.
17:39At what point did he hit you?
17:41So when we was talking and I was asking him, can he give me my son, he was yelling, telling
17:45me he wasn't giving him to me.
17:46It was court papers he needed to serve me with.
17:49I never touched him.
17:50I basically was just talking to him, and he just kept saying, like, oh, you could give visitation with him.
17:55And I told him that's not the court order.
17:56Like, you don't have...
17:57I'm pretty much explaining to him, like, there's no longer...
18:00He no longer have...
18:01Sole custody.
18:02Yeah.
18:03But you understood that based upon the hearing where everybody left...
18:08I literally went and got his mom out the hallway, and I asked her because she was sitting right there.
18:12And I told her, I said, they fought our case.
18:14Like, I notified his mom to let his mom know that the judge was calling us.
18:18That was up to her at that point to go.
18:19Did you go in to speak to the judge that day?
18:22Mm-hmm.
18:22Yes.
18:23When you went to speak to the judge that day, did you tell the judge that he had just gone
18:27to the restroom?
18:28Yes, I had let the judge know what his mom told me.
18:30You did?
18:31Yes.
18:31And the judge said case dismissed?
18:34Yes, because that was the second time they already had called our case.
18:37And then the mediator had called us also.
18:39She said that he'd never responded back to her either.
18:42So I went to the mediator and...
18:44That same day?
18:44Yes.
18:45You're talking about in the morning?
18:46Yes.
18:47So basically they called our case, and then they sent us out to a mediator to talk to the mediator
18:52regarding basically what we was going to court for.
18:55And then the mediator, she said that when she called us again, she couldn't find him.
19:00That's what she told the judge.
19:01Did you ever speak to the mediator that morning?
19:03We spoke that morning, and then the judge were calling us back, but I never spoke to the mediator after
19:09that.
19:09But you spoke to the mediator that morning?
19:11Yes.
19:11Okay.
19:12Did anybody make a determination as to how this little boy got these, well, marks on his back?
19:22There are an awful lot of people who take care of you, boy.
19:24I'm just interested, who was beating your child?
19:28No one was beating my child up.
19:29Well, that's not accurate, madam.
19:31Someone beat your child.
19:32If my son was getting beat, I'm pretty sure CPS would have came and picked my kids up.
19:36Listen, I worked with Child Protective Services for over 25 years.
19:40Nothing that they do surprises me.
19:45Are you having a family dispute?
19:47Go to judyjustice.tv.
20:17Go to judyjustice.tv.
20:19Go ahead.
20:21Go to judyjustice.tv.
20:23Go to judyjustice.tv.
20:30You
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