I ain't never been arrested in DC in my life!

[Bertha Venation]

I work as a legal secretary. Yesterday my boss, whom I shall call Frank Sterling, got a phone call from a gentleman whom I shall call Edgar Smith. Edgar was loud and agitated. He said his momma had just called him and told him he had a court notice at her house, saying that he'd missed his court date but that another had been set for March 6. My boss was listed as his lawyer. Edgar said, "somebody stole my ID! I ain't never been arrested in DC in my life!"

Just a note: my boss is a well-known prosecutorial alum of the country's largest metropolitan court system and is now a member of one of the most prestigious law firms in the country. Unless it was pro bono work, he wouldn't be listed as the attorney for an urban crime suspect. Not trying to sound stuck up; these are just facts that help define how strangely mistaken my earnest caller was (even though he didn't know it).

After a largely fruitless conversation with a very loud and profane Edgar, I told him that someone would call him back. I searched our database for his name to make sure this was not, in fact, a pro bono case, and I found nothing.

Before I had a chance to call him back with this unhappy news, he called again. He told me the same things over again - someone stole his ID, he'd never been arrested in DC in his life, Mr. Frank has to call him back, etc. He also gave me the case number from the court papers. Ah! Now we're getting somewhere. I again told him that I would call him back. He said, "Please! Please call me back, please. This ain't me!"

I went to the court website to look up his case number. There was his name, plain as day. The plot thickens. But a couple of key elements were different. . . .

I called him back. I told Edgar what I was looking at. The attorney of record was not Frank Sterling but a Frank Jessop. I thought he'd dispute this fact, expecting to hear "but that's what my momma said the papers say!" But he said "oh, not Frank Sterling? Frank Jessop. Okay."

Then I told him that his name was on the court record, but that there was an alias. The alias was Jason R. Smith, Jr.

After a silence he said, wonderingly, "that's my brother. My brother used my name." Another pause. Then he said it again, not angrily but with exasperation, "My brother used my name."

Then he asked, "what are the charges?" I told him: simple assault, prohibited weapon, and threat to do bodily harm.

Edgar said - I could almost hear him rolling his eyes - "that's my brother and his wife."

We went over this information again and again - my boss wasn't the attorney, what the attorney's name was, how could he get in touch with that attorney ("the same way you got in touch with me,") his brother was using his name, "that's my brother and his wife."

Now that he had some resolution, he was getting chummy. I responded in kind: "sounds like your brother needs a little smack on the cheek." He said, "no, that's my older brother, I'm gonna have to bring a baseball bat."

This was my drama of yesterday. I react to drama with extreme anxiety. But at least it ended.

[TZ]

1. "my brother used my name"

Ah family ties....:rofl:
Entertaining story Bertha, thank you for sharing.

[Lost in CT]

2. I really like this story...

Seems down home to me. I really do like it.

[Callalily]

3. Great story. And it was so

kind of you to take the time with this gentlemen to sort things out. He was obviously stressed, as anyone of us would be, but you took the time with him, were gracious and treated him with respect.

You deserve a big >>>>>>>>> :hug:

[sasquatch]

4. Reninds me of a story I heard years ago about a guy and his brother in the 70's

He was taking leave after he got out of basic training for the army and he was pulled over for speeding outside of Cincinnati. The guy says "Sanky, you just don't learn do ya?". Sanky looks up at him and says "learn what?" The cop tells him how he pulled him over for speeding nights ago. Sanky tells him "That's impossible, I was just released for leave from *Such and Such* army base in Tennessee" and the proceeds to show him his papers. The cop says "Why I coulda swore it was you, you just don't forget a name like Sanky." When he got home he realized his younger brother Randy was using his army id as his regular id so he could go out and raise hell without getting in trouble with the cops.
:rofl:

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Poor Edgar. Sounds like his brother is a louse.

Poor Bertha did a good turn for Edgar by checking the court case info.