She had you falsely arrested.
She knows if she calls the police and say I did anything,
I have to get my son up.
And your son was with you at that time?
Yes.
He, like, slapped me, like...
She told the police I had choked her.
No.
I want you to know, I don't believe that.
[narrator] This is Judy Justice.
[narrator] Marcus Vega-Tatum is suing the mother of his child,
Jaivana West, for false arrest, defamation,
and destruction of property.
[Kevin] Court, come to order. All rise.
Have a seat, please.
Judge, case 4094, Vega-Tatum v. West.
-Thank you. -[Kevin] You're welcome.
Mr. Tatum, you and the defendant had a very, very brief physical relationship.
And as a result of that, you have a child together, a boy.
Yes.
-[Judy] How old is that child? -He's 5.
[Judy] And you and the defendant never lived together.
-No. -[Judy] Do you have other children?
With someone else, yes.
-How many? -[Marcus] I have two.
How old are they?
My oldest is 10, and then the youngest is also 5.
[Judy] And do you live together with that person?
-[Marcus] No. -[Judy] Do you visit with those children?
-Yes. -[Judy] How often?
I have joint custody, so...
You have joint legal and physical custody?
-Yes. -How much time do they spend with you?
It's divided, it's 50/50.
So, you live close to their mother.
Yes.
[Judy] Okay. Now, this child, what is his name?
Seconi.
Do you have a court order with regard to his custody?
-[Marcus] Yes. -And what is that?
We alternate every Monday through school.
It's a block schedule, seven days on, seven days off.
-[Judy] So, you alternate weeks. -[Marcus] Yes.
-[Judy] Do you live close to his mother? -Yes.
[Judy] When did that order start?
It started maybe like a year or so ago.
But ever since he was born, we've always had a custody order.
-[Judy] How old are you, sir? -I'm 29.
-[Judy] What do you do for a living? -I coach.
I coach baseball, uh, travel teams.
-Mr. Tatum, you're 29 years old. -Yeah.
Other than your contact with the police, that you say the defendant has initiated,
have you had independent trouble with the police?
When I was younger, like 20.
You remember what that was about?
I had my firearm. I was carrying a firearm.
It was the wrong way. It was a informal probation. I had a firearm.
Let's run by that again.
[Marcus] It was a gun, non-registered owner.
[Judy] What happened with that case?
Informal probation. Three years and that was it.
[Judy] Was that the only instance?
Yes.
Miss West, you have other children?
-Yes. -[Judy] How many others?
-Six. -[Judy] How old are they?
Nine, 5, 3, 2.
I have a set of twins that's 1, and I have a baby that's one month.
[Judy] The other six children, they have one father?
The oldest one has their own dad, and then the last five share a dad.
-And do you live with him? -[Jaivana] No.
Who do you live with, just the children?
Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] Yourself and seven children. -Yes.
-Do you have a boyfriend you live with? -No.
When was the last time you lived with the father of the youngest five children?
Like, June of last year.
Now, there have been some difficulties surrounding visitation,
custody arrangements, transfer of children.
And it is your claim, Mr. Tatum, that the defendant did several things.
She had you falsely arrested. She destroyed some of your property.
And then, you have an allegation of defamation.
You want to start with when this occurred, sir?
It started probably when he was born. We've always had problems.
But then, it was like, the judge ended up giving me joint custody.
So, as I get him, she knows, like, if she calls the police and says anything,
they'll come out and issue us an EPO, a seven-day restraining order.
And then, they'll either pick it up, or they will drop it.
-So... -[Judy] Okay. Now,
tell me about this false arrest. When was it?
It happened in November, almost right before Thanksgiving
in 2023.
I had my son. And before that, I had temporary full custody.
[Judy] You had temporary full custody, sir.
And was that the incident that I read about
-when you allege that the child was hit? -Yes.
Just so that I put that in context. Sometime in 2023,
you had your custody week, you noticed a bruise on the child's back.
Yes.
[Judy] The child was at that time 3 and a half or 4.
-You took the child to an emergency room? -Correct.
Do you have any report from that emergency room?
They just, uh--
-[Judy] Do you have any-- -I don't have a report.
-[Judy] Do you have any photograph? -Of his back, yes.
At the time that you took him to the emergency room. I'd like to see it.
-How old are you, Miss West? -Twenty-five.
Yeah. You're talking about the two long welts...
-Yes. -...that you see in this photograph.
-Here and here. -Yes.
[Judy] Do you remember the date of this?
[Marcus] Not the exact date, no.
[Judy] Month?
It would've been September.
-[Judy] September of 2023? -Yes.
-And based upon this... -Mm-hmm.
...the court changed the alternate week custody to temporary custody to you.
Yes.
[Judy] And I assume that they called Child Protective Services.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Stop bobbing up and down.
These are linear marks on the child's back,
which clearly suggests that he was hit with something.
And he's not crazy enough to hit the child on the back
and then take him to an emergency room.
[narrator] Marcus Vega-Tatum claims the mother of his child,
Jaivana West, made false accusations leading to his arrest.
Jaivana is countersuing Marcus
for filing a false CPS report and an assault.
Now, Child Protective Services
came out and saw you and your other children.
Yes. My son was with me when they came.
-[Judy] What? -My son was with me when they came.
Do you remember the date that they came?
Mm, it was like towards the end of September.
I don't remember the exact day.
[Judy] It's at that time when they came, they removed him from your custody?
-[Jaivana] No. -[Judy] What did they do?
First, he had contacted me.
He had told me he had needed to basically come out and speak with me.
Was this before or after the plaintiff had gotten a temporary custody?
No, this was before.
This is before.
Yes. But this is when, I guess, he had taken him to the hospital.
[Judy] He took him to the hospital.
So, my son had came back that following Monday.
He asked me what was a good day for him to come.
I let him know what day he could come.
Um, he came out. He asked me if he could speak with my son alone.
I asked him what was it regarding.
He explained to me the situation. He asked me
do I whoop my kids, basically, with the belt.
Mm-hmm. Just a second. He asked you that?
-Mm-hmm. -[Judy] Because clearly,
these are linear marks on the child's back,
which clearly suggests that he was hit with something.
You understand that?
Yes, I understand that.
So, the question is, he didn't do it to himself.
So, somebody else did it. Right?
Yes.
And he's not crazy enough to hit the child on the back
with a something and then take him to an emergency room.
I want you to know, I don't believe that. Just so that you know.
Now, when they did their investigation, what did they do?
-Um-- -[Judy] Um is not an answer.
After they did their investigation,
was your child immediately returned to your custody?
-We went to court-- -Just a-- So, the answer is no.
Our court order was put back into place for our seven-day block for joint custody.
[Judy] On what date?
Um, November first.
So, between September and November, where was the child?
[Jaivana] He was with his dad.
[Judy] Who helps you take care of these children?
He helps take care of his son,
and my other kids' dads helps take care of them.
[Judy] Now, how do you support your children?
-I work. -[Judy] For whom?
-I do security, and I work at... -Doing what?
A warehouse associate.
-[Judy] How many days a week? -Four.
Do you get any other assistance for the children?
-[Jaivana] No. -Nothing?
-No food stamps, no nothing? -[Jaivana] No.
-[Judy] Do you live in an apartment? -No, I live in a duplex.
-Is it a rental or do you own it? -I rent.
-How long have you lived there? -Um, I just moved there in October.
-And how much rent do you pay? -[Jaivana] Twenty-seven hundred.
[Judy] Where do you get the money from?
I work.
Do you know how she makes a living?
I don't know.
Do you know how she feeds six children?
I couldn't tell you--
So, tell me when you were arrested, sir. Now we have the history.
On what date were you arrested? Because that's what--
I got arrested, probably like a week before Thanksgiving.
-Tell me about it. -[Marcus] I had my son.
I assumed I still had full custody 'cause when we went to court on the first,
we didn't see a judge. Something had happened.
She was in there. I had left, came back.
I guess I had to refile, they dropped our case.
So, instead of me having full custody, it went back to week on, week off.
What do you mean you left?
We were at the courthouse and it was full, and the judge told everybody to go out.
When we went out, I had went to the bathroom,
they called our case, but I wasn't in there.
I didn't even know what happened.
-[Judy] You didn't ask? -They said you have to refile
or your gonna have to come back and wait.
And your son was with you at that time?
-Yes. -[Judy] Okay. So, what happened?
So, I'm back home, it's my week, I have my son.
But she knows if she calls the police and say I did anything,
they'll come out and issue a seven-day restraining order
where I have to give my son up, and I can't contact her or my son.
I got that. I do understand that that can happen.
So, you left the courthouse. Your son was with whom when you were in court?
I believe he was at school while I was in court.
When were you arrested?
I was arrested, like, the week, or two weeks before Thanksgiving.
-[Judy] You told me that. -Yes.
But I need to know the circumstances.
Oh, she came to my house and she told the police I had choked her.
-[Judy] She came to your house? -[Marcus] Yes.
Do you remember going to his house?
[Jaivana] I did go to his house.
You went to his house. Tell me why.
Actually, I went because in our court order, his address is listed.
Pretty much, my son was supposed to be returned back to me,
I think, November 5th or November 4th.
I can't remember exactly what day it was.
But I know this was at the time we were switching off on Sundays.
The judge had told me basically I could get my son back that Sunday.
He told me to just wait until the day that we're supposed to switch back.
I told him that was fine. I would have my aunt go with me to pick my son up.
I went to the police department that Sunday--
[Judy] Why did you go to--
That was our drop-off and pick-up location.
[Judy] The drop-off and pick-up was not at your homes.
Due to prior trouble, it was at a police station.
-Yes. -So, you went to a police station and...
So, I had went. Technically, we're supposed to wait 15 minutes, I believe.
Well, did you wait for the day that was the ordinary transfer?
I waited for the day and the time that I was supposed to pick my son up.
He never showed up. I texted him, I called him.
Actually, where he was with my son, he just kept telling me
I wasn't getting him. He was like, you can get visitation with him.
I was like, my son is supposed to be returned back to me today.
Um, I contacted the police. Um, I had made a report.
He had told me to just keep trying to get my son.
Can I see the police report you filed?
These two is from... I think one of them is from when he went to jail
and the other one is the day that I tried to get him back the first time.
Now, at what point did he hit you?
He was telling me he wasn't giving me my son
because there was court papers that he needed to serve me with.
So, in the midst of him talking to me, he slapped me.
Like, his hand, basically, he cut me-- not cut me, but like scratched me,
like under my-- not really under my eye, but like, right here.
[narrator] Marcus Vega-Tatum is accusing the mother of his child,
Jaivana West, of filing a false abuse report.
Jaivana is countersuing for filing a false CPS report and an assault.
Okay. This is November the 6th.
And it says you arrived at the exchange location.
It says that you waited and he never showed up.
Okay. So, let's get to when you were arrested, sir.
Yeah, she told the police I--
-[Judy] She came to your house. -She came to my house.
[Judy] She agrees she came to yours. That was on the 6th of November.
-Is that right? -[Jaivana] No.
-What date? -It was the following Sunday after that.
So probably like the 12th, or the 11th.
Okay. So, he remained with his father that week.
You went to the courthouse, you got copies of orders you needed.
Then, you went to his house.
Yeah.
[Judy] That was not the drop-off and pick-up location.
No. But since his address is in the court order
and pretty much since he was already in contempt of court,
they told me that I could go to the address where I think that my son is,
and have the police come out to try to enforce my order.
That's what I did. I went, I waited for the police.
I called them once I made it there
'cause they told me to contact them once I got to the address,
which I was doing everything that they told me to do.
Then, in the midst of me waiting on them, my sister was with me.
And we had seen... No, he had left, and then he came back.
And then, my sister had seen my son. And she was like, there go my son.
She said his name. When she said his name, he like, pushed him in the house.
And I had called them back, and I let them know
I know that my son is here now. My son is actually here.
So, you called the police and you let them know that your son was there now.
-Yes. -[Judy] You had a history with the police
because they documented when you were there on the 5th of November,
on the 6th of November,
and we're talking about almost a week later, on the 12th of November.
So, you go to his house on the 12th and verify that he's there
with the child, and you call the police and let them know.
About what time of the day is this?
It was probably close to like eight or nine.
[Judy] Morning or evening?
Evening.
So now, you drove there with your sister?
-[Jaivana] Yes. -She drove?
-[Jaivana] No, I drove. -[Judy] You drove.
Okay. Now, you're there with your sister, eight o'clock at night.
You see the child is actually there.
You notify the police, which is what you were told to do.
And then, what happened?
After that, um, he had... I guess like, he had--
[Judy] No, just a second. So, you saw him in the house.
Police aren't there yet.
No, they weren't there yet.
-But they were coming because-- -[Jaivana] Yeah.
-And? -So then,
probably like a couple minutes later, my son was coming down the stairs.
He was walking behind my son, he put my son in the car.
So, when I seen that he was getting ready to leave,
I had pulled right there. And I had asked him--
[Judy] Pulled right where?
I was sitting on the corner, and I pulled around the--
In front of him. So, you blocked the car.
Not really, but like... Technically, yeah.
[Judy] Okay. So, you blocked his car so he couldn't leave, and?
And I told him, Can you just give me my son?
I'm like, my son was supposed to be returned back to me a week ago.
He drove around. The way his house is, it's like in a court,
so, like, he went around the car.
Um, he started driving reckless through the neighborhood that he stay in.
At first, I was gonna chase him,
but then I had my sister with me, my son was in the car with him.
So, I had just turned around and went and parked
back where I had told the police I was parked at.
-[Judy] Okay. -Um, he came back.
And he came up the street and he busted a U-turn where I was parked.
-And I was-- -[Judy] The police are there now?
No, they still weren't there yet.
They weren't there yet. Okay. Go ahead.
And then, so, I was talking to him, and I was telling him--
No. Are you both in your cars, or did you get out of the car?
No, he got out the car, 'cause he claimed he didn't know who--
[Judy] He got out of the car. What did he do when he came out of the car?
-I got out the car-- -[Judy] And you got out of the car?
-Yes. -[Judy] Now you're both out of the car.
Yes. I was asking him if he could just give me my son.
And he was telling me he wasn't giving me my son
because there was court papers he needed to serve me with.
So, in the midst of him talking to me, he like, slapped me.
His hand like... he cut me like... not like cut me, but like scratched me,
like under my... not really under my eye, but like right here.
And so, my little sister, she had called the police again.
She let the police know what was going on.
He went and parked in front of his house and went in the house.
[Judy] At what point did he hit you?
When we was talking and I was asking him, can he give me my son,
he was yelling, telling me he wasn't giving him to me.
It was court papers he needed to serve me with.
I never touched him. I basically was just talking to him.
And he kept saying, You can get visitation with him.
And I told him, that's not the court order, like you don't have--
Pretty much, explaining to him there's no longer, he no longer--
-[Judy] Sole custody. -Yeah.
[Judy] But you understood that based upon the hearing,
where everybody left...
I literally went and got his mom and asked her,
'cause she was sitting right there, and I told her, they called our case.
I notified his mom to let his mom know that the judge was calling us.
That was up to her at that point to go.
Did you go in to speak to the judge that day?
Mm-hmm, yes.
When you went to speak to the judge,
did you tell the judge that he'd gone to the restroom?
Yes, I let the judge know what his mom told me.
-You did? -[Jaivana] Yes.
And the judge said case dismissed?
Yes, because that was the second time they already had called our case.
Then the mediator had called us also. She said he never responded to her either.
-So, I went to the mediator-- -[Judy] That same day?
-Yes. -You're talking about in the morning?
Yes. Basically, they called our case,
and then they sent us out to a mediator to talk to the mediator
regarding what we was going to court for.
Then, the mediator, she said that, when she called us again,
she couldn't find him. That's what she told the judge.
[Judy] Did you speak to the mediator that morning?
We spoke that morning, and then the judge was calling us back.
But I never spoke to the mediator after that.
But you spoke to the mediator that morning?
Yes.
Did anybody make a determination
as to how this little boy got these welt marks on his back?
There are an awful lot of people who take care of your boy.
I'm just interested, who was beating your child?
No one was beating my child.
That's not accurate, madam. Someone beat your child.
If my son was getting beat, I'm sure CPS would come and pick my kids up.
Listen, I worked with Child Protective Services for over 25 years.
Nothing that they do surprises me.
[narrator] Are you having a family dispute?
Go to JudyJustice.tv.
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