Another Predator Smells Blood

  Part 1


Crystal Hornbuckle Baker was not the only person who thought my illness was a great opportunity to trade on my name. Jessica's plans included that as well, although it was not her primary intent.

If you look her up on Facebook (Jessica Mcgehee Thompson) you will see in her profile she has listed herself as my farm manager. As her story unfolds you will see how ludicrous this actually is but it is no more grandiose than Crystal Baker's claims. It is, however, harmful to my reputation as  Kelly Panowicz's gossip mongering has been. The reason for the problem with Jessica's bogus claim will become clear as her true character is exposed.

At this point in the story Jessica was circling her wagons getting ready to literally move in. Somewhere during this time she had those men friends of hers come to help with stalls a couple of times. The help was not steady or reliable. Mostly it only happened if we specifically asked for assistance,  which was not often. Even then we couldn't be sure it would happen as promised or that it would be completed. When this occurred her excuses always had to do with illness on her part or claims something came up related to her getting back into school. The time when she expected to be homeless  was getting closer but not much was being done to get the bedroom she expected to inhabit cleared out.

Had I not been so ill, I would have realized there were more than enough red flags to call this whole thing off but I was operating off those fears triggered by my experiences with both Kelly Correa Panowicz and Crystal Baker. My trust in myself and Dave had been undermined even though my farm had received a clean bill of health from Animal Control. 

That lack of trust led me to believe I must have additional help to assure the safety of my horses. Jessica, and those after her, were smart enough to see the opening that represented. The groundwork laid by Jessica was all nothing more than an illusion meant to convince me if she was living here I would get the help I thought I must have to protect myself from further exploitation. Those who followed each put her own twist on it but in the end, it was all the same game. What I believed I needed to do to protect myself only opened the door for a new kind of game.

Although she had not moved in yet, Jessica was scoping things out in my house. Somehow she managed to go through my craft room suggesting her mother might be interested in buying some of my Christmas supplies. Next thing I know Jessica had torn through my stuff and pulled out a huge assortment of craft supplies and stacked them in my living room.

There was no real commitment from her mother that she was even interested in buying craft supplies from me. Heck there was no permission from me for Jessica to go through my things in the first place, let alone to choose a bunch of things for her mother to buy.

The day Jessica's mother actually arrived, it was like a whirlwind. She went through the boxes and pulled things out without asking if I was interested in splitting sets or cutting pieces. She reeked havoc on my supplies and tore up my living room too.  There was a total lack of boundaries.

I was very upset about this behavior.  I felt like l had been tricked into allowing Jessica's mother into my house.  Now this total lack of respect for my things really made me uncomfortable and that was even before I found out she had no money. She said she wanted to come back in a couple of weeks to pay for this stuff.

Jessica's mother never did come back to pick up those things and that pile cluttered up my living room for weeks. There was never anything but excuses from Jessica about status on her mother's supposed purchase other than her claims she was trying to help me raise money.

In hindsight I imagine it may have all been a ploy to overwhelm me so one of them could exploit how very sick I was. There was no regard for my frailty or need for rest. Instead a buzzsaw went through my home with little regard for anyone but them and I couldn't keep track of anything, let alone control this zoo.

It was only nine days since animal control had been to my farm. My pain had not yet reached manageable levels. It was a Sunday afternoon so I couldn't even get to my doctor....and my pain medication was stolen.

They were smart enough to leave the bottle with a few pills. I imagine they thought I was so messed up that I wouldn't notice someone raided the oxycodone bottle but I did. Unfortunately I didn't notice until later that evening after Jessica, her boyfriend Jimmy, and her mother were long gone.

I knew that Jimmy had been to rehabilitation for abusing oxycodone. I also knew that Jessica's mother had a drug problem. While I had experience dealing with drug abuse since my daughter, Colleen Walker, used an assortment of drugs extensively as a teenager, I am not familiar with the signs of opiate abuse so I wouldn't have know what I was looking at to identify this type of user.

Jessica had a problem with alcohol. I had seen it at Opus Arabians with Angie Miller and Richard Galarza. They supplied booze for minors at their parties and Jessica and Jimmy were clearly there to get wasted. It was one of those things that convinced me Jessica was s kid in a lot of pain who needed help.

I was naïve enough to believe that dear, sweet Jessica was being honest with me because she claimed she knew her life was out of control and she needed help. That has turned out to be a recurring theme with those who moved in here to exploit my illness but at the time my pain medication was stolen I was just too sick to see I was being played.

With the relationship I already had established with Jessica, I knew her life was a mess but I had not seen anything to indicate she was insincere or that she lacked caring for others. That led me to believe that Jessica  would not steal my meds because she had seen my pain at its extremes. As bad as those times were, I just could not believe Jessica would put me at such risk. Even after my oxycodone was stolen, I did not suspect Jessica. I thought it must be her mother or her boyfriend. What a fool I was.

To be continued......

Puzzles, Plans and Mistakes........