Chapter 9 - The Cease and Desist
On Monday morning, a process server arrived at my parents' suburban home just as they were sitting down for breakfast. At the same time, another server walked into the boutique agency where Chloe worked her part-time receptionist job.
The documents delivered were thick, intimidating, and bound in heavy blue cardstock. They contained formal notifications of the criminal investigation, a demand for immediate repayment of $14,800 in historically traced fraudulent charges, and a strict legal order to cease all communication with me except through Arthur Pendelton’s office.
It also included a copy of the formal dispute filed with the furniture retailer and the utility companies. Because my attorney had flagged those accounts as identity theft with accompanying police reports, the credit card companies were legally obligated to investigate the IP addresses and bank routing numbers associated with the payments. My parents were no longer just dealing with a defiant daughter; they were dealing with the fraud departments of major national banks, who do not take kindly to synthetic identity fraud.
That afternoon, my attorney received an hysterical phone call from my father. Arthur put him on speakerphone while I sat across the desk, listening silently.
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"Mr. Pendelton, this is insane!" my father shouted, his voice trembling with a mixture of rage and panic. "She's our daughter! You can't sue family! We had verbal agreements that Elena would help with household expenses!"
"Mr. Vance," Arthur replied smoothly. "A verbal agreement does not cover utilizing a Social Security number without consent to open lines of credit, nor does it cover storing stolen credit card data on a personal laptop. I suggest you retain criminal defense counsel immediately. Any further attempts to contact my client directly will result in immediate arrest warrants for witness intimidation."
